If you’re looking for a comprehensive comparison of tastytrade and Interactive Brokers, you’ve come to the right place! We’ll be looking at what kind of traders and investors each platform best caters to as well as some of the primary similarities and differences when it comes to account types, products offered, fees/commissions, options trading tools, and educational or research tools available. Keep reading to find out which platform will be the best fit for your trading goals and the experience you’re looking for!
Broker Overview
To begin, let’s focus on a brief history of each brokerage platform. If you’re curious about each app’s primary strengths and what kind of traders they best cater to, you’ll want to be sure to read this portion of our guide. It’s here that you’ll get a bunch of the key highlights that are important to know about both Interactive Brokers and tastytrade.
Summary of tastytrade
Compared to Interactive Brokers which got started back in the 1970s, tastytrade is a much newer addition to the online options trading and investment market as it was only founded in 2017. It was designed and introduced by Tom Sosnoff and Scott Sheridan who traded frequently on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and wanted to make the online trading process more efficient. The app became so successful over four years that it was acquired in 2021 by IG Group for $1 billion!
Target Audience
Three primary types of traders will find tastytrade preferable for their trading and investment goals:
- New Traders: tastytrade comes with plenty of educational resources and research tools that work well for new traders who have minimal experience.
- Active Traders: Due to its competitive fee structure which rewards frequent traders, tastytrade is a good option for active traders who engage in sessions on a daily basis.
- Independent Traders: If you’re new to trading or you have a lot of experience, it doesn’t really matter because tastytrade caters primarily to independent traders, though there are some options for joint accounts too.
Key Strengths
- Suitable for active and experienced traders
- Quality analysis and research tools
- User-friendly mobile app and desktop version
- Educational resources
- Low options fees
- No inactivity fee
- Free stock trading
- User-friendly banking options
- No deposit fees
- Free ACH withdrawals (US)
- Price alerts (desktop only)
- Customizable desktop version
- Order confirmations (mobile app)
- Quick, fully digital account sign-up
- Clear fee reports
Be sure to read through our individual review of tastytrade to get a better look at what they have to offer.
Summary of Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978 by Thomas Petterfy who developed the business into a streamlined brokerage service that focuses on quick trade execution, transparent fees, broad market access, and relatively low costs compared to competitors. Today, Interactive Brokers has over 2.1 million client accounts and conducts $1.99 million in daily trade values.
Target Audience
Interactive Brokers is a better trading app for more sophisticated traders including active investors and institutional traders. This is mostly due to advanced trading tools and features like automated trade execution, portfolio management tools, risk management tools, research facilities, and low commissions and fees on options, stocks, and ETFs.
Key Strengths
- Large investment section
- Caters to individual, professional, and institutional investors
- Good research tools
- Wide range of educational resources
- Customizable tools, research, and investment choices
- High-order execution quality
- No transaction fee mutual funds
- Commission-free ETF, stocks, and options
- Low fees and transaction costs
- Fraction shares available
- A good option for US stocks
- Hold multiple currencies and trade in foreign markets
- Great mobile experience
- Excellent web portal for individual investors
- Portfolio Builder tool
- Lite and Pro versions
- Access a free demo account
- Test strategies with the profitability lab
Want to dive deeper into what Interactive Brokers offers? Check out our comprehensive review for all the details.
Account Types and Minimums
Interactive Brokers and tastytrade offer a lot of the same account types for investors, but there are some places where they differ, especially when it comes to minimum balance requirements and initial deposit amounts. We’ll discuss these similarities and differences below to give you an idea of which platform offers the best accounts and fees for your trading plans and goals.
tastytrade
Types of Accounts
- Individual: These include cash, portfolio margin, or standard margin accounts. Investors can use their own money for cash accounts and they can borrow money from the broker to buy securities like stocks, ETFs, or other options with margin accounts.
- Joint: Traders and investors can open accounts with another person. They are made for two people who share common goals.
- Retirement: Investors can open up cash or margin accounts to save for retirement. tastytrade investors can invest long-term with these accounts and attain some significant tax breaks for their trouble.
- Business: US businesses can open tastytrade accounts including cash, margin, or portfolio margin. They can use these accounts to invest, conduct financial transactions and manage their own funds along the way.
- Trust: These accounts are legal arrangements that let trustees manage assets on a beneficiary’s behalf.
- SEP IRA: Small business owners or self-employed people can open these individual retirement accounts. Employers can contribute to their own or their employees’ retirement plans.
- With Rights of Survivorship: Open a joint account where two owners have an equal share of the assets. One owner will inherit half of the shared assets if the other passes away.
- Tenants in Common: This is where two or more people own a property together, with each having a share of the property. In the event of one owner passing, their shares go to the beneficiaries or heirs.
Minimum Balance Requirements
- Margin Privileges: $2,000 minimum balance must be maintained
- Pattern Day Trader Rules: $25,0000 minimum balance must be maintained
- Portfolio Margin Minimum Equity: $150,000 minimum balance must be maintained
Initial Deposit
- Portfolio Margin Accounts: Initial deposit of $175,000 and $150,000 must be maintained after that
- IRA Accounts: Must begin with a Start of Day Net Liquidity of $25,000
- Funding Accounts: No minimum deposit is required
Interactive Brokers
Types of Accounts
- Individual Accounts
- Joint Accounts
- Trust Accounts
- IRA Accounts
- UGMA/UTMA Accounts
- Non-Professional Advisor Accounts
- Family Office Accounts
- Small Business Accounts
- Advisor Accounts
- Money Manager Accounts
- Broker and FCM Accounts
- Proprietary Trading Group Accounts
- Hedge Fund and Mutual Fund Accounts
- Compliance Officers
- Administrators
- Institutional Hedge Fund Investors
Minimum Balance Requirements
- Institutional/Organizational: $500 equity balance
- Financial Advisor: $500 equity balance
- Non-Professional Advisor: $200 equity balance
- Introducing Broker Clients: $200 equity balance
- Interactive Advisors Brokerage Account: $100 (it’s recommended to fund the account with $25,000 to avoid account locking due to pattern day trading rules)
- Day Trading: $25,000 in Net Liquidation Value
- Commissions: $10,000 deposit is required upfront
Initial Deposit
- Interactive Advisors: $100 minimum balance
- Broker Accounts: $10,000
- Day Trading: $25,000 in Net Liquidation Value
Trading Platform Features
We noticed that one of the biggest differences between tastytrade and Interactive Brokers is the overall user experience and how easy or difficult it was to navigate each platform’s interface. Let’s look at each to discover which website or mobile app is best suited to your desired online trading experience.
tastytrade Platform
Interface and User Experience
tastytrade has more of an appeal to newer investors and traders so its design and user interface are way more simple than Interactive Brokers which caters more to advanced traders with much more experience. There’s something to be said for tastytrade’s simple design—they certainly make it easy to get around the platform and figure out where key features and functions are located.
Customization Options
Investors at tastytrade can customize elements of their online trading experience to capture their personal work preferences:
• Create custom watchlists to keep an eye on the market
• Put together custom “Group By” filters to find the right investments quickly
• Customize charting themes and colors
• Add and customize multiple charting indicators and studies
• Customize your trading ticket by adding additional greeks and other figures
Mobile and Desktop Compatibility
The tastytrade mobile app is available at Google Play and the App Store, which means it can be used on a wide range of mobile devices like Androids, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Apple Vision, and Mac. It has the features you’ll find using the tastytrade website including stock fundamentals, advanced charting, low commissions, and risk analysis tools. Users can engage in multiple kinds of trades too, ranging from options and stocks to futures and future options.
Interactive Brokers Platform
Interface and User Experience
One of the biggest critiques we’ve seen from those who’ve used Interactive Brokers is that the platform can be too complicated for new traders or trades who have intermediate experience. This makes sense since IB caters more to seasoned professionals and sophisticated traders, but many traders find the interface difficult to navigate and hard to figure out. This is only a segment of users, but the complicated nature of the website and app’s design does bring down its appeal a bit.
Customization Options
• Use the “My Layouts” page to set up customer pages on the IBKR Desktop
• Create your own view by clicking on “Column Management”
• Trade Workstation lets traders customize default presents for order attributes you use the most
Mobile and Desktop Compatibility
• IBKR Mobile App: Access over 150 world markets using Interactive Brokers’ mobile app, which lets users trade on the go. It’s only available for download at Google Play, but traders can access the same market data and other tools available on the app’s desktop version.
• IBKR Desktop: This version is designed specifically for desktop computers and is available for download with Intel Processor, Windows, and Apple Silicon. Traders can access features like chart orders, watchlists, customization tools, and quick order entry.
• TWS Mosaic: This version offers investors a more customizable experience. They can gain direct access to TWS trading, live quoting, analysis tools, orders, and technical research.
Options Trading Tools
Interactive Brokers has the most sophisticated and advanced trading tools by far compared to tastytrade. This section will compare the tools available at each app for traders and investors to give you a deeper understanding of what kind of investing is possible with these two platforms.
tastytrade
- Charting: Investors using the website can include studies or annotations on the charts via the handy charting tool. The website and app both contain crystal clear charts and a supportive horizontal view.
- Video Content: Listen in on other traders during their trading sessions to hear their trading strategies and techniques. Learn about trading from those with much more experience via this helpful video content.
- Trading Tools: Order entry, risk management, and profit/loss diagrams are a few of the trading tools available. Traders can customize options like developing a trading plan based on metrics like max gain/loss stats, profit estimations, and implied volatility.
Interactive Brokers
- Strategy Builder: Create multi-leg options and customize a strategy that needs as much or as little automation as needed.
- Account Management: IB offers a client relationship management tool through the Broker Portal called IBKR. This tool has access to over 150 markets, automated trade execution, and low per-share pricing.
- Trading: IB offers its customers commission-free trading in stocks, ETFs, and options. It also offers trading opportunities at international exchanges.
- Impact Dashboard: Use Interactive Brokers’ impact dashboard to find investment opportunities that align with your values and trading objectives. The dashboard streamlines filtering through multiple trade options.
- Model Marketplace: Find diverse investment strategies with the model marketplace by gaining access to pre-built modes from top-tier vendors.
- Write and Rollover Options Tool: The write option tool allows traders to write covered calls or protective puts, and the rollover option tool enables you to find out which options in your portfolio are close to expiring so you can take appropriate action.
- Fundamentals Explorer: This tool lets traders quickly access fundamental data from worldwide.
- Variety of Order Types: IBKR users can access various order types like limits, stops, stop-limits, hedging, and volatility orders. This makes IB a good choice for newer traders and those with more experience.
- Research: Access technical and fundamental analysis to inform trading decisions using Interactive Brokers’ high-end research and education tools.
- Fraction Trading: Investors and traders can divide their investments among multiple stocks to help diversify their portfolios. It can show users how to manage their capital responsibly, correctly position each trade, and spread the risk out successfully.
- Portfolio Performance: Investors can analyze their portfolio’s performance thanks to Portfolio Analyst, which measures performance against critical benchmarks.
Fees and Commissions
The fees and commission between tastytrade and Interactive Brokers are relatively comparable, but there’s a slight advantage to using IB due to their fees being slightly lower than tastytrade’s. We’ve put together a comparison chart, and then we’ll go into a deeper dive on the specific account fees and miscellaneous charges.
tastytrade vs. Interactive Brokers
TradeStation | Interactive Brokers | |
|---|---|---|
Stock and ETF Commissions | $0.00 | $1.00 |
Annual Margin Rates | 11.0% | 6.3% |
US Stock Index Options | $5.0 | $6.5 |
Inactivity Fees | N/A | N/A |
Withdrawal Fees | $0 | $0 |
Mutual Fund Fees | N/A | $15.0 |
US Micro e-Mini Stock Index Futures | $8.5 | $2.5 |
Options Trading Fees
tastytrade
Fees
- Stock and ETF Commission: $0.00
- Annual Margin Rates: 11.0%
- Opening a Contract: $1
- Exercise and Assignment Fee: $5 per leg
- Stock Index Options Commission: $5.00
- Inactivity Fee: N/A
- Withdrawal Fee: N/A
- Wire Transfer Fee: $25 (within the US)
- International Wire Transfers: $45
- Low Futures Fee: $0.85 per contract
- Low Spot Crypto Fees: Crypto trading costs 0% of trade value
- US Micro e-Mini Stock Index Futures: $8.5
Opening Commissions
- Options on Stock and ETFs: $1.00 per construct ($10 max per leg)
- Options on Futures: $2.50 per contract
- Options on Micro Futures: $1.50 per contract
- Stock and ETFs: $0 (unlimited shares)
- Futures: $1.25 per contract
- Micro Futures: $0.85 per contract
- Smalls Futures: $0.25 per contract
- Small Futures Options: $0.50 per contract
- Cryptocurrency: 1% of total crypto purchase
Closing Commissions
- Futures: $1.25 per contract
- Micro Futures: $0.85 per contract
- Smalls Futures: $0.25 per contract
- Cryptocurrency: 1% of total crypto sale
Interactive Brokers
Monthly Volume | IBKR Pro-Tiered | IBKR Pro-Fixed | IBKR LIte | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
≤300,000 | USD 0.0035 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.00² | |
300,001-3,000,000 | USD 0.0020 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.002 | |
3,000,001-20,000,000 | USD 0.0015 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.00² | |
20,000,001-100,000,000 | USD 0.0010 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.00² | |
>100,000,000 | USD 0.0015 | USD 0.005 | USD 0.00² | |
Minimum Per Order (Shares) | USD 0.35 | USD 1.00 | USD 0.00³ | |
Minimum Per Order (Fractional Shares) | USD 0.01 | USD 0.01 | USD 0.00³ | |
Minimum Per Order | 1% of Trade Value4.8 | 1% of Trade Value4.8 | USD 0.00 | |
Eligibility | All | All | US Residents Only | |
Third Party Fees | – Regulatory Fees | Regulatory Fees | Regulatory Fees | |
Fractional Shares | Commissions charged for fractional share traders and whole share trades are the same unless otherwise noted | |||
Account Fees and Miscellaneous Charges
tastytrade
Banking Fees
- ACH Deposits & Withdrawals: FREE
- Outgoing Domestic Wire: $25
- Outgoing Foreign Wire: $45
- Reorg Wire Fee: $25 minimum
- ACH Notice of Correction: $5
- Domestic Check: $5
- Foreign Check: $10
- Dividend Check: $5
- Overnight Check Delivery – Domestic: $50
- Overnight Check Delivery – International: $100
- Returned Check / Wire / ACH / Recall: $30
- Check Copies: $15
- Stop Payment on Apex Issued Checks: $30
- Outgoing ACAT Transfers: $75
- Transfer and Ship Certificate: $235
- Certificate Processing: $300 minimum
- Certificate Processing Return: $100 minimum
- Restricted Stock Processing: $205
- IRA Closing Fee: $60
- Annual IRA Maintenance Fee: FREE
- Prepayment Fee: Greater than 0.2% or $20
- Transfer on Death Account Transfer Fee: $50
- Incoming & Outgoing DRS Transfers: $115 per symbol
Trade-Related Fees
- Option Exercise / Assignment: $5
- Options Regulatory Fee: $0.02675 / contract
- FINRA TAF 4 – Stock Sales: $0.000166 / share
- FINRA TAF 4 – Option Sales: $0.00279 / contract
- SEC Fee 5: $27.80 / $1,000,000 in sales
- Clearing Fees – Equities: $0.0008 / share
- Clearing Fees – Options: $0.10 / contract
- Clearing Fees – Futures: $0.30 / contract
- Clearing Fees – Warrants: $20 / transaction
- Clearing Fees – Fractional Shares: $0.10 / transaction
- NFA Fee: $0.02 / contract
- Voluntary Corporate Actions (Reorg/Tender Offers): $50
- Warrant Exercise Fee: $50 / instruction
- Treasury Bill Fee: $25 / transaction
- Paper Confirms: $2 / confirm
- Paper Monthly and Quarterly Statements: $5 / statement
- Paper Tax Statements: $5 / statement
- Paper Prospectus: $2.50 / mailing
- Third-Party Distribution Notification: $2
- DTC Delivery: $25
- Mutual Fund Liquidation: $20 / fund
- Non-Transferable Security Fee: $10 / mo. per security
Interactive Brokers
- IBKR Lite: $0 commissions
- IBKR Pro: $0.0005-0.0035 commission per share
- Trade Bust Fees: $50 for the first bust request in a calendar month and $100 for each subsequent request
- Options Regulatory Fee: $0.02675 per contract
- SEC Transaction Fee: $0.0000278 per dollar of aggregate sales
- OCC Clearing Fees: $0.02 per contract (trades of 1-2,750 contracts), $55 per contract (trades with more than 2,750 contracts)
- Minimum Fees: N/A
- Inactivity Fees: N/A
Discounts for High-Volume Traders
- Interactive Brokers offers volume discounts for active traders who use IBKR Pro rather than the Lite version designed for beginners or inexperienced traders. The CBOE Frequent Trader Program gives active investors rebates on certain CBOE proprietary products. It applies to non-brokers/dealers, professional customers, and non-trading permit holders.
- tastytrade has an account opening promotion that incentivizes new customers to make hefty deposits into their new accounts with the promise of a cash bonus on tastytrade:
Deposited Funds | Cash Bonus |
|---|---|
$2000-$4,999 | $50 |
$5,000-24,999 | $100 |
$25,000-99,999 | $500 |
$100,000-249,999 | $2,000 |
$250,000-499,999 | $3,000 |
$500,000-999,999 | $4,000 |
$1,000,000+ | $5,000 |
Market Access
When it comes to market access, Interactive Brokers definitely has tastytrade beat as it’s available in about 150 markets worldwide while tastytrade is only present in a handful of major markets like the US, UK, Australia, and others. Both platforms, however, offer comparable products for trading within these different markets—the next section will cover all the fine details of market access for IB and tastytrade.
tastytrade
In addition to the US market, tastytrade can be used to trade stocks, bonds, ETFs, and commodities in other countries like Argentina, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
- Stocks/Options: Trade US-exchange-listed stocks and options
- Futures: Trades can get in on small, equity index, interest rate, energy, metals, livestock, agricultural, micro, and foreign currency futures.
- Commodities: Corn ETF, iShares Silver ETF, SPDR Gold Shares ETF, Wheat ETF, Oil and Gas ETF, Natural Gas, US Oil Fund, Gold Miners, and Energy ETFs
- Incides: Nasdaq 100, VIX, S&P 500, and more
- Treasury Products: Notes, bills, and bonds
- Cryptocurrencies: Traders can buy or sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is available in over 150 markets across the world and offers the following products to traders and investors using their platform:
- Stock Markets: Nasdaq, NYSE, LSE, HKSE, and nearly 100 more stock markets internationally.
- Exchange-Traded Funds: QQQ, SPY, and many others.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, etc.
- Options: Options trading is available in over 150 markets (34 countries and 28 currencies).
- Currencies: Traders can access interbank quotes for global currencies directly. Interactive Brokers offers 28 currencies for trading.
- Bonds: UK Gilts, government bonds, and more.
Educational Resources and Support
For traders to keep their skills sharp and learn new techniques to keep their approach to trading fresh, they’ll want access to educational resources and helpful support tools. Interactive Brokers and tastytrade have great tools and resources for newbies who are just learning or for experienced traders who value continuing education.
tastytrade
Learning and Educational Tools
- Video tutorials are available for learning the basics of options trading
- Use tutorial guides to get familiar with trading terminology
- Use live demos to discover how to use the tastytrade website and mobile app
- Head to the help center to find popular articles on troubleshooting common problems or to get answers to questions you might have
- Access market research and analysis done through third-party research reports
- Get data like income statements, balance sheets., and cash flow statements to understand how well the companies and markets are performing
- View other important research info like net income, liabilities, revenue, and assets by quarter or by year
Customer Service
- Toll Free Phone Number: 888-247-1963 (7:00 AM CST – 5:00 PM CST, Monday-Thursday and 7:00 AM CST – 4:00 PM CST on Friday)
- Local and International Phone: 312-724-7075 (7:00 AM CST – 5:00 PM CST, Monday-Thursday and 7:00 AM CST – 4:00 PM CST on Friday)
- Email:
- General Support: Support@tastytrade.com
- Accounts: Accounts@tastytrade.com
- Banking: Banking@tastytrade.com
- Trade Desk: Tradedesk@tastytrade.com
- Futures (Overnight Session): Futures@tastytrade.com
- Tech: Tech@tastytrade.com
- Feedback: Feedback@tastytrade.com
- Live Chat: Yes, with a human customer service representative or a chatbot
Interactive Brokers
Learning and Educational Tools
- Discover: Investors can find new markets and investment ideas using third-party content found using the Discover tool.
- IBKR Forum: Traders and investors at Interactive Brokers can use the forum to share ideas, post articles, compare notes on market movements, and get answers to questions in a communal space.
- Client Portal: Use this tool to manage open orders, place orders, and view your recent trades.
- TradingView: This space allows investors to learn more quickly about Interactive Brokers’ 150 global markets and what they offer, including stocks, futures, and bond trading.
- TWS Excel API: Connect Microsoft Excel to Trader Workstation to request market data, automate tasks, place orders, and view account or portfolio data.
Customer Service
- Email: There’s no direct email address, but you can contact the team via the generic contact form.
- Live Chat: Go to the Client Portal to access the live chat function, which offers speedy service.
- Community Forum: Get help from other Interactive Broker members without contacting the help center.
Phone Numbers (14 Locations)
Location | Number | Hours of Operation |
|---|---|---|
Australia | +61 (2) 7251 0088 Direct Dial | 19:30 (Sun – Thu) – 05:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Canada | +1 (877) 745-4222 Toll-Free | 08:00 – 17:30 (Mon – Fri) |
Canada | +1 (877) 745-4222 Toll-Free | 11:00 – 20:30 (Mon – Fri) |
China | +86 (21) 6086 8586 Direct dial | 21:00 (Sun – Thu) – 06:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Europe | 00800-42-276537 Toll-Free | 03:00 – 12:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Hong Kong | +852-3107-8333 Direct dial | 20:00 (Sun – Thu) – 05:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Hungary | +36 80 088 400 Toll-Free | 03:00 – 12:00 (Mon – Fri) |
India | +91 22 61289888 Direct dial | 20:30 (Sun – Thu) – 08:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Ireland | +353 1 264 0643 Direct dial | 03:00 – 12:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Japan | +81 (3) 4590 0707 Direct dial | 19:30 (Sun – Thu) – 04:30 (Mon – Fri) |
Russia | 8-800-100-8556 Toll-Free | 02:00 – 11:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Singapore | +65 6990 5200 General | 20:00 (Sun – Thu) – 05:00 (Mon – Fri) |
United Kingdom | +44 20 3744 7220 Direct dial | 03:00 – 12:00 (Mon – Fri) |
United States | +1 (877) 442-2757 Toll-Free | 08:00 – 20:00 (Mon – Fri) |
Trading Experience and User Reviews
How does the public feel toward Interactive Brokers and tastytrade? We took to Trustpilot to get some feedback from current and former users of these platforms to get a good idea of what these websites and apps are like from users’ perspectives, those with firsthand experience in trading with them.
Trader Sentiment Toward Ease of Use
tastytrade
Trustpilot Review—Dated 11/17/23“One of the best brokers on the planet! Sincerely!
I personally use different brokers for different markets but I love TastyTrade for options trading. They have a great platform. They have incredible customer service (super professional and friendly)! They’re cashiering department is ALWAYS on time, extremely attentive, and also super friendly. Tasty just blows away all of the dinosaur brokerages everyone’s aware of.
You really don’t have to put up with a crappy broker. I should’ve made the switch a long time ago – I really can’t say enough great things about them. You’re just going to have a great experience with them.”–Ariel B.
Trustpilot Review—Dated 11/17/23“Very low friction process for trading options. Great Support team.
Came to tasty in 2021 new to options trading. Found the educational material to be very practical and helpful along with the overall philosophy of trade small, trade often. Have since traded options on several other platforms and have continued to find the actual act of modeling and making the trade is by far the easiest to do on tasty. Support staff at tasty are always very fast to respond to emailed questions about platform use. They have also continued to update the platform with useful analytics tools.”–Option Eight
Trustpilot Review—Dated 04/09/22“Good broker, but needs full 2FA at log in
So, overall the cheapest broker for US stocks, very good spreads, real time data. Great for EU investors, who otherwise don’t have access to US etfs. However, security is very important for me, and even though they have two factor authentication for fund transfers, the actual log in and trading is only protected by one password, which I regard as not safe enough. I just don’t understand why they don’t implement an option to have full 2FA for logging into the account. If tasty gets hacked, you have sipc protection, however if your password gets hacked, the bad guys can trade on your account and ruin it. That’s why I wouldn’t commit a larger fraction of my funds to this account.”–EU Retail Investor
Interactive Brokers
Trustpilot Review—Dated 10/21/24“Super easy to use – excellent summary tables – low cost
Buying shares, ETFs is super easy. The summary tables of one’s performance are fantastic. You can see immediately where you win and lose money and your IRR compared to several indexes. You can buy a very wide variety of financial instruments. Fees are very reasonable. Once you test IBKR, you close all your share accounts in traditional commercial banks for individuals.”
–Bernard C.
Trustpilot Review—Dated 10/02/24Excellent brokerage for savvy investors, traders and users. Commissions are not the lowest especially for option contracts; however, executions will typically be better than at the competition and this will more than make up for the slightly higher commissions. Website and App is almost never down, another improvement over the competition. Statements are accurate, fees are reasonable.”
–DR1
Trustpilot Review—Dated 05/19/24“Interactive Brokers gives an investor all tools to increase your net worth
For an active trader, especially an option trader IB is 99.5% hands down the best platform, considering overall costs, -esp margin costs. The platform may take a little getting use to, but you will be operating smoothly fairly quickly. Informative videos are available on many topics, strategies, etc The only reason I didn’t give 100% bc I can’t say I have had experience with all, but I have had accounts with all the large platforms and IB beats them all, there may be a smaller player I haven’t had experience with, but the very solid financial strength is a factor also. Happy trading!”
–JRJR
Community and Resources
- Tastytrade: tastytrade comes with a community forum where traders and investors can talk about their experiences, share new ideas, or support one another.
- Interactive Brokers: The IBKR Forum promotes conversations between IBKR customers, where they can post ideas, articles, or observations on options trading.
Pros and Cons Summary
If you’re interested in learning the main strengths and weaknesses of using Interactive Brokers or tastytrade, we’ve outlined the major pros and cons you’ll experience with each for your convenience. These are far from being perfect trading platforms but we feel that both offer many more positive features and elements than they offer negative ones.
tastytrade
Pros
- Suitable for active and experienced traders
- Quality analysis and research tools
- User-friendly mobile app and desktop version
- Educational resources
- Low options fees
- No inactivity fee
- Free stock trading
- User-friendly banking options
- No deposit fees
- Free ACH withdrawals (US)
- Price alerts (desktop only)
- Customizable desktop version
- Order confirmations (mobile app)
- Quick, fully digital account sign-up
- Clear fee reports
Cons
- Not a good option for beginners or novice traders
- The features can be overwhelming for some people
- The fee structure isn’t suited for newbies
- A limited selection of production
- No paper trading available
- Limited deposit/payout options
- Credit/debit cards aren’t available
- High margin rates (stock trading)
- Bank transfers come with a withdrawal fee
- No price alerts on the mobile app
Interactive Brokers
Pros
- Large investment section
- Caters to individual, professional, and institutional investors
- Good research tools
- Wide range of educational resources
- Customizable tools, research, and investment choices
- High-order execution quality
- No transaction fee mutual funds
- Commission-free ETF, stocks, and options
- Low fees and transaction costs
- Fraction shares available
- Good option for US stocks
- Hold multiple currencies and trade in foreign markets
- Great mobile experience
- Excellent web portal for individual investors
- Portfolio Builder tool
- Lite and Pro versions
- Access a free demo account
- Test strategies with the profitability lab
Cons
- High minimum to earn interest on uninvested cash
- The site can be challenging to navigate for new users or beginners
- The pricing can be confusing
- User must figure out taxes on their own
Who Should Choose Which Broker?
We’d recommend taking some time to run through the pros and cons of using Interactive Brokers and tastytrade along with reading this next section to find out which platform is the best fit for your trading objectives. If you don’t take anything else from our guide, we’d want you to read through these two important sections to give you the best idea of which platform is best for you.
- tastytrade: This platform caters well to new traders with its robust array of educational resources and research tools, active traders with its competitive fee structure which rewards frequent traders, and independent traders. The design of tastytrade is so much simpler and straightforward compared to IB, making it much easier to use and learn.
- Interactive Brokers: IB tends to be the best option for traders focused on low-cost trades and global market access. It’s designed for sophisticated traders, including active investors and institutional traders. IB features far more advanced trading tools like automated trade execution, portfolio management tools, risk management tools, research facilities, and low commissions and fees, all of which appeal to traders with more experience.
Final Recommendation
Newer traders will benefit from using tastytrade due to its simple design and excellent learning tools, while advanced traders with a sophisticated approach might prefer Interactive Brokers for its array of advanced trading tools and more competitive fees and product offerings. We’d encourage you to read our full reviews of Interactive Brokers and tastytrade for more information to make your decision that much easier!
