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Vanguard ReviewInteractive Brokers UK Review
Written by Elizabeth Anderson, Blain Reinkensmeyer
Fact-checked by Steven Hatzakis
Edited by Jeff Anberg
Elizabeth AndersonElizabeth Anderson is the lead writer and researcher for UK.StockBrokers.com. She has been a financial journalist for more than a decade and has written for major publications including BBC, The Times, and Bloomberg.
Blain ReinkensmeyerBlain Reinkensmeyer heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com. He has 20 years of trading experience and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Forbes, among other media outlets.
Your capital is at risk.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a sophisticated investment platform aimed at experienced investors, although its low fees also put the broker within reach of those just starting out and looking to invest small amounts. IBKR offers a wide range of investing tools and features, but this does make the platform more complicated to use than other competitors that focus on simplicity for beginner investors. You can open a demo account to explore the full platform before committing any money. But, for new investors or those looking to invest small amounts, IBKR is likely not the best platform for you.
-
Minimum Deposit:
£0 -
ISA:
Yes -
SIPP:
Yes
| Investment Choices | |
| Charges & Fees | |
| Website | |
| Education | |
| Mobile App | |
| Ease of Use |
Check out UK.StockBrokers.com's picks for the best investment platforms in 2025.
| 2025 | #3 |
| 2024 | #6 |
| 2023 | #2 |
| 2022 | #2 |
| 2021 | #2 |
Why you can trust us
Led by Elizabeth Anderson, Lead Writer and Researcher, the UK.StockBrokers.com research team collects data and tests products on an ongoing basis. We review the tools and features most important to U.K. investors – including beginners, casual investors, passive investors, and active traders.
We collect and track data on trading charges, fees, and interest rates to make it easier to understand the cost of investing in the U.K. We analyze a wide range of savings and investment offerings, like ISAs, SIPPs, investment portfolios, pensions, and active trading accounts. We hand-collect and audit data across more than 50 variables in our coverage of the best U.K. investment platforms.
Our researchers open personal brokerage accounts and test all available platforms on desktop, web, and mobile for each broker reviewed on UK.StockBrokers.com. Learn more about how we test.
Table of Contents
Pros & cons
Pros
- Trade stocks with low commissions and no minimum deposit.
- Offers shares, ETFs, funds, trusts, bonds, and 14,000 no-fee funds.
- Fractional shares available; ideal for beginners.
- Mobile app and tools suit active traders.
Cons
- Complex platform may overwhelm new investors.
- U.S.-focused education, less tailored for U.K. clients.
- Platform charges and fees can be confusing.
My top takeaways for Interactive Brokers in 2025:
- IBKR's top benefit is global coverage. You can trade across 90 stock markets worldwide, including the Nasdaq, London Stock Exchange, and Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- One standout feature of IBKR is its very low FX fees at just 0.03%.
- IBKR offers a stocks and shares ISA and junior ISA, with minimum platform fees of £3 or £1 per month, respectively. You can also invest through a SIPP through a third-party administrator.
- You can invest from as little as $1 by buying fractional shares, which is great for new investors looking to invest small amounts of money.
- Through Interactive Brokers’ web portal, you have access to a huge amount of data, learning materials, and investment options.
Interactive Brokers fees
Interactive Brokers’ fees can be confusing but, overall, they are low — particularly if you are looking to buy mutual funds, stocks, or options. IBKR is available in many countries and each has its own pricing structure. Fees are mostly charged using a mixture of fixed fees and percentage fees.
Shares and ETFs: There are no custody or platform charges for a general trading account. Shares and ETFs listed in the U.K. are priced at a fixed £3 per trade, up to the value of £6,000. This means you’d pay a total of £36 annually to Interactive Brokers if you make 12 U.K. trades a year, and for 120 trades a year, you’d pay £360. For trades above £6,000, the cost is 0.05% of trade value. This means that buying £10,000 worth of shares would cost you only £5, which works out to be very low cost. Remember that 0.5% stamp duty is also charged by HMRC when you buy shares in U.K.-listed companies (not ETFs though).
If you're investing through an ISA, there's a £3 minimum activity fee charged by IBKR. So, if you spend more than £3 in transaction fees, you'd pay no management fee. But if you make no trades, you'll be charged £3 a month to maintain the ISA.
When trading U.S. shares, commissions are $0.005 a share, with a minimum $1 trade fee.
Mutual funds: There are more than 55,000 mutual funds available through IBKR. The trading fee for mutual funds is £4.95. However, IBKR offers 22,000 mutual funds with no transaction fees. This is very unusual among all the brokers we tested. In fact, Interactive Brokers is the only platform to offer funds with no custody fees or dealing charges.
Bonds: Trading fees for bonds in the U.K. are 0.1% for the first £10,000 in trade value, falling to 0.025% on amounts above £10,000.
FX charges: IBKR's currency conversion fees when buying shares in a company listed outside the U.K. are very low at just 0.03%. So if you're buying £5,000 worth of shares in a U.S. company, for example, you'd pay FX fees of £1.77. This rate is low compared with many other U.K. brokers, but make sure you select the auto conversion to avoid a manual conversion and potentially pay a higher rate.
| Feature |
 Interactive Brokers
|
|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | £0 |
| Share Trading: 0-9 Deals/ Month | £3 |
| Share Trading: 10-19 Deals/ Month | £3 |
| Share Trading: 20+ Deals/ Month | £3 |
| Annual Platform Fee (Funds): £0 - £250,000 | £0 |
| Annual Platform Fee (Funds): £250K-£500K | £0 |
| Annual Platform Fee (Funds): £500,000 - £1m | £0 |
| Annual Platform Fee (Funds): £1m and over | £0 |
| Bonds - Corporate - Fee | 0.1% (for <10,000 EUR) 0.025% (for >10,000 EUR) |
| Bonds - Government (Gilts) - Fee | 0.1% (for <10,000 EUR) 0.025% (for >10,000 EUR) |
| ETFs - Fee | £3 |
| Investment Trusts - Fee | £3 |
| Telephone Dealing Fee | £25 |
What type of trader are you?
New to the world of investing? See my picks for the best UK trading platforms for beginners. More experienced traders should check out my guide to the best UK Trading Platforms for Active Traders. If you're looking to trade shares on the go, read my guide to the best UK stock trading apps.
Range of investments
There is a huge range of investments available through Interactive Brokers, and this is one of the broker’s main selling points. IBKR allows you to trade across 90 stock markets worldwide, including the Nasdaq, London Stock Exchange, and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Interactive Brokers is rare among U.K. investment platforms in offering access to stock markets in Asia.
Through Interactive Brokers, you can invest in company shares, ETFs, funds, and bonds. Options, futures, forex, and CFDs are also available to traders seeking higher-risk investments.
You can invest from as little as $1 by buying fractional shares, which is a great entry point for new investors looking to invest small amounts of money. You can also make deposits in up to 28 different currencies, which is among the widest of any other U.K. platform.
One downside of Interactive Brokers is that it doesn’t offer ready-made diversified portfolios in the U.K. that investors can simply buy into without having to worry about selecting their own investments. This is likely because IBKR is aimed at investors who are experienced in choosing their own assets and curating their own portfolios.
Interactive Brokers now offers the opportunity to invest in crypto, by either buying it directly or by investing in crypto ETNs, which the FCA now allows U.K. investors to access. Fees for crypto are 0.12% to 0.18% of trade value (with a minimum commission of $1.75) with no added spreads, markups or custody fees, which makes IKBR competitive on price compared to other platforms offering crypto. Cryptocurrency is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the U.K. and should be viewed as a high-risk investment.
There is a huge range of investments available through Interactive Brokers, one of the platform’s main selling points.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
|---|---|
| Share Trading | Yes |
| CFD Trading | No |
| ETFs | Yes |
| Mutual Funds | Yes |
| Bonds - Corporate | Yes |
| Bonds - Government (Gilts) | Yes |
| Investment Trusts | Yes |
| Spread Betting | No |
| Crypto Trading | Yes |
| Advisor Services | No |
Interactive Brokers ISA review
Interactive Brokers’ stocks and shares ISA is a great option for experienced investors comfortable building their own portfolio, as the platform can feel complex at first, especially if you’re new to investing.
Platform: Through the IBKR ISA, you can invest in thousands of shares, bonds, and funds worldwide. The research resources and materials are excellent, and you can undertake extensive technical analysis on companies and countries through IBKR’s free Global Analyst tool. IBKR does not offer ready-made portfolio funds, so you’ll have to be confident at choosing your own investments.
Pricing: There’s no minimum to open an ISA, but there’s a £3 monthly fee (£1 for junior ISAs). This fee is applied if you don’t pay at least £3 worth of trading commissions each month, which means you need to make at least one stock trade in a U.K. company each month to not be penalised. This makes it expensive for small balances and you'd be better off with a platform that doesn't charge management fees for ISAs, such as Trading 212, XTB, or Freetrade. For larger portfolios, the £36 annual fee is competitive and cheaper than Interactive Investor’s £59.88 or £143.88 for ISAs over £50,000.
It costs £3 to buy U.K. shares or ETFs, and $1 to buy U.S. stocks through IBKR. One trade a month in a U.K. company would therefore cover the ISA fee. Many mutual funds are available with no trading fees, but some cost £4.95 per trade.
You’re allowed one free withdrawal from your ISA each month. After this, there's a £7 fee for bank transfer withdrawals from your IBKR ISA.
IBKR’s ISA works well if you’re experienced, want powerful tools, and have a larger portfolio. But beginners may find it harder to navigate and more expensive than platforms such as Trading 212, Hargreaves Lansdown, or AJ Bell.
Mobile trading apps
Interactive Brokers offers an excellent mobile app, called IBKR Mobile. Everything you would want to know about a company stock or asset is there, including the next dividend date, analyst views, and a chart showing recent historical performance. Further information can be found by selecting the ‘Trading Central’ tab at the bottom of the screen, which takes you to extended research including target price and investor sentiment.
Another great feature is the ability to customise the homepage to make it more tailored to your interests. For example, you can change your default region and select whether you want your watch list and market indices displayed on the homepage.
There are more than 90 order types you can make when buying stock — such as market price, limit price, or if the stock drops by a specified percentage. You can also place a trade based on a specified amount of cash, rather than in quantity of shares, making it easier for you to spend exactly the amount you want.
A more streamlined app called IBKR GlobalTrader is also available for investors looking to trade small amounts, including fractional shares which I believe makes trading more accessible to all investors. It is a slimmed-down version of the main IBKR mobile app. On IBKR GlobalTrader, you can see your open positions, see the recent performance, news, and access the learn hub.
The IBKR GlobalTrader app offers a simplified trade ticket, with wider buying options on the IBKR Mobile app.
You can make use of both apps — the same login details are carried over, along with your purchases and watchlists. A new update means you can now create more than one watchlist on the IBKR GlobalTrader app.
You can also trade through a demo account on IBKR GlobalTrader while getting your bearings with the platform, and then you have the option of opening a full account.
Trading platforms
Interactive Brokers’ Trader Workstation is a desktop platform designed for seasoned, active traders who trade multiple products. Most everyday investors will not need this and will find enough through the general web platform.
Through the IBKR web trading portal, you have access to a huge amount of data, learning materials, and investment options. The PortfolioAnalyst tab gives you detailed information about your historical investment performance, your top portfolio movers, and your ESG score. It’s easy to buy or sell shares or investments. A mutual fund scanner allows you to search for mutual funds according to where it's free to buy, country, provider, or type (such as equities or bonds). A new feature allows you to sort investments by an extensive range of themes, such as big data or affordable housing.
You can sort stocks by many themes on the Interactive Brokers web platform, such as climate tech, biotech, or data.
Elizabeth's take:
"Overall the web portal offers very useful material and options for any investor. I found it to be one of the most comprehensive of all the U.K. platforms I tested. However, beginner investors may find it too complex as a starting point for trading."
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
|---|---|
| Web Platform | Yes |
| iPhone App | Yes |
| Android App | Yes |
| Stock Alerts | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies | 94 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools | 16 |
| Charting - Notes | No |
| Charting - Display Corporate Events | No |
| Charting - Stock Overlays | No |
| Charting - Index Overlays | No |
Are you new to investing?
We thoroughly tested 17 top U.K. brokerages to find the best choices for beginner investors. Read more in our guide.
Education
I find comprehensive platforms like the one offered by Interactive Brokers initially difficult to navigate. Fortunately, you can open a simulated trading account with up to $1,000,000 in virtual currency to learn about the platform and see if it's right for you before committing any actual money.
The research materials offered by IBKR are excellent. When selecting a stock, you can see upcoming events such as dividend declarations, fundamentals such as analyst ratings, and ESG rating, along with news such as research reports, press releases and market commentary. The research material is among the most comprehensive of the 20+ investment platforms I test in the U.K. and is available to users in demo mode — so you don’t even need to trade real money to access it.
The educational materials currently available on the Interactive Brokers U.K. site are also excellent, although mostly U.S.-focused. However, IBKR offers a wide range of free webinars, courses, and commentaries that are useful for any investor in any region.
A new AI-powered tool called Ask IBKR has recently launched, allowing you to get quick, tailored responses to questions such as 'What sector am I underweight compared to the S&P 500?' and 'Who are my top dividend payers?' The integration of this tool can help traders gain insight into their portfolios and trades.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
|---|---|
| Education (Share Trading) | Yes |
| Education (Funds) | Yes |
| Education (Retirement) | Yes |
| Client Webinars | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes |
Final thoughts
I believe Interactive Brokers is a clear winner for professionals and frequent U.K. traders seeking an institutional-grade trading platform. It also offers low charges and extensive investment options worldwide. For newer investors, IBKR is more intimidating but the demo account offers a good way to learn more about the platform and investing in general.
Interactive Brokers Star Ratings
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
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| Charges & Fees |
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| Investment Choices |
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| Mobile App |
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| Website |
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| Ease of Use |
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| Education |
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Our testing
Why you should trust us
Elizabeth Anderson has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. She’s written for major national newspapers, contributed to corporate reports and research, and reviewed dozens of share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISAs, and brokerage firms. Elizabeth started her career at Bloomberg and has worked for the BBC, The Telegraph, The Times and the i newspaper. She is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing. A keen investor herself, Elizabeth invests through general dealing accounts, ISAs and several SIPPs.
All content on UK.StockBrokers.com is handwritten by a writer, fact-checked by a member of our research team, and edited and published by an editor. Our ratings, rankings, and opinions are entirely our own, and the result of our extensive research and decades of collective experience covering the U.K. brokerage industry.
Ultimately, our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .1% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Click here to learn more about how we test.
How we tested
At UK.StockBrokers.com, our online broker reviews are based on our collected quantitative data as well as the observations and qualified opinions of our expert researchers. Each year we publish tens of thousands of words of research and collect hundreds of data points while testing brokerage firms, share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISA providers, and other financial service providers relevant to U.K. investors.
Mobile testing is conducted on modern devices that run the most up-to-date operating systems available:
- For Apple, we use MacBook Pro laptops running the latest version of and the iPhone 15 running the latest version of iOS.
- For Android, we use the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra devices running Android OS 14.
All websites and web-based platforms are tested using the latest version of the Google Chrome browser.
Our researchers thoroughly test a wide range of key features, such as the availability and quality of trading platforms for web, desktop, and mobile, charting, real-time and streaming quotes, and educational resources – among other important variables. We also evaluate the overall design of the mobile experience, and look for a fluid user experience moving between mobile and desktop platforms.
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About Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers was founded in 1977 by Thomas Peterffy and is headquartered in Connecticut in the U.S. It is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker ‘IBKR.’ Interactive Brokers says it has 2.56 million account holders across 200 countries, with 2.7 million trades executed a day across the whole group.
About the Editorial Team
Elizabeth Anderson, lead writer and researcher, has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. In addition to her work with UK.StockBrokers.com, she has written extensively for major publications including BBC, The Times and Bloomberg. A keen investor herself, she is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing.
Blain Reinkensmeyer has 20 years of trading experience with over 2,500 trades placed during that time. He heads research for all U.S.-based brokerages on StockBrokers.com and is respected by executives as the leading expert covering the online broker industry. Blain’s insights have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Chicago Tribune, among other media outlets.
Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for UK.StockBrokers.com and ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
Jeff Anberg is a Senior Editor at UK.StockBrokers.com. Along with years of experience in media distribution at a global newsroom, Jeff has a versatile knowledge base encompassing the technology and financial markets. He is a long-time active investor and engages in research on emerging markets like cryptocurrency. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature with a minor in Philosophy from San Francisco State University.