THE MOST GOD DAMN AWFUL BROKER I HAVE USED IN 20 YEARS…
THE MOST GOD DAMN AWFUL BROKER I HAVE EVER USED.
IMPOSSIBLE TO LOG INTO ON WEB / DESKTOP (IT KEEPS OPENING MY MOBILE APP BUT ONCE I LOG IN THERE THERE IS STILL NO WAY TO LOG IN ON THE MACBOOK).
THEIR MOBILE APP IS ABYSMAL. JUST DON'T BOTHER.
THEIR DESKTOP APP IS SOOOO HARD TO USE. YOU CAN'T FIND THE MOST BASIC AND POPULAR INSTRUMENTS TO TRADE. TOTALLY USER UNFRIENDLY AND OVERLY COMPLICATED.
BUT I'M SAVING THE BEST CRITICISM FOR LAST:
THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON EXISTENT. I ALSO DEFY YOU TO GO TO THEIR WEBSITE AND FIND A CONTACT PHONE NUMBER.
TOTAL WASTE OF TIME.
AVOID.
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 9, 2022
We have attempted to contact you through this forum to investigate and respond, but our requests have gone unanswered. If you wish to have your issue resolved, please provide us with your contact information.
IT
Interactive T.
Vintage Broker With a Once Great History
Broker with a great history facing fierce competition in peculiar ways.
Commissions are average to expensive, given a vast movement of retail brokers that offer low cost trading these days.
That is OK though if you like their Trader Work Station TWS, a powerful piece of software that is as easy to handle as flying a Jumbo Jet. It can get you to a lot of places if you know what you are doing.
IBKR is still a decent broker if you are a professional or semi professional trader with a good volume of daily trades. If you are, you probably have no need to read this review. If you are retail and if you are considering to trade volumes below 1 Mio $ a year, the following might concern you. I am slightly below that margin with IBKR, so the following comes from personal experience.
According to IBKR customer service, regulators do not allow IBKR to display delayed market data for free anymore.
I am not talking about top secret stuff. I am talking about charts of stocks that that can be seen pretty much anywhere for free.
With IBKR you need to either pay extra for looking at charts of your own investments or keep trading in high volumes. This is new.
In the past you were able to see charts of your stocks just like with every other broker.
When I asked IBKR about this change, they answered that turning off free charts for clients was due to "regulatory guidance" and in "compliance with FINRA's policy."
This is my second effort to review IBKR.
The first one was deleted through Interactive Brokers, claiming my review was colliding with the rules of Trustpilot.
If it was, it might have been because I was speculating why IBKR was imposed such harsh restrictions by regulators after their transfer from the UK to Luxembourg. I actually felt sorry for a company that I thought did well in the past.
After all, restrictions like this may bring a company in a disadvantageous position relative to its competitors.
This time I am not speculating and I am not giving you my subjective impression.
Instead I let speak facts for themselves.
Here is what they say:
"IBKR is no longer able to offer delayed quotes for major stock exchanges such as NYSE and NASDAQ."
Of course customers are still able to see charts of their investments. They need to subscribe market data through something called Market Data Assistant, a rather complicated toolbox for something that is on open display at any other shopping window down Broker Alley.
To find the right key for this magic box, you need to first subscribe a "US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle" for 10 USD per month that is waived for months with commissions exceeding 30$.
Once you have subscribed this bundle, you may subscribe additional bundles that give you a chance to see your investments in classic chart view.
Sounds complicated? Go on and read what they have to say:
"In order to know what market data you are required to subscribe, you can use the market data assistant tool for the same. You need to enter the Region, Exchange name and Symbol. Once entered the tool will give you list of market data to be subscribed."
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 9, 2022
We have attempted to contact you through this forum to investigate and respond, but our requests have gone unanswered. If you wish to have your issue resolved, please provide us with your contact information.
DM
Dr M A.
DO NOT USE ,USELESS AND WASTE OF TIME.
This company makes investing the HARDEST thing ,Zero customer service contact, Useless systems for managing people's money ,I have just closed my ACCOUNT I hope my refund gets to me before the WORLD ENDS.STAY AWAY FROM THIS BROKER.
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 11, 2022
We apologize that we failed to meet your expectations. A Customer Service Representative has reached out to assist you.
KL
Kris L.
So far so good
Took 2 days to have the account set up which is quite slow compared to those instant-trading CFD brokers. Deposit is only via bank transfer which is a bit dated in this day and age.
On the plus side, they allow me to trade virtually any stock unlike eToro. Since they are real executors they also don't pull the plug when you are making money unlike Robinhood!
Customer service is responsive and top notch. 5 Stars from me
PS
Paul S.
Helpful tech team
After reading reviews of this trading platform I was reluctant to open an account with them but glad I did.
The account set up was both straight forward and simple, Daniel from the tech help guided me through the funding process after I'd initially had trouble which was down to my fault.
Can't understand how some are having problems with the mobile app as I've not encountered any so far in 2 months of daily use.
MG
Michael G.
Going to the dogs
Going to the dogs
Had an account for a few years then closed it. Tried to reopen it but between the website and authentication complexities it was impossible so I opened another one but got blocked out because of constant glitches now I am expected to stay on hold for an hour or more to try sort it out.....painful, bloated and overly complicated.
I guess if you are an institutional inverter you'll have a much better service than us peasants.
Going elsewhere
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 9, 2022
We have attempted to contact you through this forum to investigate and respond, but our requests have gone unanswered. If you wish to have your issue resolved, please provide us with your contact information.
CU
Customer
Large broker but not for < $100k…
Large broker but not for < $100k client. Heavy commissions for today's choice of brokers. TWS platform old and freezes. Have to really pay for each extra (Ryanair experience): market data - can't plot charts without subscription, inactivity fees, third-rated quality news. Adds up to real cost of $300-$500 per year (Lite version not available outside the US). Support tickets closed at will. Phone assistance useless and makes issues worse (eg, by resetting passwords where not asked). Forms/requests not processed. Customer never right -- forget about 'compensation' even if mistake is made by IBKR. Customers are treated obnoxiously, the company refuses to accept any errors. You will always be 'wrong'.
Noticeable how IBKR in-house traders/trading systems are trying to fleece you on option spreads and limit orders. IBKR does makes markets against their client positions. Also, IBKR forcibly closes-out one leg of combo trades to manage their own book and profitability (not your risk!) leaving you with the market exposure in the wrong way.
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 9, 2022
We have attempted to contact you through this forum to investigate and respond, but our requests have gone unanswered. If you wish to have your issue resolved, please provide us with your contact information.
BM
bunny M.
Terrible dose not even describe how bad…
Terrible dose not even describe how bad this broker is. Not just from a customer standpoint, but from an actual executable brokerage viewpoint these lot are un-professional, incompetent and you should stay away.
As a professional I have never seen such blatant front running(illegal in the UK) and clear market order flow(also illegal in the UK). Frankly, 'Slippage' should not be a thing in the digital age, but this is why you will pay sometime 10% more than the limit order you place.(thats what they say) What's the point in having a limit order if you execute it at over 10% above the limit? They claim its for market stability, but I do not want the trade if its 10% out from my calculations. I am truly so glad I didn't transfer my large account to these thieves and liars. Not only that but they refuse to invest in the back end, the servers and web code, so during a busy day you will not be able to access your account through the web trader or through the TWS. Even if you pay for their 'Pro' service you will be constantly disappointed with this brokerage. What gets me is they execute for a lot of the 'free' platforms, trade 212 being a good example. So they aren't just fleecing their own clients, they are also doing this to other platforms.
The only way a company like this tops and changes is if we vote with our wallets, so don't use them, especially if your are a retail client as you will lose out big time. All I have said in this review has provable screenshots and screen captures with other live data feeds(refinitve and bloomberg) to show what I have described.
Response from Interactive AdvisorsMay 9, 2022
We have attempted to contact you through this forum to investigate and respond, but our requests have gone unanswered. If you wish to have your issue resolved, please provide us with your contact information.