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Interactive Brokers vs TD Ameritrade - 2024 Comparison | FxScouts
AuthorAuthor: Björn MichelsUpdated: November 15, 2023

Last Updated On November 15, 2023

Björn Michels

Trading with a reputable online broker is a crucial factor for success in the international markets. At FxScouts, we help you find the broker that suits your trading needs.

Each year we spend thousands of hours testing brokers by opening accounts, testing their platforms, and rating them according to a set of over 200 metrics. We deposit real money with the brokers to ensure that the products and user experience they advertise are consistent with reality.

We have found that the best way for traders to choose a broker is to compare brokers side-by-side. The comparison tool below allows you to compare two brokers based on their ratings and features.

Select brokers to compare

Select brokers to compare

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Broker Score
Risk Statement
Min. Deposit
Regulation
Trading Desk Type
Trading Instruments
Forex Pairs
Crypto Pairs
Pros
Cons
Regulation
Trading Conditions
Trading Platforms
Deposit & Withdrawal
Education & Research
Assets Available
Customer Service
% Lose with this broker
Leverage
Spread
Hedging
Scalping
Account Types
Islamic Account
Trading Platforms
Funding Methods
Trading Commission
11110.54.31/ 5
N/A of retail CFD accounts lose money
USD 1
FCA Regulated Forex Brokers
Commodity Futures Trading Association
ASIC Regulated Brokers
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada
Monetary Authority of Singapore
Securities & Futures Commission
ECN/DMA
Bonds
Cryptocurrencies
Stock CFDs
ETFs
Forex
Futures
Indices
Shares
115
4
  • Well regulated
  • Low minimum deposit
  • Tight spreads
  • Wide range of assets
  • Complicated website
  • No MT4
  • MT5
  • or cTrader
111115/ 5
111115/ 5
111104/ 5
100001/ 5
111115/ 5
111115/ 5
111104/ 5
0
50:1
0.10 pips
IBKR lite
IBKR pro
Clientportal
Trader Workstation
IBKRmobile
Bank Transfer
BPay
ACH
4.4 USD / lot
11110.54.14/ 5
of retail CFD accounts lose money
USD 0
Commodity Futures Trading Association
Monetary Authority of Singapore
Securities & Futures Commission
Market Maker
Cryptocurrencies
Forex
75
0
  • Low minimum deposit
  • Excellent education
  • Wide range of assets
  • Good for beginners
  • Limited funding methods
  • Non-transparent spreads
111104/ 5
11110.54.5/ 5
111104/ 5
110.5002.5/ 5
111115/ 5
11110.54.5/ 5
11110.54.5/ 5
0
50:1
1.20 pips
Individual
WebTrader
thinkorswim
Bank Transfer
ACH
Check
Fees Included in Spread

At FxScouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that Interactive Brokers holds six Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and TD Ameritrade holds three Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences.

 

Is Interactive Brokers financially regulated?

Yes Interactive Brokers was founded in 1977 and is regulated by ASIC, CFTC, FCA, IIROC, MAS and SFC.

 

Is TD Ameritrade financially regulated?

Yes TD Ameritrade was founded in 1975 and is regulated by CFTC, MAS and SFC.

 

Based on these findings, Interactive Brokers earned a higher trust rating than TD Ameritrade.

Does Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that Interactive Brokers has overall lower trading costs than TD Ameritrade. 

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Broker
Trading Conditions
Base Currencies
EURUSD (Standard)
Trading Cost (Standard)
EURUSD (Best)
GBPUSD (Best)
USDJPY (Best)
Commission
Interactive Brokers
111115/ 5
AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, CAD
0.10 pips
USD 5.40
0.10 pips
0.40 pips
0.20 pips
USD 4.40
TD Ameritrade
11110.54.5/ 5
USD
1.20 pips
USD 12
1.20 pips
0 pips
0 pips
USD 0

 

Does Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, 0 offers support for and 0 offers support for . 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

In this case both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade offer copy trading.

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Broker
Platform Choice
Copy Trading
Platforms
Interactive Brokers
111104/ 5
Clientportal
Trader Workstation
IBKRmobile
TD Ameritrade
111104/ 5
WebTrader
thinkorswim

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that Interactive Brokers offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than TD Ameritrade. Interactive Brokers offers 115 Forex pairs to trade and TD Ameritrade offers 75 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, Interactive Brokers offers 4 cryptocurrencies while TD Ameritrade offers 0 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with Interactive Brokers.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that Interactive Brokers charges a withdrawal fee and TD Ameritrade does not. Overall, TD Ameritrade has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Interactive Brokers. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade both have very good educational support. Both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade offer educational support for more experienced traders.

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Broker
Beginner Course
Advanced Course
TD Ameritrade

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that 0 offers better research analysis than 0 and that both Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade offer frequent webinars.

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Broker
Economic Calendar
Autochartist
Trading Central
Trading View
Free VPS
Interactive Brokers
TD Ameritrade

 

Our overall Verdict on Interactive Brokers

Founded in 1977 and listed on the NASDAQ, Interactive Brokers is one of the best-regulated brokers in the industry. Ideal for sophisticated, active traders, Interactive Brokers is in a league of its own with the astounding number of assets on its books and its feature-rich platforms. However, its website, complicated account structure, and unusual trading rules may leave less experienced traders reeling. 

Interactive Brokers’ world-class research, trading tools, and education will leave traders of all experience levels satisfied, and consistent with its excellent reputation, Interactive Brokers’ trading costs are some of the lowest in the industry. Spreads start at 0.1 pips (EUR/USD) in exchange for a round turn commission of 4.4 USD.  

However, under the U.S.-regulated entity, traders will only be able to open a margin day trading account if they deposit more than 25,000 USD. Another complaint traders may have is that Interactive Brokers does not offer third-party platforms like MT4 and MT5.

Our overall Verdict on TD Ameritrade

Founded in 1975 and CFTC-regulated, TD Ameritrade is a popular U.S. broker listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Known for its award-winning thinkorswim platform, TD Ameritrade caters to traders with different experience levels and different financial goals.

Forex traders can open an individual account with no minimum deposit requirement (unless trading with margin) with a spread of 1.2 pips (EUR/USD) and no commissions. These trading costs are around the industry average.

TD Ameritrade has solid educational resources, including a learning center with instructional videos, online courses, and trading demonstrations. It also offers a wealth of market highlights and analyst reports from Dow Jones and Benzinga, among others.

The only drawbacks of an otherwise excellent offering is the lack of funding methods, limited to bank-related transfers and that no support is offered for popular third-party platforms like MT4 and MT5.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

Interactive Brokers has an overall rating of 4.31 and TD Ameritrade has an overall rating of 4.14. For more detail please read our reviews of Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade.

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