Interactive Brokers vs ActivTrades 2025

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Regulation

Interactive Brokers, founded in 1977, and ActivTrades, established in 2001, present distinct profiles in the online brokerage landscape. Interactive Brokers stands out as a publicly traded company, while ActivTrades remains privately held. Neither company operates as a bank. In terms of regulation, Interactive Brokers holds an impressive nine Tier-1 licenses, indicating a high level of trust, compared to ActivTrades' two Tier-1 licenses. Both firms maintain additional Tier-2 licenses, signaling their commitment to maintaining trusted operations.

When considering trustworthiness as determined by ForexBrokers.com, Interactive Brokers achieves a near-perfect Trust Score rating of 99, placing it at the top of the list for reliability. On the other hand, ActivTrades earns a respectable Trust Score of 81, categorizing it as trusted. These scores emphasize Interactive Brokers' strong regulatory framework and its established reputation in the financial sector.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Year Founded info	1977	2001
Publicly Traded (Listed) info	Yes	No
Bank info	No	No
Tier-1 Licenses info	9	2
Tier-2 Licenses info	2	1
Tier-3 Licenses info	0	0
Tier-4 Licenses info	0	2

Fees

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) delivers lower all-in trading costs for popular forex pairs than ActivTrades based on recent data. In Q3 2024, IBKR’s average EUR/USD spread was 0.19 pips, or about 0.59 pips all-in after commission. ActivTrades reported an average EUR/USD spread of 0.98 pips in May 2024. For the Commissions and Fees category, Interactive Brokers earns 5 stars and ranks #2 out of 63 brokers, while ActivTrades earns 4 stars and ranks #21 out of 63.

IBKR charges a commission instead of marking up spreads, aggregating quotes from 17 major banks. Commissions start at 0.00002 (0.2 basis points) of the U.S. dollar trade value per side with a $2 minimum per order ($4 round turn), equivalent to $16–$40 per million round turn ($8–$20 per side). On a $100,000 EUR/USD trade, that’s roughly 0.40 pips in commission on top of the prevailing spread, which produced about 0.59 pips all-in during Q3 2024. Note the $2 per-side minimum makes smaller-than-100k-unit trades proportionally pricier. Active traders can qualify for discounts: the minimum drops to $1.5 per order above $1 billion in monthly volume, and to $1 per order above $5 billion. IBKR Pro and IBKR Lite support forex but are not commission-free.

ActivTrades keeps pricing straightforward with one main account (Individual), plus Professional and Islamic options; spreads are the same across accounts, and there’s no dedicated high-volume or active-trader pricing. The broker lists target spreads by asset, but actual spreads can vary during the day and around rollover. Based on data obtained directly from ActivTrades, average EUR/USD was 0.98 pips in May 2024. Fees can differ by asset and platform, but in head-to-head forex costs, IBKR typically comes in lower on EUR/USD given its commission model and recent average spreads.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Minimum Deposit info	$0	$0
Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account info	0.59 info	1.08 info
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active info	0.65 info	0.92 info
Non-wire bank transfer info	Yes	No
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	No
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	Yes
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) info	Yes	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.

Range of investments

Interactive Brokers wins on sheer choice: about 8,500 tradeable symbols and 90 forex pairs, compared with ActivTrades’ 1,267 symbols and 49 pairs. Both brokers support forex as CFDs and spot, and both offer cryptocurrency CFDs; however, only Interactive Brokers lets you buy actual cryptocurrency. For exchange-traded shares, Interactive Brokers provides access on both U.S. and international exchanges, while ActivTrades offers exchange-traded access on international markets but not U.S.-listed shares.

Features may guide your pick: ActivTrades includes copy trading, whereas Interactive Brokers does not. In testing by ForexBrokers.com for Range of Investments, Interactive Brokers earned 5 stars and ranked #1 of 63 brokers; ActivTrades scored 4 stars and ranked #25. If you want the widest market access—including U.S. shares and actual crypto—Interactive Brokers is the stronger fit, while ActivTrades suits traders who value copy trading and are comfortable with a smaller product list.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Tradeable Symbols (Total) info	8500	1267
Forex Pairs (Total) info	90	49
U.S. Stocks (Shares) info	Yes	No
Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) info	Yes	Yes
Copy Trading info	No	Yes
Cryptocurrency (Underlying) info	Yes	No
Cryptocurrency (CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Disclaimers	Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients).	Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients).

Dive deeper: Best Copy Trading Platforms.

Trading platforms and tools

Interactive Brokers and ActivTrades both offer free paper trading (demo accounts), proprietary platforms, and access via Windows desktop and web browsers. Each broker also lets you place orders directly from charts. The big differences are that ActivTrades supports copy trading and offers MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, while Interactive Brokers does not support copy trading or MT4/MT5 and focuses on its own in-house platform suite.

For trading platforms and tools, ForexBrokers.com rates Interactive Brokers 5 stars and ranks it #2 out of 63 brokers, while ActivTrades earns 4 stars and ranks #26. Choose Interactive Brokers if you want top-rated, in-house tools and don’t need copy trading or MetaTrader; pick ActivTrades if access to MT4/MT5 and copy trading matters more to you.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Virtual Trading (Demo) info	Yes	Yes
Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform info	Yes	Yes
Desktop Platform (Windows) info	Yes	Yes
Web Platform info	Yes	Yes
Copy Trading info	No	Yes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) info	No	Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) info	No	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	155	30
Charting - Trade From Chart info	Yes	Yes

Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.

Forex trading apps

Interactive Brokers and ActivTrades both offer iPhone and Android mobile trading apps with price alerts for stocks and forex. The key difference is watchlists: Interactive Brokers syncs watchlists between the mobile app and your online account, while ActivTrades does not. In testing by ForexBrokers.com, Interactive Brokers earned 5 stars and ranked #4 out of 63 for Mobile Trading Apps; ActivTrades earned 4 stars and ranked #21.

For charting, Interactive Brokers provides 97 technical studies compared with 30 on ActivTrades. Both apps let you draw trendlines, but only ActivTrades automatically saves your drawings. Choose Interactive Brokers if you want deeper analysis tools and synced watchlists, or consider ActivTrades if automatic drawing saves matter more and you prefer a simpler setup.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Android App info	Yes	Yes
Apple iOS App info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Price Alerts info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Watchlists - Syncing info	Yes	No
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies info	97	30
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave info	No	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.

Market research

Comparing Interactive Brokers vs. ActivTrades for market research, both brokers deliver daily market commentary, forex news from top-tier sources (such as Bloomberg, Reuters, or Dow Jones), a sentiment tool showing long/short positioning, and a global economic calendar. Neither broker offers Autochartist tools.

Interactive Brokers pulls ahead with added third-party research: Trading Central analytics, TipRanks insights, and tools from Acuity Trading (including Signal Centre). ActivTrades does not offer these extras. As a result, ForexBrokers.com rates Interactive Brokers 5 stars and ranks it #3 out of 63 brokers for Research, while ActivTrades earns 4 stars and ranks #26.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Daily Market Commentary (Articles) info	Yes	Yes
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) info	Yes	Yes
Autochartist info	No	No
Trading Central info	Yes	No
Client sentiment data info	Yes	Yes
TipRanks info	Yes	No
Acuity Trading info	Yes	No
Economic Calendar info	Yes	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.

Beginners and education

Interactive Brokers and ActivTrades both make it easy for beginners to learn. Each holds client webinars at least once a month and offers a large video library. You’ll find 10 or more beginner videos that explain core trading ideas, plus 10 or more advanced videos for when you’re ready to go deeper. Their lessons and webinars cover trading topics that include forex and CFDs, helping you build skills step by step.

Independent ratings show a clear edge for Interactive Brokers: it earns 5 stars for Education and ranks #1 out of 63 brokers on ForexBrokers.com. ActivTrades scores 4 stars and ranks #30. If your priority is the strongest overall education experience, Interactive Brokers is the better choice; if you want steady webinars and plenty of videos in a simpler package, ActivTrades is a solid alternative.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Webinars info	Yes	Yes
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos info	Yes	Yes
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos info	Yes	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.

Winner

After testing 63 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that Interactive Brokers is better than ActivTrades. Interactive Brokers finished with an overall rank of #2, while ActivTrades finished with an overall rank of #28.

Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted multi-asset broker with an extensive offering of tradeable global markets. It delivers competitive fees and high-quality research and education, as well as a modern, institutional-grade trading platform suite.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Overall Rating info
Trust Score info	99	81
Range of Investments
Trading Fees
Trading Platforms
Research
Mobile Trading
Education

FAQs

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What funding options does each broker offer?

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Overall Rating	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Overall Rating info
Trading Fees
Range of Investments
Trading Platforms
Mobile Trading
Research
Education
Trust Score info	99	81
Winner	check_circle
Review	Interactive Brokers Review	ActivTrades Review

Broker Screenshots	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Broker Gallery (click to expand) info

Regulation	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Trust Score info	99	81
Year Founded info	1977	2001
Publicly Traded (Listed) info	Yes	No
Bank info	No	No
Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). info	Yes info
Tier-1 Licenses info	9	2
Tier-2 Licenses info	2	1
Tier-3 Licenses info	0	0
Tier-4 Licenses info	0	2

Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted)	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Australia (ASIC Authorised) info	Yes	No
Canada (CIRO Authorised) info	Yes	No
Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) info	Yes	No
Japan (FSA Authorised) info	Yes	No
Singapore (MAS Authorised) info	Yes	No
Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) info	Yes	No
United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
USA (CFTC Authorized) info	Yes	No
New Zealand (FMA Authorised) info	No	No
Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). info	Yes info

Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted)	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Kenya (CMA Authorised) info		No
Israel (ISA Authorised) info	No	No
South Africa (FSCA Authorised) info	No	No
UAE (DFSA, FSRA, or SCA Authorised) info	Yes	No
India (SEBI Authorised) info	Yes	No
Jordan (JSC Authorised) info		No

Investments	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Tradeable Symbols (Total) info	8500	1267
Forex Pairs (Total) info	90	49
U.S. Stocks (Shares) info	Yes	No
Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) info	Yes	Yes
Copy Trading info	No	Yes
Cryptocurrency (Underlying) info	Yes	No
Cryptocurrency (CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Disclaimers	Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients).	Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients).

Cost	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account info	0.59 info	1.08 info
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active info	0.65 info	0.92 info
Inactivity Fee info	No	Yes
Order execution: Agency info	Yes	No
Order execution: Market Maker info	No	Yes

Funding	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Minimum Deposit info	$0	$0
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	No
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	Yes
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) info	Yes	Yes
Non-wire bank transfer info	Yes	No

Trading Platforms	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform info	Yes	Yes
Desktop Platform (Windows) info	Yes	Yes
Web Platform info	Yes	Yes
Copy Trading info	No	Yes
MetaTrader 4 (MT4) info	No	Yes
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) info	No	Yes
cTrader info	No	No

Trading Tools	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Virtual Trading (Demo) info	Yes	Yes
Price Alerts info	Yes	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	155	30
Charting - Trade From Chart info	Yes	Yes
Charts can be saved info	Yes	Yes

Mobile Trading	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Android App info	Yes	Yes
Apple iOS App info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Price Alerts info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Watchlist [DELETED] info
Mobile Watchlists - Syncing info	Yes	No
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies info	97	30
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave info	No	Yes
Mobile Research - Economic Calendar info	Yes	Yes

Research	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Daily Market Commentary (Articles) info	Yes	Yes
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) info	Yes	Yes
Autochartist info	No	No
Trading Central info	Yes	No
TipRanks info	Yes	No
Client sentiment data info	Yes	Yes
Economic Calendar info	Yes	Yes

Education	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Webinars info	Yes	Yes
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos info	Yes	Yes
Videos - Advanced Trading Videos info	Yes	Yes

Major Forex Pairs	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
GBP/USD [DELETED] info
USD/JPY [DELETED] info
EUR/USD info	Yes	Yes
USD/CHF [DELETED] info
USD/CAD [DELETED] info
NZD/USD [DELETED] info
AUD/USD [DELETED] info
Review	Interactive Brokers Review	ActivTrades Review

Overall	Interactive Brokers	ActivTrades
Overall Rating info
Trading Fees
Range of Investments
Trading Platforms
Mobile Trading
Research
Education
Trust Score info	99	81
Winner	check_circle
Review	Interactive Brokers Review	ActivTrades Review