Interactive Brokers vs TD Ameritrade 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.

TD Ameritrade has a trust score of 99, 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.

TD Ameritrade, part of financial conglomerate Charles Schwab, is a leader in platform technology and trusted by millions of investors globally with trillions in assets under its brands. Available exclusively to U.S. residents, TD Ameritrade's forex offering consists of just over 70 currency pairs, along with powerful research, trading tools, and comprehensive educational resources for investing.

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 TD Ameritrade is SFC Authorised (Hong Kong), MAS Authorised (Singapore), FCA Authorised (U.K.) and CFTC Registered (USA)., 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 TD Ameritrade is none., neither have CBRC Authorised (China), CySEC Authorised (Cyprus), ISA Authorised (Israel), CBR Authorised (Russia), FSCA Authorised (South Africa), SEC Authorised (Thailand) and DFSA / Central Bank Authorised (UAE). When comparing tier-3 licenses unfortunately, neither Interactive Brokers nor TD Ameritrade are SCB Authorised (Bahamas), IFSC Authorised (Belize), BMA Authorised (Bermuda), FSC Authorised (British Virgin Islands), CIMA Authorised (Cayman Islands), FSC Authorised (Mauritius) and VFSC Authorised (Vanuatu)., neither have VFSC Authorised (Vanuatu).

Both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade offer a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows)., neither have cTrader, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade

Neither Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade offer MT4 or MT5. If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers., neither have MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

Interactive Brokers requires a minimum deposit of $0, while TD Ameritrade requires a minimum deposit of $0. From our testing we found Interactive Brokers offers spreads of 0.6 (Aug 2022), while TD Ameritrade offers spreads of 1.25 pips (September 2022). Both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade offer Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) for deposits., neither have Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw)

Interactive Brokers offers a more diverse selection of investment options than TD Ameritrade allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD)., neither have Spread Betting and Social Trading / Copy Trading Looking at total tradeable symbols, Interactive Brokers has 8500, compared to 0 from TD Ameritrade.

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 TD Ameritrade 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 TD Ameritrade has the tools listed here: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts and Forex News (Top-Tier Sources)., neither have Autochartist and Social Trading / Copy Trading

Broker Reviews