Interactive Brokers vs Saxo 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 and Saxo are two reputable online brokers with strong regulatory standings, but there are some key differences. Founded in 1977, Interactive Brokers is a publicly traded company, while Saxo, established in 1992, also operates as a bank. Both brokers hold the highest Trust Score of 99 from ForexBrokers.com, indicating a high level of trust. In terms of licensing, Interactive Brokers holds 9 Tier-1 licenses and 2 Tier-2 licenses, while Saxo has 7 Tier-1 licenses and 1 Tier-2 license, reflecting their strong standing within the financial industry.

Overall, both Interactive Brokers and Saxo offer secure and well-regulated platforms for trading, with a slight edge in regulatory licenses in favor of Interactive Brokers. Their differences in company structure and trading status might appeal to different types of investors, with Interactive Brokers being ideal for those seeking a publicly traded entity, and Saxo being a suitable choice for those interested in a brokerage with banking capabilities.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Year Founded info	1977	1992
Publicly Traded (Listed) info	Yes	No
Bank info	No	Yes
Tier-1 Licenses info	9	7
Tier-2 Licenses info	2	1
Tier-3 Licenses info	0	0
Tier-4 Licenses info	0	0

Fees

Interactive Brokers and Saxo both stand out with top ratings for their commissions and fees, each receiving a commendable 5 out of 5 stars in this category. When it comes to ranking, Interactive Brokers secures the #2 spot out of 63 brokers, indicating a slight edge over Saxo, which holds the #9 position. Interactive Brokers offers competitive pricing; however, it does not publish its average spreads for forex. During Q3 2024, the EUR/USD spread averaged 0.19 pips, effectively 0.59 pips after factoring in commissions. Commissions begin at a modest 0.00002 (0.2 basis points) of the U.S. dollar trade value with a $2 minimum per order, potentially dropping to 0.08 basis points for very active traders. They aggregate prices from 17 major interbank dealers, charging commissions that range from $16 to $40 per million round turn.

Saxo, on the other hand, boasts a solid pricing structure, especially when catering to high-volume traders and those managing significant account balances. As of November 2023, Saxo offered average spreads of 1.1, 1.0, and 0.9 pips for Classic, Platinum, and VIP accounts, respectively. Saxo's pricing for Platinum and VIP accounts tends toward the industry average, while the Classic account is slightly higher. Saxo is generally commission-free and earns from the spread, though traders with monthly trading volumes below 50,000 units are subject to a $3 ticket fee per side. Notably, Saxo's VIP account won the 2024 Annual Award for the #1 VIP Client Experience, providing significant savings, exclusive events, and analysis access for those meeting the elite criteria.

Both brokers have unique strengths: Interactive Brokers for those who prefer a commission-based model with potential discounts for large volumes, and Saxo for those favoring spread-based costs supplemented by extensive loyalty rewards and tiered account benefits. While Interactive Brokers offers competitive pricing and execution methods, Saxo complements its offerings with valuable incentives and recognition as a top choice for VIP clients and active traders. The choice can ultimately rest on an individual trader’s specific preferences and trade volumes.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Minimum Deposit info	$0	$0
Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account info	0.59 info	1.1 info
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active info	0.65 info	0.9 info
Non-wire bank transfer info	Yes	No
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	No
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) info	No	No
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) info	Yes	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.

Range of investments

Interactive Brokers vs Saxo: both brokers deliver a wide range of investments. Each offers forex trading available as CFDs or spot, lets you buy exchange‑traded securities on U.S. markets (think Apple) and on international exchanges (like Vodafone), and supports cryptocurrency via CFDs. Key differences: Interactive Brokers also allows buying actual crypto, while Saxo does not; Saxo includes copy trading, while Interactive Brokers does not.

Scope of markets varies. Saxo lists about 70,000 tradeable symbols and 190 forex pairs, appealing if you want a very large catalog. Interactive Brokers offers about 8,500 symbols and 90 forex pairs, yet it still earns 5/5 stars for Range of Investments and ranks #1 out of 63 brokers at ForexBrokers.com (Saxo also earns 5/5 stars and ranks #3). Choose Saxo for sheer symbol count and copy trading, or pick Interactive Brokers if direct crypto ownership and top category ranking matter most.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Tradeable Symbols (Total) info	8500	70000
Forex Pairs (Total) info	90	190
U.S. Stocks (Shares) info	Yes	Yes
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 vs Saxo: both earn five stars for trading platforms and tools. According to ForexBrokers.com, Saxo ranks #1 out of 63 brokers, while Interactive Brokers comes in at #3. Each broker offers a proprietary platform with both a Windows desktop download and a web-based platform, plus free paper trading (demo accounts) to practice without risking real money. Both also support trading directly from charts. If you need MetaTrader, note that neither broker offers MT4 or MT5.

The biggest difference is copy trading: Saxo offers it, while Interactive Brokers does not. If you want to follow and mirror other traders, Saxo will be the better fit. If you prefer self-directed trading with highly rated tools across desktop and web, Interactive Brokers is a strong choice. Your pick should come down to whether you value copy trading or a focus on hands-on, chart-driven trading with a demo account to test ideas first.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
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	No
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) info	No	No
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	155	64
Charting - Trade From Chart info	Yes	Yes

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

Forex trading apps

Interactive Brokers and Saxo both offer mobile trading apps for iPhone and Android. Each app supports stock and forex price alerts and syncs your watchlists between the mobile app and your online account, so changes you make on one device show up everywhere.

For charting, Interactive Brokers includes 97 technical studies versus Saxo’s 64. Both apps let you draw trendlines; however, only Saxo auto-saves your chart drawings, while Interactive Brokers does not. Both mobile trading apps earn 5-star ratings, with ForexBrokers.com ranking Interactive Brokers #4 and Saxo #2 out of 63 brokers. Choose Interactive Brokers if you want more built-in indicators; pick Saxo if auto-saving drawings matters more.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Android App info	Yes	Yes
Apple iOS App info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Price Alerts info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Watchlists - Syncing info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies info	97	64
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave info	No	Yes

Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.

Market research

When comparing the market research offerings of Interactive Brokers and Saxo, both platforms provide a substantial array of resources. They each deliver daily market commentary and forex news from top-tier sources like Bloomberg and Reuters, ensuring users stay informed with reliable insights. However, Interactive Brokers extends its advantage with exclusive market research tools from TipRanks and Acuity Trading, which are not available through Saxo. Despite this, Saxo shines with its integration of Autochartist, a popular tool for technical analysis, whereas Interactive Brokers does not offer this feature.

Both brokers come equipped with sentiment-based trading tools and economic calendars to track global news events. While Interactive Brokers garners an impressive five-star research rating and holds the third position among 63 brokers for research, Saxo achieves not only a five-star rating as well but is also ranked as the top provider in this category. This suggests that although Interactive Brokers provides diverse research tools, Saxo's research is considered unparalleled by ForexBrokers.com, highlighting its superior overall research offering.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Daily Market Commentary (Articles) info	Yes	Yes
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) info	Yes	Yes
Autochartist info	No	Yes
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

Comparing Interactive Brokers and Saxo for beginner education, both brokers shine: each hosts ongoing client webinars (at least monthly) and offers 10+ beginner video lessons, plus 10+ advanced videos when you’re ready to level up. Both earned a 5 out of 5 star rating for Education from ForexBrokers.com, making them strong choices for learning the basics and building skills over time.

Where they differ is in the Education category ranking out of 63 brokers: Interactive Brokers is ranked #3, while Saxo sits at #13. If you want the higher-ranked learning experience, Interactive Brokers has the edge. That said, Saxo still provides plenty of webinars and video lessons to get started. If you’re focused on topics like trading strategies or market walkthroughs (including areas such as forex and CFDs), check each broker’s library to see which format and depth you prefer.

Feature	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
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 Saxo. Interactive Brokers finished with an overall rank of #2, while Saxo finished with an overall rank of #3.

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	Saxo
Overall Rating info
Trust Score info	99	99
Range of Investments
Commissions & Fees
Platforms & Tools
Research
Mobile Trading
Education

FAQs

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What funding options does each broker offer?

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Overall Rating	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Overall Rating info
Commissions & Fees
Range of Investments
Platforms & Tools
Mobile Trading
Research
Education
Trust Score info	99	99
Winner	check_circle
Review	Interactive Brokers Review	Saxo Review

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

Regulation	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Trust Score info	99	99
Year Founded info	1977	1992
Publicly Traded (Listed) info	Yes	No
Bank info	No	Yes
Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). info	Yes info	Yes info
Tier-1 Licenses info	9	7
Tier-2 Licenses info	2	1
Tier-3 Licenses info	0	0
Tier-4 Licenses info	0	0

Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted)	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Australia (ASIC Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
Canada (CIRO Authorised) info	Yes	No
Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
Japan (SFC Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
Singapore (MAS Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) info	Yes	Yes
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	Yes info

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

Investments	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) info	Yes	Yes
Tradeable Symbols (Total) info	8500	70000
Forex Pairs (Total) info	90	190
U.S. Stocks (Shares) info	Yes	Yes
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	Saxo
Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account info	0.59 info	1.1 info
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active info	0.65 info	0.9 info
Inactivity Fee info	No	Yes
Order execution: Agency info	Yes	Yes
Order execution: Market Maker info	No	Yes

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

Trading Platforms	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
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	No
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) info	No	No
cTrader info	No	No

Trading Tools	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Virtual Trading (Demo) info	Yes	Yes
Price Alerts info	Yes	Yes
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) info	155	64
Charting - Trade From Chart info	Yes	Yes
Charts can be saved info	Yes	Yes

Mobile Trading	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
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	Yes
Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies info	97	64
Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines info	Yes	Yes
Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave info	No	Yes
Mobile Research - Economic Calendar info	Yes	Yes

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

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

Major Forex Pairs	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
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	Saxo Review

Overall	Interactive Brokers	Saxo
Overall Rating info
Commissions & Fees
Range of Investments
Platforms & Tools
Mobile Trading
Research
Education
Trust Score info	99	99
Winner	check_circle
Review	Interactive Brokers Review	Saxo Review