Opinion on Interactive Brokers CFD Costs

[benjjj6]

Hi
I currently trade small volumes of US NASDAQ CFD shares with IGMarkets but their minimum commission is $15 to open and $15 to close a position, Interactive Brokers seem significantly cheaper:

Commissions

Is their minimum commission really just $1

Say I open a position of 50 GOOG shares with IG I am paying $15 with IB I am paying $1? This seems too cheap, I looked at Saxo and they charge $20

Does anyone have experience with Interactive Brokers, can you confirm this, are there any additional costs?

 

[soumadamou]

very good forex broker.

 

[KCY]

As a small and relatively new player in the industry IG cannot be compared by any standards to big boys like Interactive Brokers (IB) which has one of the largest market cap among its peers. As IB's range of CFD markets increases and expands over the course of time I will transfer my trading activities from IG to IB entirely to simplify the accounting process as well as for safety reasons; I believe this would be the trend for the active CFD traders.

 

[kalott]

As a small and relatively new player in the industry IG cannot be compared by any standards to big boys like Interactive Brokers (IB) which has one of the largest market cap among its peers. As IB's range of CFD markets increases and expands over the course of time I will transfer my trading activities from IG to IB entirely to simplify the accounting process as well as for safety reasons; I believe this would be the trend for the active CFD traders.

Financial Trading | Derivatives Trading | IG Group

 

[BobbyBB]

IB are the real deal. They're so cheap because of the volume they do as well as being a true internetbroker, ie little if any sales support. Rock solid platform in my experince as well.

The comms are real, $1 minimum, which means traders can play really small size if they want to. An excellent advantage especially to those learning because it's always better to risk real money than dummy money. As the comms are so low this 'real money' can be kept small, ie risk $25 here, $50 there etc.

having said that, use their dummy account feature to get a handle on their software, inputting orders, that sort of thing. Good luck.

 

[instant]

Yes Wonderful

Yet another US based broker using the money they make in the US to build a base in the European CFD market when the product is actually illegal in the US. Therefore making it impossible for the Europeans to challenge them in their own backyard.

Such is the spinelessness of Europe and the UK politicians and regulators when dealing with US trade barriers. And (to be honest) the shortsightedness of UK based investors in dealing with them. I also note that their revenues are split between Market Making income and other income (commissions/charges/financing etc) .. so when you get charged a commission do not think that your deal went through to the exchange.

 

[KCY]

In retrospect, I should be more positive; I have traded with different brokerages, CMC, PFG, Refco etc over the years to know that low cost and commissions are the last things I would hanker after. There are more important aspects.

IB and IG are two strong leaders in the broking field. They are both highy regarded and reliable. Their helpdesk services are generally very responsive and of high quality. Both brokerages offer extremely wide range of products and markets including high growth markets unlike less competitive brokerages like Tradestation. The one significant difference between them however lies in the ease of use; IG has just the right simple settings while IB is renowned for its complex and difficult to use platform. Don't believe me, just google and find out for yourself. I have dropped the idea of opening a free Tradestation account due to its inherent limitations and am happily sticking to both IG and IB accounts regardless of the trading costs.