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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts and a financial writer with extensive experience in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast to help traders make informed, safe decisions.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. IG and Interactive Brokers are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between IG and Interactive Brokers across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated IG and Interactive Brokers, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, IG earned a higher trust rating than Interactive Brokers.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that Interactive Brokers has overall lower trading costs than IG.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both IG and Interactive Brokers offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Interactive Brokers offers a greater variety of instruments compared to IG:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, IG offers 10 cryptocurrencies, while Interactive Brokers offers 4 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, IG is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that Interactive Brokers charges a withdrawal fee and IG does not. Overall, IG has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Interactive Brokers.
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.
IG and Interactive Brokers both have very good educational support. Both IG and Interactive Brokers offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that IG offers better research analysis than Interactive Brokers and that both IG and Interactive Brokers offer frequent webinars.
Founded in London in 1974, IG is a global leader in online trading, known for its competitive pricing, powerful platforms, and access to over 17,000 markets. While IG holds licences from top-tier regulators, Filipino traders are onboarded through IG International Limited, regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA).
Trading under the Bermuda entity gives Filipino clients access to IG’s full global product range, including forex, indices, shares, commodities, ETFs, and bonds—often with higher leverage limits than are available under stricter regulatory jurisdictions. All instruments are accessible through IG’s award-winning proprietary platforms, MetaTrader 4, L2 Dealer for direct market access, and TradingView integration.
IG offers a single multi-asset account with no minimum deposit requirement and spreads starting from 0.6 pips on EUR/USD. Traders also benefit from advanced tools such as ProRealTime charting, Autochartist, and integrated Reuters news, alongside a comprehensive library of educational resources and market analysis. However, Filipino traders should be aware that offshore regulation provides few investor protections.
Founded in 1977 and listed on the NASDAQ, Interactive Brokers is one of the best-regulated brokers in the industry. Ideal for sophisticated, active traders, Interactive Brokers is in a league of its own with the astounding number of assets on its books and its feature-rich platforms. However, its website, complicated account structure, and unusual trading rules may leave less experienced Filipino traders reeling.
Interactive Brokers’ world-class research, trading tools, and education will leave traders of all experience levels satisfied, and consistent with its excellent reputation, Interactive Brokers’ trading costs are some of the lowest in the industry. Spreads start at 0.1 pips (EUR/USD) in exchange for a round turn commission of 4.4 USD.
However, because Filipino traders will be trading under the Interactive Brokers’ subsidiary based in Connecticut, USA, they will only be able to open a margin day trading account if they deposit more than 25,000 USD. Another complaint traders may have is that it does not offer third-party platforms like MT4 and MT5, and traders can only fund their accounts by bank transfer.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of IG and Interactive Brokers.
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Broker | Countries Regulated | Minimum Spread EUR/USD | Minimum Deposit | Trading cost/lot EURUSD Total trading cost at the time of last update, for 1 lot of EUR/USD using the account with the lowest minimum deposit. Includes spread and commission. | Broker Score | Broker Website | Select and Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |     | 0.10 pips | USD 3 | USD 7 | |||
 |  | 0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 |  | 0.10 pips | USD 200 | USD 8 | |||
 | | 0.70 pips | USD 10 | USD 17 | |||
 |  | 0 pips | AUD 0 | USD 4.50 | |||
 |   | 0.90 pips | USD 100 | USD 9 | |||
|  | 0.60 pips | USD 5 | USD 6 | |||
 | | 0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | | 0.70 pips | USD 5 | USD 7 | |||
 |  | 0 pips | USD 100 | USD 6 |
Select another broker to another broker to compare features, fees, and platforms side by side.
Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
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