Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone 2023

Interactive Brokers has a trust score of 99, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label. Here's what each trust score label means:

• "Highly Trusted" (90-99) - These brokers are considered the most trustworthy firms in the industry. Simply put, we would not hesitate to open and fund an account with a Highly Trusted broker.
• "Trusted" (80-89) - These brokers are reliable and trustworthy. "Trusted" firms are a solid choice, and may simply hold fewer regulatory licences or feature different corporate structures than those brokers that have earned our top Trust Score rating.
• "Average Risk" (70-79) - Average Risk brokers are firms we generally consider to be safe, but that may warrant a closer inspection before you open and fund a live trading account. At the least, we always encourage traders to check the regulatory licenses for Average Risk firms to verify that they are regulated in their own country of residence.
• "High Risk" (60-69) - High-risk firms should be scrutinized and carefully reviewed before opening an account. These forex brokers are – in most cases – operating without credible regulatory licensing, and likely have a history of legal or financial issues. Before considering an account with a high-risk firm, we recommend checking our country guides for your country of residence to see if a more trusted broker is available.
• "Do Not Trust" (<59) - We do not recommend opening an account of any kind with a broker that earns a “Do Not Trust” rating.

Pepperstone has a trust score of 93, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label.

Interactive Brokers is a long-standing and highly-trusted broker that holds numerous regulatory licenses across the globe. We've rated IBKR as the best broker for professional traders, and it provides traders with access to over 100 markets, including forex and CFDs. IBKR's recently introduced web-based platform caters well to beginners, and its powerful research and extensive educational content makes for a balanced experience for newcomers and professionals alike.

Pepperstone offers numerous trading platforms (including for social copy trading) and tools for algorithmic traders, including the full MetaTrader suite. Traders gain access to high-quality research and an above-average range of markets.

Tier-1 regulators go above and beyond by requiring additional capital requirements, checking in on brokers more frequently, and putting brokers through a tougher screening process. Interactive Brokers is ASIC Authorised (Australia), IIROC Authorised (Canada), SFC Authorised (Hong Kong), CBI Authorised (Ireland), FSA Authorised (Japan), MAS Authorised (Singapore), FINMA Authorised (Switzerland), FCA Authorised (U.K.) and CFTC Registered (USA), while Pepperstone is ASIC Authorised (Australia) and FCA Authorised (U.K.)., neither have FMA Authorised (New Zealand)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, Interactive Brokers is SEBI Authorised (India), while Pepperstone is CySEC Authorised (Cyprus) and DFSA / Central Bank Authorised (UAE)., neither have CBRC Authorised (China), ISA Authorised (Israel), CBR Authorised (Russia), FSCA Authorised (South Africa) and SEC Authorised (Thailand). When comparing tier-3 licenses Interactive Brokers is none, while Pepperstone is SCB Authorised (Bahamas)., neither have IFSC Authorised (Belize), BMA Authorised (Bermuda), FSC Authorised (British Virgin Islands), CIMA Authorised (Cayman Islands), FSC Authorised (Mauritius) and VFSC Authorised (Vanuatu).

For trading platforms Interactive Brokers supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows), whereas Pepperstone supports a Desktop Platform (Windows), cTrader and DupliTrade., neither have ZuluTrade

For MetaTrader Interactive Brokers provides neither of these, while Pepperstone provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.

Interactive Brokers requires a minimum deposit of $0, while Pepperstone requires a minimum deposit of $200. From our testing we found Interactive Brokers offers spreads of 0.6 (Aug 2022), while Pepperstone offers spreads of 0.77 (September 2022). Interactive Brokers supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) for popular funding options, where Pepperstone supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw).

Interactive Brokers offers a more diverse selection of investment options than Pepperstone allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Looking at total tradeable symbols, Interactive Brokers has 8500, compared to 1200 from Pepperstone.

Crypto trading is popular with forex traders. Most crypto assets are offered either as the underlying physical asset or as a CFD or other derivative — including spot forex contracts. In terms of trading physical cryptocurrency neither Interactive Brokers nor Pepperstone allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

In terms of research and research tools Interactive Brokers gives traders the following tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Trading Central (Recognia). In comparison Pepperstone has the tools listed here: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Social Trading / Copy Trading.

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