Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of Interactive Brokers vs FOREX.com, 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 FOREX.com are two well-established online brokers, both publicly traded and founded in 1977 and 1999, respectively. Neither company operates as a bank, which makes understanding their regulatory standings essential for potential investors. Interactive Brokers and FOREX.com each boast a stellar Trust Score of 99 out of 99 according to ForexBrokers.com, cementing their status as highly trusted brokers.
Both companies hold significant regulatory credentials, with Interactive Brokers possessing 9 Tier-1 licenses, recognized as highly trustworthy, alongside 2 Tier-2 licenses. FOREX.com holds 7 Tier-1 licenses and 1 Tier-2 license. These licenses underscore their commitment to maintaining high regulatory standards, providing users with peace of mind when choosing either for their trading needs.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1977 | 1999 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes |
| Bank | No | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 9 | 7 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 1 |
Interactive Brokers vs. FOREX.com on commissions and fees: Interactive Brokers (5 stars; ranked #2 of 63 for Commissions and Fees) generally delivers lower all-in costs than FOREX.com (4.5 stars; ranked #14 of 63), especially on EUR/USD if you trade standard-size or larger tickets. IBKR prices via a per-trade commission plus tight, bank-sourced spreads, while FOREX.com offers a higher-spread Standard account in the U.S. and a commission-based RAW account with volume rebates.
Interactive Brokers does not routinely publish average forex spreads, but in Q3 2024 the average EUR/USD spread we observed was 0.19 pips, with an effective all-in cost of about 0.59 pips after commission. Forex commission starts at 0.00002 (0.2 basis points) of the U.S. dollar trade value per side, with a $2 minimum per side ($4 round turn), equating to roughly $16–$40 per million round turn. On a $100,000 EUR/USD trade, that’s about 0.40 pips in commission plus the prevailing spread. IBKR aggregates prices from 17 interbank dealers and does not mark up spreads; note the $2 minimum makes trades smaller than 100,000 units proportionally more expensive. Active-trader tiers can cut the minimum to $1.50 per order above $1 billion/month and $1 above $5 billion; large orders can be handled via RFQ. Forex on IBKR Pro and Lite is not commission-free.
FOREX.com’s Standard account averaged about 1.4 pips on EUR/USD in the U.S. (July 2023); outside the U.S., we saw around 0.74 pips. The RAW Spread account shows typical EUR/USD spreads near 0.13 pips (February 2024) plus a base commission of $7 per standard lot ($3.50 per side), for an all-in near 0.83 pips before any rebates. Volume rebates range from $2 to $9 per million, and very high-volume traders (over $2 billion/month) can drive costs lower; however, unless you trade more than $50 million per month, the RAW account’s all-in pricing is usually similar to the Standard account for U.S. residents. In a straight fees comparison, IBKR often comes out cheaper for standard and larger trade sizes, while FOREX.com can be competitive if you qualify for top-tier rebates and prefer its execution choices.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $100 |
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account | 0.59 | 1.4 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.65 | 0.9 |
| Non-wire bank transfer | Yes | Yes |
| 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 vs FOREX.com: both support forex trading as CFDs or spot contracts, but the overall range of investments tilts toward Interactive Brokers. IB lists about 8,500 tradeable symbols and 90 forex pairs, compared with FOREX.com’s roughly 5,500 symbols and 80 forex pairs. That added depth can matter if you want more markets under one roof.
For exchange-traded securities, Interactive Brokers lets you buy actual U.S. and international shares (think Apple on NASDAQ or Vodafone in London), while FOREX.com does not offer exchange-traded stocks. In crypto, IB provides both delivered cryptocurrency and crypto CFDs; FOREX.com offers crypto CFDs only. Neither broker supports copy trading. According to ForexBrokers.com, both earn 5 stars for Range of Investments, with Interactive Brokers ranked #1 of 63 brokers and FOREX.com ranked #7.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 5500 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 90 | 80 |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | No |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | No |
| Copy Trading | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | No |
| Cryptocurrency (CFDs) | 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.
Interactive Brokers vs FOREX.com: Both brokers deliver strong platform lineups. Each offers a free paper trading (demo) account, an in-house platform, a Windows desktop download, and a web-based platform. You can trade directly from charts with either broker, and neither supports copy trading.
The standout difference is MetaTrader support. Interactive Brokers does not offer MT4 or MT5, while FOREX.com supports both MT4 and MT5. Both provide technical indicators and customizable watch lists. For Trading Platforms and Tools, each earns 5 stars; Interactive Brokers ranks #3 out of 63 brokers on ForexBrokers.com, while FOREX.com ranks #7. Pick Interactive Brokers if you’re comfortable with its proprietary platforms and don’t need MetaTrader, or choose FOREX.com if access to MT4/MT5 matters to you.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | 88 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Interactive Brokers and FOREX.com both deliver full-featured mobile trading apps for iPhone and Android. Each app supports price alerts, watchlist syncing with your online account, and drawing tools like trendlines on stock and forex charts. That means your symbols stay aligned across devices, you can react to market moves in real time, and you can mark up charts on the go.
For charting depth, Interactive Brokers offers 97 technical studies, while FOREX.com includes 88—both ample for most traders. A key difference: FOREX.com automatically saves your chart drawings, while Interactive Brokers does not. Both apps earn 5-star ratings for mobile trading. In ForexBrokers.com’s 63-broker review, FOREX.com ranks #3 and Interactive Brokers ranks #4. Choose Interactive Brokers if you want a slightly larger indicator library, or pick FOREX.com if autosaving chart annotations is important to you.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 97 | 88 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
When comparing the market research offerings of Interactive Brokers and FOREX.com, both platforms provide daily market commentary and access to forex news from top-tier sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones. Additionally, both brokers utilize Trading Central tools like Technical Analytics and offer sentiment-based trading tools, allowing traders to see the ratio of long or short positions across currency pairs. They each provide an economic calendar that displays current and upcoming global news events, which helps traders stay informed about various economies around the world.
However, Interactive Brokers stands out for its exclusive partnerships and higher ratings. It offers market research from TipRanks and tools from Acuity Trading, like the Signal Centre, which FOREX.com does not. This distinction likely contributes to Interactive Brokers receiving a five-star research rating, compared to FOREX.com's 4.5 stars. As a result, Interactive Brokers is ranked third out of 63 brokers by ForexBrokers.com for research, while FOREX.com is ranked ninth. These differences highlight Interactive Brokers’ edge in providing comprehensive research options and tools for traders.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | No |
| Trading Central | Yes | Yes |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | Yes |
| TipRanks | Yes | No |
| Acuity Trading | Yes | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
Interactive Brokers vs. FOREX.com for beginner education: both brokers make it easy to get started. Each offers at least ten beginner-focused videos, plus monthly live webinars so you can learn in real time and ask questions. As your skills grow, both also provide ten or more advanced videos, creating a clear path from basics to more complex strategies. You’ll find learning materials in multiple formats, including videos and archived webinars, to support different learning styles.
When it comes to quality, Interactive Brokers has the edge: it earns 5 out of 5 stars for Education and ranks #3 out of 63 brokers at ForexBrokers.com, while FOREX.com scores 4.5 stars and ranks #4. If you want the highest-rated overall education, choose Interactive Brokers; if you’re focused on forex trading, FOREX.com remains a strong option for beginners looking for structured lessons and ongoing webinars.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
FOREX.com
|
|---|---|---|
| Webinars | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
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 FOREX.com. Interactive Brokers finished with an overall rank of #2, while FOREX.com finished with an overall rank of #5.
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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FOREX.com
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 |
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Interactive Brokers supports buying actual (delivered) cryptocurrency and trading cryptocurrency CFDs, whereas FOREX.com offers only cryptocurrency CFDs and not delivered crypto purchases.
Interactive Brokers vs FOREX.com: both brokers support ACH/SEPA and bank wire deposits and withdrawals, but only FOREX.com offers PayPal and Skrill, while Visa/Mastercard availability is 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 | FOREX.com | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | FOREX.com Review |
| Broker Screenshots | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
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| Regulation | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Year Founded | 1977 | 1999 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes | |
| Bank | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 9 | 7 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 1 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 1 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Japan (SFC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| USA (CFTC Authorized) | Yes | Yes | |
| New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes |
| Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | No | ||
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | No | No | |
| UAE (DFSA, FSRA, or SCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) | No |
| Investments | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 5500 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 90 | 80 | |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | No | |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | No | |
| Copy Trading | No | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (CFDs) | 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 | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account | 0.59 | 1.4 | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.65 | 0.9 | |
| Inactivity Fee | No | Yes | |
| Order execution: Agency | Yes | No | |
| Order execution: Market Maker | No | Yes |
| Funding | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $100 | |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | Yes | |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| Non-wire bank transfer | Yes | Yes |
| Trading Platforms | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| 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 | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 155 | 88 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlist [DELETED] | |||
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 97 | 88 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes | |
| Mobile Research - Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | No | |
| Trading Central | Yes | Yes | |
| TipRanks | Yes | No | |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | Yes | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webinars | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Major Forex Pairs | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP/USD [DELETED] | |||
| USD/JPY [DELETED] | |||
| EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CHF [DELETED] | |||
| USD/CAD [DELETED] | |||
| NZD/USD [DELETED] | |||
| AUD/USD [DELETED] | |||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | FOREX.com Review |
| Overall | Interactive Brokers | FOREX.com | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | FOREX.com Review |
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