Head to head
IC Markets vs Interactive Brokers — which broker is better?
IC Markets or Interactive Brokers? Fees, regulation, platform and product range compared side by side — with a verdict drawn from the data.
Risk warning: CFDs and leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly. Investments can fall in value. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.
IC Markets
One of the cheapest routes to raw institutional FX pricing - as long as you check which entity you are signing with.
- Stocks (per order)
- 0.1 % (CFD)
- Minimum deposit
- €200
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.8 pips
Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Interactive Brokers
The cheapest serious route to almost every market on earth — if you can live with the learning curve.
- Stocks (per order)
- 0.05 %
- Minimum deposit
- None
- EUR/USD spread
- 0.1 pips
Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.
The verdict in numbers
Four decision axes, each derived from the recorded data.
Overall Interactive Brokers takes it, 4.5 against 4.2 out of 5. The two pricing models cannot be converted like for like; the fee rows in the table carry the detail. Interactive Brokers scores 90 against 70 out of 100 on the group index. Your account's protection depends on its legal entity. Interactive Brokers covers more ground with 12 of 14 asset classes against 9. On platform and app Interactive Brokers is ahead, 4.6 against 4.1 out of 5. Which one is right depends on which of these axes matters for your trading profile.
- IC Markets
- 4.2
- Interactive Brokers
- 4.5 — Better
- IC Markets
- 0.1 % (CFD)
- Interactive Brokers
- €2.50
- IC Markets
- 70 of 100
- Interactive Brokers
- 90 of 100
- IC Markets
- 9/14
- Interactive Brokers
- 12/14 — Better
- IC Markets
- 4.1
- Interactive Brokers
- 4.6 — Better
Compare brokers side by side
Up to four brokers at once — every row a decision point.
Data as of: 30 Aug 2026
| Criterion | IC Markets 4.2 Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | Visit broker Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 4.2 | 4.5 — Better |
| Group index | 70 of 100 | 90 of 100 |
| Best for | Algorithmic and EA tradersScalping and high-frequency FXcTrader usersHigh-volume tradersCopy trading | Active and professional tradersMulti-currency investorsOptions and futures tradersAlgorithmic and API tradingGlobal stock pickers |
| Regulation | ASICCySECFSCAFSASCBCMA | SECFCACBIASICMAS |
| Top-tier licences | 1 | 5 — Better |
| Investor protection | €20,000 | US$500,000 — Better |
| Listed group | No | Yes |
| Banking licence | No | No |
| Segregated client accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Negative balance protection | Yes | Yes |
| Audited financials | Yes | Yes |
| Disclosed regulatory actions | 1 | 2 |
| Founded | 2007 | 1977 |
| Headquarters | Sydney, AU | Greenwich, Connecticut, US |
| Fees | 4.7 | 4.9 — Better |
| Safety & regulation | 3.9 | 4.8 — Better |
| Trading platform | 4.5 | 4.8 — Better |
| Product range | 3.7 | 5.0 — Better |
| Mobile app | 3.6 | 4.3 — Better |
| Research | 3.6 | 4.4 — Better |
| Customer support | 4.5 — Better | 3.2 |
| Deposit & withdrawal | 4.4 — Better | 4.0 |
| Account opening | 4.3 — Better | 3.5 |
| Education | 3.3 | 4.0 — Better |
| Reference order EUR 5,000 | 0.1 % (CFD) | €2.50 |
| Minimum deposit | €200 | None — Better |
| Stocks (per order) | 0.1 % (CFD) | 0.05 % |
| US stocks | US$0.02/share (CFD) | US$0.0035/share |
| ETFs | Not offered | 0.05 % |
| Options | Not offered | US$0.65 |
| Futures | in the spread | US$0.85 |
| Crypto | in the spread | n/a |
| Bonds (order) | in the spread | n/a |
| Funds (order) | n/a | n/a |
| EUR/USD spread | 0.8 pips | 0.1 pips — Better |
| Index CFD spread | n/a | n/a |
| FX conversion | n/a | 0.002 % |
| Inactivity fee | €10 · after 6 months | None — Better |
| Custody fee | None | None |
| Withdrawal fee | free — Better | €1 |
| Deposit fee | free | free |
| Overnight financing | n/a | n/a |
| Other fees |
|
|
| Asset classes (of 14) | 9 | 12 — Better |
| Exchanges | n/a | 160 |
| Stocks | Yes | Yes |
| ETFs | No | Yes |
| Options | No | Yes |
| Futures | Yes | Yes |
| Forex | Yes | Yes |
| CFDs | Yes | Yes |
| Crypto | Yes | Yes |
| Bonds | Yes | Yes |
| Funds | No | Yes |
| Commodities | Yes | Yes |
| Indices | Yes | Yes |
| Warrants | No | Yes |
| Spread betting | No | No |
| Social trading | Yes | No |
| Platforms | MetaTrader 4MetaTrader 5cTraderTradingViewIC Markets appFIX API | Trader Workstation (TWS)IBKR DesktopClient PortalIBKR MobileIBKR GlobalTraderTWS API / Web API / FIXTradingView and other third-party front ends |
| Demo account | Yes | Yes |
| Fractional shares | No | Yes |
| Maximum leverage | 1:30 · Pro 1:500 | 1:30 · Pro 1:200 |
| Account opening | Digital application, usually approved within one business day | Fully online; typically 1–3 business days, longer if documents need manual review |
| Account types | Raw Spread (MT4/MT5)cTrader RawStandardRaw ProRaw Pro+Swap-free | IBKR ProIBKR LiteMargin account |
| Payment methods | Bank transferSEPACredit cardDebit cardPayPalSkrillNetellerApple PayGoogle PayCrypto | Bank transferSEPACheque |
| Account currencies | EURUSDGBP | USDEURGBPCHFAUDCADJPYHKDSGDSEK+8 |
| Deposit time | Instant to 12 hours on cards and e-wallets, 1-3 business days by bank transfer | SEPA 1–2 business days; international wire 1–4 business days |
| Withdrawal time | Same day to 1 business day on e-wallets and crypto, 2-5 business days by bank wire | 1–3 business days |
| Free withdrawals | n/a | 2/month |
| Languages | EnglishGermanSpanishFrenchItalianPortugueseChineseVietnameseThaiArabic | EnglishGermanFrenchSpanishItalianDutchPortugueseRussianChineseJapanese+1 |
| Channels | PhoneEmailLive chat | PhoneEmailLive chatTicket system |
| Availability | 24/7 | 24/5, from Sunday evening to Friday evening US time |
Strengths and weaknesses side by side
Editorial assessment based on the recorded data.
IC Markets
One of the cheapest routes to raw institutional FX pricing - as long as you check which entity you are signing with.
Pros
- All-in EUR/USD cost of roughly 0.6 to 0.8 pips on Raw Spread - a 0.0 to 0.1 pip raw spread plus USD 3.50 per lot per side
- Raw Pro at USD 1.50 per lot from a USD 5,000 balance and Raw Pro+ at USD 1.00 per lot from USD 100,000 - a real volume ladder rather than a marketing tier
- No withdrawal fee of IC Markets' own across roughly nineteen funding methods, and at Raw Trading Ltd (ic.com) no inactivity fee and no minimum deposit on the Standard, Raw Spread and cTrader Raw accounts; EU clients deposit at least EUR 200 and can be charged an inactivity fee after six months without a trade
- Four execution front-ends on one account: MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, with New York and London server hosting and FIX API for qualifying volume
- Genuinely 24/7 multilingual support - live chat responses are consistently measured in minutes, not hours
- 2,250 plus instruments including 2,100 stock CFDs, 94 crypto CFDs, 25 indices, 9 bond CFDs and 5 futures CFDs
- Accounts in EUR, USD or GBP at the EU entity, so deposits and withdrawals in those currencies need no conversion; Raw Trading Ltd (ic.com) offers ten base currencies including CHF
Cons
- Most non-EU, non-Australian clients contract with Raw Trading Ltd under Seychelles licence SD018 - an offshore regulator with no investor compensation scheme behind it
- Leverage advertised up to 1:5000 through that entity is a genuine hazard, not a feature; at that ratio a 2 pip move against a full-size position wipes the account
- International bank wires can still arrive short: IC Markets deducts nothing, but intermediary and beneficiary banks take their own cut, which no fee table here can predict
- No proprietary trading platform or flagship mobile app - the experience is whatever MetaTrader and cTrader give you, and ForexBrokers.com marks IC Markets down for exactly this
- Research is thin: daily commentary and a podcast rather than a staffed analyst desk, and education has no structured progression
- No ETFs, no options, no funds and no share ownership - stock exposure is CFD-only, so no voting rights and no transferable holdings
Best for
Interactive Brokers
The cheapest serious route to almost every market on earth — if you can live with the learning curve.
Pros
- US stocks from USD 0.0035 per share on the Tiered plan, minimum USD 0.35 per order and capped at 1% of trade value
- Currency conversion at 0.20 basis points (minimum USD 2) — an order of magnitude cheaper than most European brokers' 0.25%–1.5%
- Roughly 160 market destinations in 36 countries from a single multi-currency account, with 28 settlement currencies
- No inactivity fee since 2021, plus no custody fee and no platform fee
- Trader Workstation offers over 100 order types plus a mature Python/Java/REST API used widely by retail algo traders
- Nasdaq-listed parent (IBKR) with published quarterly financials and around USD 21 billion of equity capital
- Top-tier licences in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, with per-entity investor compensation disclosed
- Paper trading account mirrors the live platform, including the full API
Cons
- Customer support is the most common complaint: many requests go through the ticket system, and public reviews (e.g. on Trustpilot) often cite slow replies and template answers
- Trader Workstation has a genuinely steep learning curve; the first session is intimidating even for experienced traders
- The fee schedule is complicated: Fixed versus Tiered, pass-through exchange fees, and per-exchange minimums make cost prediction harder than it should be
- Real-time market data is a paid subscription per exchange, so the headline commissions understate the true monthly cost for active traders
- Account opening is longer and more document-heavy than at app-first brokers, and the website navigation is poor
- Spot crypto is only available to US clients via a separate arrangement; EEA clients get futures and exchange-traded products instead
Best for
Open an account with either
A demo account costs nothing and answers the platform question in ten minutes.
Risk warning: CFDs and other leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how these products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.
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