Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of Interactive Brokers vs Eightcap, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
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Interactive Brokers and Eightcap are both regulated online brokers, but their profiles differ. Interactive Brokers, founded in 1977, is publicly traded and not a bank. Eightcap, founded in 2009, is privately held and also not a bank. According to the ForexBrokers.com Trust Score, Interactive Brokers scores 99/99 (highly trusted, 90–99), while Eightcap scores 87/99 (trusted, 80–89).
Regulatory breadth is another key difference. Interactive Brokers holds 8 Tier-1 licenses (considered highly trusted by ForexBrokers.com) and 2 Tier-2 licenses. Eightcap holds 3 Tier-1 licenses and 1 Tier-2 license. In short, both are regulated and trusted, but Interactive Brokers carries the highest Trust Score and a wider set of top-tier licenses.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1977 | 2009 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | No |
| Bank | No | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 3 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 2 |
Interactive Brokers stands out for its low forex trading costs and is rated 5 stars for commissions and fees, ranking #1 out of 36 brokers in this category. While IBKR does not publish average forex spreads, third-quarter 2024 data showed an average EUR/USD spread of 0.19 pips, which works out to an estimated all-in cost of about 0.59 pips after commission. Its forex commissions start at 0.00002, or 0.2 basis points, of U.S. dollar trade value per side, with a minimum of $2 per order, making smaller trades less cost effective but larger-volume trading relatively cheap. For very active traders, rates can fall even further.
Eightcap is also competitive, but its pricing is a bit higher overall. It earns 4.5 stars for commissions and fees and is ranked #20 out of 36 brokers. On its Raw account, Eightcap lists an average spread of 0.06 pips, and with the $3.50 per-side commission included, the estimated all-in cost is around 0.76 pips. That is still near the industry average, but not as low as Interactive Brokers. Eightcap also offers a spread-only Standard account, so the final cost depends on which account type you choose.
In simple terms, both brokers offer good value, but Interactive Brokers is the lower-cost choice for forex commissions and fees, especially for active traders and larger trade sizes. Eightcap remains a solid option, but it tends to cost a little more on an all-in basis.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $100 |
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Spread-only account | N/A | 1.0 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Raw spread account | 0.626 | 0.76 |
| Non-wire bank transfer (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | No |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.
Interactive Brokers offers a much wider range of investments than Eightcap. It provides access to 8,500 tradeable symbols, including 100 forex pairs, along with exchange-traded securities on both U.S. and international markets. That means clients can buy real shares such as Apple or Vodafone, and they can also buy actual cryptocurrency rather than just a crypto CFD. Interactive Brokers is also available for forex trading, making it a flexible choice for traders and investors who want more market access in one account.
Eightcap also supports forex trading, with 803 tradeable symbols and 55 forex pairs, but its selection is far more limited overall. Unlike Interactive Brokers, it does not offer exchange-traded securities on U.S. or international exchanges, and it does not let clients buy actual cryptocurrency. It does, however, offer cryptocurrency CFDs. Reflecting this difference in product range, Interactive Brokers is rated 5 stars and ranked #1 out of 36 brokers for Range of Investments, while Eightcap is rated 3.5 stars and ranked #31.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 803 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 100 | 55 |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | No |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | No |
| Copy Trading | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFDs) | No | 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.
Interactive Brokers and Eightcap both give traders a choice of paper trading, desktop software for Windows, and a web-based platform, so each broker offers flexible ways to test strategies and trade online. Both also let you place trades directly from a chart, which can be helpful for active traders who want a faster workflow. Neither broker supports copy trading, so if that feature matters to you, you will need to look elsewhere.
The biggest difference is platform variety. Interactive Brokers offers its own in-house platform, while Eightcap does not, but Eightcap supports both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, which Interactive Brokers does not. In reviews of trading platforms and tools, Interactive Brokers is rated 5 out of 5 stars and ranks #2 out of 36 brokers, compared with Eightcap’s 4 out of 5 stars and #34 ranking. In short, Interactive Brokers may appeal more to traders who want a highly rated all-around platform setup, while Eightcap may be a better fit for those who prefer MetaTrader.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | No |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Copy Trading | No | No |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 155 | 100 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Interactive Brokers and Eightcap both make it easy to trade on the go, with iPhone and Android apps, price alerts, watchlist syncing, and the ability to draw trendlines on charts. Both platforms also let users keep watchlists synced between the mobile app and their online account, so changes update in either place.
Where Interactive Brokers stands out is charting depth and overall app quality. Its mobile app offers 155 technical studies, compared with 100 at Eightcap, and it earns a 5-star rating for Mobile Trading Apps versus Eightcap’s 4 stars. It also ranks higher with ForexBrokers.com, placing #4 out of 36 brokers, while Eightcap ranks #34. One area where Eightcap has an edge is auto-saving chart drawings, which Interactive Brokers does not offer in its app.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 155 | 100 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
Interactive Brokers comes out ahead for market research, with a broader set of tools and higher-quality news coverage than Eightcap. Both brokers provide daily market commentary, a sentiment tool, an economic calendar, and access to Acuity Trading tools, but Interactive Brokers also includes forex news from major sources like Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones. It further offers Trading Central research, TipRanks insights, and other features that give traders more ways to follow market moves and find trade ideas.
Eightcap covers the basics well, but its research offering is much lighter overall. It does not provide top-tier forex news, Trading Central tools, Autochartist, or TipRanks, even though it does include daily commentary, sentiment data, Acuity Trading tools, and an economic calendar. That gap is reflected in its lower research score of 3.5 out of 5 and its #35 ranking out of 36 brokers, compared with Interactive Brokers’ 5-star rating and #3 ranking.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | No |
| Autochartist | No | No |
| Trading Central | Yes | No |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | Yes |
| TipRanks | Yes | No |
| Acuity Trading | Yes | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
When it comes to learning support for beginners, Interactive Brokers has a clear edge over Eightcap. Interactive Brokers offers forex and CFD education with at least 10 learning pieces focused on those topics, plus monthly online webinars, 10 or more beginner trading videos, and 10 or more advanced videos for more experienced traders. It also earns a top Education rating of 5 stars and ranks #1 out of 36 brokers in ForexBrokers.com’s Education category.
Eightcap also provides beginner trading videos and offers forex or CFD education, but its overall learning library is smaller and less complete for new traders who want regular live instruction. It does not offer monthly educational webinars, and it falls short on advanced video content. As a result, Eightcap is rated 3.5 stars for Education and ranks #33 out of 36, making Interactive Brokers the stronger choice for education-focused beginners.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Eightcap
|
|---|---|---|
| Webinars | Yes | No |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.
After testing 63 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that Interactive Brokers is better than Eightcap. Interactive Brokers finished with an overall rank of #2, while Eightcap finished with an overall rank of #30.
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
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Eightcap
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| Trust Score | 99 | 87 |
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When comparing online brokers, Interactive Brokers lets you buy actual delivered cryptocurrency (but does not offer crypto CFDs), while Eightcap offers cryptocurrency trading via CFDs (but does not support buying the underlying coins).
Interactive Brokers vs Eightcap: for deposit and withdrawal options, Interactive Brokers supports ACH/SEPA and bank wire transfers but not PayPal or Skrill, while Eightcap supports PayPal, Skrill, and bank wire transfers but not ACH/SEPA (Visa/Mastercard not specified for either).
Please note:
We review each broker’s overall global offering – a “Yes” checkmark in our Compare Tool does not guarantee the availability of any specific features in your country of residence. To verify the availability of any features within your country of residence, please contact the broker directly.
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0 of 5| Overall Rating | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 87 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | Eightcap Review |
| Broker Screenshots | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
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| Regulation | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 99 | 87 | |
| Year Founded | 1977 | 2009 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | No | |
| Bank | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 3 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 1 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 2 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Japan (FSA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | Yes | ||
| United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| USA (CFTC Authorized) | Yes | No | |
| New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes |
| Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | |||
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | No | No | |
| UAE (DFSA, FSRA, or CMA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) |
| Investments | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 803 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 100 | 55 | |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | No | |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | No | |
| Copy Trading | No | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (CFDs) | No | 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 | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Spread-only account | N/A | 1.0 | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Raw spread account | 0.626 | 0.76 | |
| Inactivity Fee | No | Yes | |
| Order execution: Agency | Yes | Yes | |
| Order execution: Market Maker | No | Yes |
| Funding | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $100 | |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| Non-wire bank transfer (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | No |
| Trading Platforms | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | No | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Copy Trading | No | No | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No |
| Trading Tools | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 155 | 100 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 155 | 100 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes | |
| Mobile Research - Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | No | |
| Autochartist | No | No | |
| Trading Central | Yes | No | |
| TipRanks | Yes | No | |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | Yes | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webinars | Yes | No | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | No |
| Major Forex Pairs | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | Eightcap Review |
| Overall | Interactive Brokers | Eightcap | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 87 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | Eightcap Review |
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