Interactive Brokers is the platform that professional traders, hedge funds, and serious retail investors use when they need access to everything. Thomas Peterffy, a Hungarian immigrant who pioneered electronic trading on Wall Street, founded the company in 1978. It went public on NASDAQ in 2007.
The brokerage offers access to 150+ markets across 33 countries, covering stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, crypto, and more. Users can trade on exchanges in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia from a single account denominated in any of 27 currencies. No other retail broker comes close to this global reach.
IBKR Pro, the flagship platform, is built for active traders and institutions. It offers advanced order types, algorithmic trading, portfolio margining, and API access for custom trading systems. Trader Workstation, the desktop platform, is powerful but notoriously complex — the learning curve is steep. IBKR Lite, launched in 2019, offers commission-free US stock and ETF trading and targets casual investors.
Margin rates at Interactive Brokers are consistently the lowest in the industry, often several percentage points below competitors. The company earns significant revenue from net interest on client cash and margin loans. Client equity exceeds $500 billion, and the platform processes millions of trades daily.
Revenue reached $4.7 billion in 2023 with net income over $2.7 billion. Interactive Brokers is publicly traded (ticker: IBKR) and Thomas Peterffy remains a major shareholder. The company’s automated market-making heritage gives it a technology edge that newer brokerages can’t easily replicate.
