Interactive Brokers vs TD Ameritrade
Select Comparisons
- Ally Invest vs ATC Brokers
- Ally Invest vs TradeStation
- ATC Brokers vs TradeStation
- eToro vs Ally Invest
- eToro vs ATC Brokers
- eToro vs IG
- eToro vs OANDA
- eToro vs Saxo Bank
- eToro vs TD Ameritrade
- eToro vs TradeStation
- FOREX.com vs Ally Invest
- FOREX.com vs ATC Brokers
- FOREX.com vs eToro
- FOREX.com vs IG
- FOREX.com vs OANDA
- FOREX.com vs Saxo Bank
- FOREX.com vs TD Ameritrade
- FOREX.com vs TradeStation
- IG vs Ally Invest
- IG vs ATC Brokers
- IG vs OANDA
- IG vs Saxo Bank
- IG vs TD Ameritrade
- IG vs TradeStation
- Interactive Brokers vs Ally Invest
- Interactive Brokers vs ATC Brokers
- Interactive Brokers vs eToro
- Interactive Brokers vs FOREX.com
- Interactive Brokers vs IG
- Interactive Brokers vs OANDA
- Interactive Brokers vs Saxo Bank
- Interactive Brokers vs TD Ameritrade
- Interactive Brokers vs TradeStation
- OANDA vs Ally Invest
- OANDA vs ATC Brokers
- OANDA vs TradeStation
- Saxo Bank vs Ally Invest
- Saxo Bank vs ATC Brokers
- Saxo Bank vs OANDA
- Saxo Bank vs TD Ameritrade
- Saxo Bank vs TradeStation
- TD Ameritrade vs Ally Invest
- TD Ameritrade vs ATC Brokers
- TD Ameritrade vs OANDA
- TD Ameritrade vs TradeStation
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| Tight Forex Spreads - Quotes as tight as 1/10 of a pip - View Real-Time Quotes |
Overall Rating
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
| Overall | ||
| Commissions & Fees | ||
| Offering of Investments | ||
| Platforms & Tools | ||
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Research | ||
| Education | ||
| Trust Score | 94 | 98 |
| Interactive Brokers Review | TD Ameritrade Review | |
| Winner | ||
| 66% of retail CFD accounts lose money | N/A of retail CFD accounts lose money |
Regulation
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
| Trust Score | 94 | 98 |
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Year Founded The year the firm was founded.
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1977 | 1955 |
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Publicly Traded (Listed) Directly or indirectly traded-publicly and listed on a stock exchange.
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Bank Is a regulated bank.
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Tier-1 Licenses Number of tier-1 (high trust) licenses.
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6 | 5 |
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Tier-2 Licenses Number of tier-2 (high trust) licenses.
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0 | 0 |
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Tier-3 Licenses Number of tier-3 (high trust) licenses.
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0 | 0 |
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Authorised in the European Union Authorised by an EU-member state with MiFID Passports to other member states.
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RTier-1 Licenses (High Trust)
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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ASIC Authorised (Australia) Regulated by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC).
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IIROC Authorised (Canada) Regulated by IIROC or other Canadian Province Regulator.
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SFC Authorised (Hong Kong) Regulated by the Securities Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong.
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FSA Authorised (Japan) Regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA).
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MAS Authorised (Singapore) Regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
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FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) Regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
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FCA Authorised (UK) Authorised or Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom.
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CFTC Registered (USA) Registered by the CFTC and regulated by the NFA as a member in the United States.
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Investment
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Forex Trading Trading forex as a CFD or spot contract.
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CFDs (Total) Number of Contract for Difference (CFDs) available.
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7400 | 0 |
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Forex Pairs (Total) Total number of forex pairs (CFDs or spot contracts) available, e.g., EUR/USD.
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105 | 73 |
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Cryptocurrency (Physical) Offers ability to buy actual (delivered) cryptocurrency (not CFD) with wallet storage.
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Cryptocurrency (CFD) Offers ability to trade (buy and sell) crytocurrency as CFD (non-deliverable). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to UK residents or traders using a broker's UK entity.
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading Platform that allows traders to follow signals or copy the trades of other users.
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Cost
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard Average spread for the EUR/USD pair for standard accounts.
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N/A | 1.065 pips (Sep 2019) |
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All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active EUR/USD all-in spread including commission for best pricing available for Active Traders.
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N/A | 1.065 pips (Sep 2019) |
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Active Trader or VIP Discounts Broker offers premium services, discounts or rebates to clients.
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Funding
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Minimum Initial Deposit The minimum deposit needed to start a live trading account.
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$0 | $0 |
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Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) Offers option to use a bank wire to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) Visa or MasterCard debit or credit cards be used to deposit or withdraw funds.
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PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) PayPal can be used to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) Skrill can be used to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Trading Platforms
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Proprietary Platform The broker offers their own developed platform that is unique to them and that they may license to other brokerages (but not vice versa).
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Desktop Platform (Windows) Desktop platform for Windows OS such as Windows 7, 8, and/or 10.
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Web Platform Offers a web (browser) based trading platform. Broker website counts if trading can be managed through interface.
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading Platform that allows traders to follow signals or copy the trades of other users.
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MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Offers the native MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform (for desktop and mobile) developed by MetaQuotes Software Corp.
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MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Offers the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform developed by MetaQuotes Software Corp, and which supports automated trading strategies.
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cTrader Offers cTrader platform developed by Spotware Systems, which supports automated trading capabilities.
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DupliTrade DupliTrade offers trading strategy providers that traders can copy trade in their brokerage account.
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ZuluTrade Offers Zulutrade platform for traders to copy other user-created trading strategies automatically in their account.
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Trading Tools
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Virtual Trading (Demo) Offers simulated trading such as via a free virtual demo account (trial-period).
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Alerts - Basic Fields Ability to set basic price alerts and be notified when price is reached.
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Watchlists - Total Fields Total available fields when viewing a watchlist. Examples: price, symbol, bid, ask, volume.
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494 | 548 |
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Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) Total number of indicators/studies insertable in a chart (SMA, MACD, RSI, etc...).
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121 | 382 |
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Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) Total number of drawing tools in chart. (pointer, trendline, arrow, note, etc...)
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9 | 20 |
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Charting - Trade From Chart Trade by right clicking on the chart or from a dedicated chart quote bar.
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Charting - Drawings Autosave Drawing features such as trendlines can be saved on any of the charts from within one of the available platforms.
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Order Type - Trailing Stop Continually adjusts its price level based on a specified thresholds.
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Mobile Trading
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Android App Offers an Android smartphone app available in the Google Play store.
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Apple iOS App Offers native iOS app for Apple devices available in the app store for iPhone or iPad.
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Alerts - Basic Fields Set basic alerts in the mobile app. Examples: price alerts, percentage change from open, volume alerts, etc...
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Watch List Watch list in mobile app uses real-time quotes.
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Watch List Syncing Watch list in mobile app syncs with client's online account. Updates made in the mobile app migrate to the online account and vice versa.
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Charting - Indicators / Studies How many technical studies / indicators are available to add to a chart in the mobile app.
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70 | 148 |
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Charting - Draw Trendlines Ability to draw trendlines on chart within mobile app.
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Charting - Trendlines Moveable Ability to easily move trendlines to adjust them (via long press w/ finger).
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Charting - Multiple Time Frames Adjust the time frame while viewing a chart in the mobile app (e.g. 1m, 5m, 1hr, daily, weekly, monthly).
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Charting - Drawings Autosave Trendlines are saved after logging out so they appear after next log in.
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Forex Calendar A calendar with upcoming economic news releases (may include expected vs prior).
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Research
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Daily Market Commentary Daily updates written by staff regarding market prices and news events.
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Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) Real-time forex news headlines from top-tier sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Dow Jones, etc.
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Weekly Webinars Webinars scheduled in advance that clients can join on a weekly basis.
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AutoChartist Offers one or more technical or fundamental research tool from AutoChartist
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Trading Central (Recognia) Offers one or more technical analysis or fundamental research tool from Trading Central
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Delkos Research Offers one or more technical or fundamental research tools provided by Delkos Research
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Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs Sentiment tool showing ratio of long/short positions across currency pairs or other instruments.
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Economic Calendar Shows upcoming global news events for various economies around the world.
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Education
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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Has Education - Forex A minimum of 10 educational pieces (articles, videos, archived webinars, or similar) with the primary subject being Forex. (Platform tutorials and FAQs, etc.. do NOT count).
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Has Education - CFDs A minimum of 10 educational pieces (articles, videos, archived webinars, or similar) with the primary subject being CFDs. (Platform tutorials and FAQs, etc.. do NOT count).
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Client Webinars Provides educational client webinars through the web, at least one per month.
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Client Webinars (Archived) Provides an archived area to search and watch previously recorded client webinars.
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Videos - Beginner Trading Videos At least 10 educational videos are available. A beginner video is a short clip, typically several minutes in duration, that explains a trading concept, term, or strategy. Archived webinars and platform demos do NOT count.
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Videos - Advanced Trading Videos Educational videos with relevant content of value for experienced traders.
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Investor Dictionary (Glossary) An online dictionary with definitions of at least 50 investing terms.
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Major Forex Pairs
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
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GBP/USD Great British Pound (GBP) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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USD/JPY United States Dollar (USD) versus Japanese Yen (JPY).
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EUR/USD Euro (EUR) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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USD/CHF United States Dollar (USD) versus Swiss Franc (CHF).
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USD/CAD United States Dollar (USD) versus Canadian Dollar (CAD).
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NZD/USD New Zealand Dollar (NZD) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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AUD/USD Australian Dollar (AUD) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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Overall
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | TD Ameritrade |
| Overall | ||
| Commissions & Fees | ||
| Offering of Investments | ||
| Platforms & Tools | ||
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Research | ||
| Education | ||
| Trust Score | 94 | 98 |
| Interactive Brokers Review | TD Ameritrade Review |
Both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade have many features to offer to their customers. If you still hesitate, what company to choose, read this article first.
Which of the two offers the best pricing?
Interactive Brokers has a very attractive spread policy. The Bid/Ask price difference is about 0.1 pips. However, depending on the financial instrument you buy, you will need to pay an additional commission for each trade you make. As for TD Ameritrade, their average spread is 1 pip, which is also comfortable for intraday traders.
Which of the two is more reliable?
Both companies are regulated in the United States by local watchdogs. US traders are protected from any malicious activities and are able to send the complaints to SEC or FINRA. Interactive Brokers is suitable for international traders as well as they have more licenses from European and Asian traders.
Trading platforms
The range of platforms that both brokers offer to their customers is almost the same. IB provides clients with their proprietary web terminal, Trader Workstation, and IBKR mobile platform. TD Ameritrade offers their web platforms, Thinkorswim trading terminal, and mobile platforms. All terminals are designed for both novice and professional traders allowing them to conduct deep market technical research.
Payment methods
Interactive Brokers offers a broader range of payment methods as they accept ACH, wire transfers, debit cards, BPAY, checks, online bill payment, and others. As for TD Ameritrade, you can deposit and withdraw using ACH, wire transfer, and checks.
Financial instruments
Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade are both suitable for traders and investors. Apart from currency pairs, you can buy there various types of assets including stocks, bonds, options, futures, funds, etc.
