Interactive Brokers
Ranked 3 of 3 online brokerages by recommenders
People recommend it for cheap margin loans, strong fit for retail traders, and broad market access. Critics point to monthly minimum commissions and siloed handling of options contracts.
People recommend it for cheap margin loans, strong fit for retail traders, and broad market access. Critics point to monthly minimum commissions and siloed handling of options contracts.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong for retail traders
“It is unmatched for non-institutional (retail) traders in my experience.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Swedish Alecta has sold off an estimated $8B of US Treasury Bonds” “Happy IBKR customer here.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Nothing Ever Happens: Polymarket bot that always buys No on non-sports markets”
Other online brokerages people recommend
The two most recommended other online brokerages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robinhood | 16 | 36 | 31% | 9 | — | — |
| Charles Schwab brokerage | 10 | 11 | 48% | 6 | — | — |
| Interactive BrokersThis page | 6 | 2 | 75% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“you're basically going to be paying a MINIMUM of 10 bucks a month in commissions to Interactive Brokers”
“Happy IBKR customer here.”
“You can migrate super easy by having them filing a full ATAC.”
“It is unmatched for non-institutional (retail) traders in my experience.”
“A typical broker like Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab etc. acts as a gateway to the market”
“Most brokerages (IBKR, Schwab, Robinhood) treat every contract as a siloed trade.”
“In my case IBKR, but the top brokers you would need Schwab, Fidelity, Trading212, Hood.”
“IBKR will loan you vs your stocks at a cheaper rate than pretty much any place will for a heloc on your house.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.