Interactive Brokers vs CMC Markets

Interactive Brokers vs CMC Markets Comparison Table 2024
Interactive Brokers	CMC Markets
Review 4.3	Review 4.7

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a premier brokerage for experienced traders, providing access to 150 markets in 33 countries, along with a suite of comprehensive investment services. With over 40 years of experience, this Nasdaq-listed firm adheres to stringent regulations by the SEC, FCA, CIRO, and SFC, amongst others, and is one of the most trusted brokers for trading around the globe.	Established in 1989, CMC Markets is a respected broker listed on the London Stock Exchange and authorized by several tier-one regulators, including the FCA, ASIC and CIRO. More than 1 million traders from around the world have signed up with the multi-award winning brokerage.
	Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Customer Reviews
4 Based on 2 Interactive Brokers customer reviews	4.5 Based on 2 CMC Markets customer reviews
Comment by Reviewer
"Interactive Brokers is one of the best brokers for advanced day traders, providing powerful charting platforms, real-time data, and customizable layouts, notably through the new IBKR Desktop application. Its superb pricing and advanced order options also make it highly attractive for day traders, while its diverse range of equities is still among the best in the industry."	"With advanced charting tools and an extensive range of tradable CFDs, including an almost unrivalled selection of currencies and custom indices, CMC Markets provides a fantastic online platform for traders of all levels. "
Pros
IBKR is one of the most respected and trusted brokerages and is regulated by top-tier authorities, so you can have confidence in the integrity and security of your trading account. The TWS platform has clearly been built for intermediate and advanced traders and comes with over 100 order types and a reliable real-time market data feed that rarely goes offline. The new IBKR Desktop platform takes the best of TWS while adding bespoke tools like Option Lattice and Screeners with MultiSort to create a genuinely impressive trading experience for day traders at every level. There's a vast library of free or paid third-party research subscriptions catering to all types of traders, plus you can enjoy commission reimbursements from IBKR if you subscribe to Toggle AI. IBKR continues to deliver unmatched access to global stocks with tens of thousands of equities available from 100+ market centres in 24 countries. While primarily geared towards experienced traders, IBKR has made moves to broaden its appeal in recent years, reducing its minimum deposit from $10,000 to $0. With low commissions, tight spreads and a transparent fee structure, IBKR delivers a cost-effective environment for short-term traders.	The web platform delivers a fantastic user experience with advanced charting tools for day trading and customizable features, catering to both beginners and experienced traders. MT4 (but not MT5) is also supported. CMC offers excellent pricing, including tight spreads and low trading fees for all but stock CFDs. The Alpha and Price+ schemes also offer perks for active traders with up to 40% discounts on spreads. CMC Markets is heavily regulated by reputable financial authorities and maintains its stellar reputation, helping to ensure a secure and trustworthy trading environment. The brokerage continues to stand out with its wide range of value-add resources, including pattern recognition scanners, webinars, tutorials, news feeds, and research from respected sources like Morningstar.
Cons
TWS’s learning curve is steep, and beginners may find it challenging to navigate the platform and understand all the features. Plus500's web platform is much better suited to new traders. IBKR provides a wide range of research tools, but their distribution across trading platforms and the web-based 'Account Management' page lacks consistency, leading to a confusing user experience. Support can be slow and frustrating based on tests, so you might find it challenging to reach customer service representatives promptly or encounter delays in resolving issues. You can only have one active session per account, so you can’t have your desktop program and mobile app running simultaneously, making for a sometimes frustrating trading experience.	Despite improvements, the web platform still requires enhancements to make it as intuitive to trade on as software from rivals like IG. While CMC offers an above-average suite of assets, there is no support for trading real stocks and UK clients can’t trade cryptocurrencies. Trading stock CFDs incurs a relatively high commission, especially compared to the cheapest brokers like IC Markets. An inactivity fee of $10 per month is applied after 12 months of inactivity, which may deter casual investors. The CMC Markets app offers the complete trading package but the design and user experience trails category leaders like eToro.
Awards
	Best Trading App 2023 - DayTrading.com No.1 Platform Technology 2022 No.1 New Tool 2022 No.1 Most Currency Pairs 2022 Best Trade Execution 2021 Best Forex Broker For Beginners 2021 Most Transparent Forex Broker Europe 2020 Best Trading Platform 2020 Best Trading App 2019 Best Customer Service 2018
Instruments
Stocks, Options, Futures, Forex, Funds, Bonds, ETFs, Mutual Funds, CFDs, Cryptocurrencies	CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Treasuries, Custom Indices, Spread Betting
Demo Account
Yes	Yes
Minimum Deposit
$0	$0
Trading Platforms
Trader Workstation (TWS) IBKR Desktop GlobalTrader Mobile Client Portal AlgoTrader OmniTrader eSignal TradingCentral	Web MT4
Payment Methods
ACH Transfer Automated Customer Account Transfer Service Cheque Debit Card TransferWise Wire Transfer	Credit Card Debit Card Mastercard PayPal Visa Wire Transfer
Minimum Trade
$100	0.01 Lots
Regulator
FCA, SEC, FINRA, CFTC, CBI, CIRO, SFC, MAS, MNB	FCA, ASIC, MAS, CIRO, BaFin, FMA, DFSA
Margin Trading
Yes	Yes
Margin Rate
1.55 - 2.59%	1%
STP Account
Yes	No
ECN Account
No	No
DMA Account
Yes	No
MAM Account
Yes	No
PAMM Account
No	No
LAMM Account
No	No
Demat Account
No	No
AI / Machine Learning
Yes	No
Robo Advisor
Yes	No
Negative Balance Protection
Yes	Yes
Market Maker
No	Yes
P2P Trading
No	No
Spot Trading
Yes	Yes
Mobile Apps
iOS & Android	iOS & Android
App Review
The IBKR Mobile app, available on both iOS and Android devices, makes your phone a powerful gateway to your IBKR accounts, offering you the freedom to keep an eye on portfolios, initiate trades, and dive into real-time quotes and charts, all while managing your account activities on the fly. This app stands out for its intuitive design, making it especially welcoming for those just starting their trading journey, providing a smoother and more accessible experience than the more complex TWS platform.	The award-winning app from CMC Markets has transformed mobile trading. The app’s modern and customizable interface offers a unique user experience, distinct from competitors. Moreover, with its comprehensive charting capabilities featuring 25 technical indicators and 15 drawing tools, as well as its fast and stable trading environment, it’s an exceptional choice for day traders.
Android App Rating
4.5	3.7
iOS App Rating
4.3	4.1
Auto Trading
Capitalise.ai & TWS API	Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader
Copy Trading
No	No
Social Trading
No	Yes
Trade Signals
	Yes
VPS Hosting
No	Yes
Tournaments
No	No
Demo Competitions
No	Yes
Ethical Investing
Yes	No
Custodial Account
No	No
Guaranteed Stop Loss
No	Yes
Inactivity Fee
$0	$10
Islamic Account
No	Yes
Account Currencies
USD EUR GBP CAD AUD INR JPY SEK NOK DKK CHF AED HUF	USD EUR GBP CAD AUD NZD SEK NOK SGD PLN
Stock Exchanges
Borsa Italiana CAC 40 Index France Chicago Mercantile Exchange Euronext IBEX 35 Japan Exchange Group Korean Stock Exchange London Metal Exchange London Stock Exchange Nasdaq Nasdaq Nordic & Baltics New York Stock Exchange Russell 2000 Shenzhen Stock Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange	Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) CAC 40 Index France DAX GER 40 Index Deutsche Boerse Dow Jones Euronext FTSE UK Index Hong Kong Stock Exchange IBEX 35 Japan Exchange Group Nasdaq S&P 500 SIX Swiss Exchange Shenzhen Stock Exchange
Commodities
Aluminium Gold Lead Natural Gas Precious Metals Soybeans Zinc	Coffee Cannabis Copper Gasoline Gold Livestock Natural Gas Nickel Oil Orange Juice Palladium Platinum Precious Metals Silver Soybeans Steel Sugar Wheat
CFD Trading
Over 8,000 CFDs are offered on a vast array of instruments, encompassing stocks, indices, forex, and commodities. Moreover, the TWS platform lends itself to seasoned day traders, offering a comprehensive selection of over 100 order types and algorithms, alongside premium market data sourced from reputable sources such as Reuters and Dow Jones.	CMC lets you trade CFDs on 12,000+ assets across currencies, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs and treasuries. Spreads are relatively tight, there are no hidden fees and the industry-leading MetaTrader 4 platform is also supported for leveraged trading. Year after year, CMC shines as one of the best CFD brokers in the market.
Leverage
1:50	1:30 (Retail), 1:500 (Pro)
FTSE Spread
0.005% (£1 Min)	1 pt
GBPUSD Spread
0.08-0.20 bps x trade value	0.9
Oil Spread
0.25-0.85	3.5
Stocks Spread
0.003	0.02
Forex Trading
IBKR presents an extensive range of over 100 major, minor, and exotic forex pairs, surpassing the offerings of nearly all leading alternatives, though not CMC Markets. Forex trading occurs over multiple platforms and boasts institutional-grade spreads starting from 0.1 pips and 20 complex order types, including brackets, scale, and one-cancels-all (OCA) orders.	CMC presents an extensive array of 300+ forex pairs characterized by tight spreads and rapid executions, surpassing the offerings of many competitors in terms of currency diversity. Forex indices also present a fairly unique and holistic way to speculate on the value of key currencies like the USD, EUR and GBP.
GBPUSD Spread
0.08-0.20 bps x trade value	0.9
EURUSD Spread
0.08-0.20 bps x trade value	0.7
EURGBP Spread
0.08-0.20 bps x trade value	1.1
Assets
100+	300+
Currency Indices
	USD EUR GBP JPY CAD AUD NZD CHF
Cryptocurrency
IBKR lets you purchase and hold Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin at competitive commission rates and without needing a crypto wallet. Additionally, there is a range of other diverse assets to explore, such as crypto indices like the NYSE Bitcoin Index, as well as futures contracts like the BAKKT Bitcoin Futures.	CMC Markets offers trading on popular digital tokens like Bitcoin but really stands out for its crypto indices that provide broader exposure to the cryptocurrency market. There is also minimal slippage and an excellent 99.9% fill rate, making CMC a great option for active crypto day traders.
Spread
0.12%-0.18%	From 1.3
Coins
BTC LTC ETH XRP	BTC BCH ETH LTC EOS TRON NEO ADA XLM
Crypto Lending
No	No
Crypto Mining
No	No
Crypto Staking
No	No
Auto Market Maker
No	No

Review	Review
	Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
More Comparisons
Interactive Brokers vs	CMC Markets vs