Interactive Brokers vs Admirals 2024

Interactive Brokers is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by nine Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and zero Tier-4 regulators (High Risk). Interactive Brokers is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Securities Futures Commission (SFC), Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system.

Admirals is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Admirals is authorised by four Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), two Tier-2 regulators (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and one Tier-4 regulator (High Risk). Admirals is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system.

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.

Traders choose Admirals for its excellent investor education and advanced MetaTrader features – such as the Supreme add-ons – alongside an extensive range of shares, forex and CFD markets, and premium research content.

To open a trading account with Interactive Brokers, you'll need to make an initial minimum deposit of $0.

Admirals requires a minimum deposit of $100 before you can open an account and start trading.

It's important to make sure that your forex broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. Interactive Brokers offers Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) for banking, whereas Admirals provides Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw), Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) and Neteller (Deposit/Withdraw).

Comparing the trading costs of forex and CFDs is not easy. Not every broker publishes average spread data, and pricing structures vary. Based on our thorough, data-driven testing of each broker's commissions and fees, we found that Interactive Brokers offers better pricing overall for traders.

Methodology: When testing each broker's commissions, fees, and pricing, we analyze multiple trade scenarios and award points based on the expansiveness (or inexpensiveness) of the broker's spreads. We then run multiple scenarios for different investor types, incorporating any miscellaneous fees, to determine an "all-in" cost per trade. Learn more about how we test.

At ForexBrokers.com, we track over 110 international regulatory agencies and sort them by tiers (Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3, Tier-4, and Tier-5) to help you choose well-regulated, highly trusted forex brokers. Learn more about our proprietary Trust Score rating system. Based on our research on the regulatory status of over 60 brokers, we've found that Interactive Brokers holds 9 global Tier-1 licenses, while Admirals holds 4. Admirals holds 3 global Tier-2 licenses, while Interactive Brokers holds 2.

After evaluating each broker based on their number of held licenses, years in business, and a range of other data-driven variables, we've determined that Interactive Brokers (99) earned a higher Trust Score than Admirals (93).

To compare the trading platforms of both Interactive Brokers and Admirals, we tested each broker's trading tools, research capabilities, and mobile apps. For trading tools, Interactive Brokers offers a better experience. With research, Interactive Brokers offers superior market research. Finally, we found Interactive Brokers to provide better mobile trading apps.

Here’s what trading platforms are available at Interactive Brokers:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - No
• MT5 - No
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - Yes

Here’s what trading platforms are available at Admirals:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - Yes
• MT5 - Yes
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - No

The MetaTrader trading platform suite is wildly popular among forex and CFD traders across the globe. Admirals offers MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while Interactive Brokers does not. Forex traders also appreciate the ability to engage in social copy trading. While Admirals offers copy trading, Interactive Brokers does not.

Interactive Brokers provides traders 90 currency pairs (e.g., EUR/USD) compared to Admirals's 82 available pairs. If you are interested in trading a full range of securities, Admirals offers traders access to 8702 tradeable symbols, while Interactive Brokers offers access to 8500 tradeable symbols; so Admirals offers 202 more tradeable symbols than Interactive Brokers.

We found in our testing that Interactive Brokers offers a more diverse selection of investment options than Admirals, allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), U.S. Stocks (CFD), Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) and Cryptocurrency (Physical).