Interactive Brokers UK Review

Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under reference number 208159. The company Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited was founded in 2000 and is a part of the Interactive Brokers family (IBG LLC).

Customers can trade stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, and ETFs from a single IBRK Universal account. There is a dedicated section on the website that helps in selecting and configuring the type of account that customers would like to open.

There are more than 20 types of orders available for currency pairs. Clients can create additional types of orders based on their own algorithms. 

The company has developed a variety of platforms. Its flagship platform is called TWS (Trader Workstation) and is optimized for fast and efficient trading. The desktop version is intended for active investors who trade multiple products and provides all modern algorithmic trading tools and in-depth news and technical analysis tools. IBKR WebTrader is the company’s web-based trading platform, which has similar features to the desktop version but is simpler and works in a web browser. IBKR Mobile is intended for ‘on-the-go’ traders and is available on AppStore and Google Play Store. In addition, customers can build their own trading applications using Interactive Brokers API solutions.

Interactive Brokers UK provides access to a huge selection of research providers and news services, many of the free of charge. There is a large educational section in the website with webinars, video courses and other useful things.

The legal documents show that all kinds of orders will be executed at the first available price, which means slippage may occur and stop loss orders may not limit your losses to the intended amounts. Furthermore, the ‘Cash Account Deficits’ section indicates that for any deficit in any account, clients agree to pay and shall be liable for the costs and expenses of the collection of the debit balance. That means you can owe money to Interactive Brokers UK and the company is entitled to claim its money in court. The ‘Order Execution’ section of the document informs that IB UK shall act as an agent on customer’s behalf (STP model of order execution) but the company is authorized to execute the customer orders as a principal (market maker model), which leads to a conflict of interest.

Interactive Brokers UK is a strictly regulated brokerage company, particularly suitable for advanced traders and institutional clients. The company offers tight spreads, an advanced trading platform and large selection of tradable assets. Although the Desktop Trader Workstation platform is considered one of the best trading platforms available to advanced traders, it is too complex for beginners who would probably choose another terminal.