Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of Interactive Brokers vs Swissquote, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
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.
Interactive Brokers vs. Swissquote: Both are long-standing, publicly traded online brokers. Interactive Brokers was founded in 1977, while Swissquote began in 1996. According to ForexBrokers.com, each earns a 99/99 Trust Score—placing them in the highly trusted 90–99 range. Swissquote is a bank; Interactive Brokers is not.
Regulation and licenses: Interactive Brokers holds 8 Tier-1 and 2 Tier-2 licenses; Swissquote holds 5 Tier-1 and 2 Tier-2. ForexBrokers.com classifies Tier-1 regulators as highly trusted and Tier-2 as trusted, so both offer strong oversight. Interactive Brokers covers more top-tier jurisdictions, while Swissquote pairs top-tier regulation with bank status.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1977 | 1996 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes |
| Bank | No | Yes |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 5 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 2 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
Interactive Brokers stands out for low forex trading costs, especially for active traders. It uses commission-based pricing rather than marking up spreads, and in Q3 2024 its average EUR/USD spread was 0.19 pips, with an estimated all-in cost of about 0.59 pips after commission. Forex commissions start at $2 per order per side, which makes small trades less attractive, but costs can fall for high-volume traders. Interactive Brokers is rated 5 stars and ranks #2 out of 36 brokers for commissions and fees.
Swissquote is generally more expensive, with pricing that varies by region and account type. Its U.K. accounts tend to be the cheapest, with the Elite account charging a $5 round-turn fee and offering tighter spreads, while other accounts can start at 1.3 pips on EUR/USD or higher. In Switzerland and Luxembourg, spreads are also higher on the standard tiers, and the best rates are usually reserved for clients with larger deposits. Swissquote is rated 3.5 stars and ranks #35 out of 36 brokers for commissions and fees.
Overall, Interactive Brokers is the better choice if your main goal is to keep trading costs down, while Swissquote may appeal more to traders who value the brand and banking connection, even if that means paying more. For most price-conscious forex traders, Interactive Brokers offers the clearer edge on commissions, spreads, and overall value.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $1000 |
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account | 0.226 | N/A |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.226 | N/A |
| 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 and Swissquote both give investors access to a wide mix of markets, including forex, U.S. exchange-traded shares, international stocks, and actual cryptocurrency. Each broker also offers spot or CFD forex trading, with Interactive Brokers listing 90 forex pairs and Swissquote offering 80. Both support trading on major U.S. and overseas exchanges, so you can buy real shares rather than only CFDs.
Where Interactive Brokers pulls ahead is breadth: it offers about 8,500 tradable symbols, compared with 472 at Swissquote. Interactive Brokers also does not offer copy trading or cryptocurrency CFDs, while Swissquote does both. Even so, both brokers earn a 5-star rating for range of investments, with Interactive Brokers ranked #1 and Swissquote ranked #2 out of 36 brokers by ForexBrokers.com.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 472 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 90 | 80 |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | Yes |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | Yes |
| Copy Trading | No | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | Yes |
| 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 Swissquote both give traders a strong set of platform choices, including free paper trading accounts, their own in-house platforms, Windows desktop downloads, and web-based trading. Both also let users trade directly from a chart, which can make placing orders quicker and more convenient. In ForexBrokers.com’s Trading Platforms and Tools review, Interactive Brokers stands out with a 5-star rating and a #2 ranking out of 36 brokers, while Swissquote earns 4.5 stars and ranks #12.
Where Swissquote pulls ahead is in a few extra features for active traders, including copy trading and support for both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, which Interactive Brokers does not offer. That makes Swissquote a better fit for traders who want access to popular third-party tools, while Interactive Brokers may appeal more to those who prefer a top-rated, well-rounded trading setup with a focus on its own platform and chart-based trading tools.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Copy Trading | No | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 155 | 86 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Interactive Brokers and Swissquote both offer mobile trading apps for iPhone and Android, along with stock or forex price alerts and the ability to draw trendlines on charts. Where Interactive Brokers stands out is in charting depth and account syncing: its mobile app includes 155 technical studies and keeps watchlists synced between the app and the online account, so updates carry over both ways. Swissquote offers fewer charting tools, with 30 technical studies, and its watchlists do not sync across devices.
In overall mobile trading app reviews, Interactive Brokers comes out ahead with a 5-star rating and a #4 ranking out of 36 brokers from ForexBrokers.com. Swissquote also scores well, with a 4.5-star rating and a #12 ranking. One small difference to note is that Swissquote’s app can auto-save chart drawings, while Interactive Brokers does not. For traders who want more charting options and synced watchlists, Interactive Brokers has the edge; Swissquote still offers a solid mobile experience, especially for users who value saved chart work.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | No |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 155 | 30 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
Interactive Brokers and Swissquote both give traders daily market commentary, news from major sources like Bloomberg, Reuters, and Dow Jones, and an economic calendar for tracking key global events. That means both brokers offer useful basics for staying on top of market moves and important data releases. However, Interactive Brokers goes further with more built-in research options, including Trading Central, sentiment tools that show long and short positioning, TipRanks, and Acuity Trading. Swissquote also offers some helpful extras, but its research lineup is more limited overall.
In third-party reviews, Interactive Brokers comes out ahead for research with a 5-star rating and a #3 ranking out of 36 brokers from ForexBrokers.com. Swissquote is still strong, with a 4.5-star rating, but it ranks #15 in the same category. If market research is a major part of your trading routine, Interactive Brokers offers the wider set of tools, while Swissquote covers the essentials well.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | Yes |
| Trading Central | Yes | No |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | No |
| TipRanks | Yes | No |
| Acuity Trading | Yes | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
For beginners looking for learning materials, both Interactive Brokers and Swissquote offer a wide range of education, including forex or CFDs content, monthly online client webinars, and at least 10 beginner and 10 advanced trading videos. That means each broker gives new traders plenty of ways to learn the basics and keep building skills over time. Both platforms can work well for self-paced learning, with webinars and video lessons that help explain trading topics in a simple way.
That said, Interactive Brokers comes out ahead on education overall. It is rated 5 stars for Education and ranks #1 out of 36 brokers by ForexBrokers.com, while Swissquote is rated 4.5 stars and ranks #19. So while both brokers are strong choices for beginner education, Interactive Brokers appears to offer a slightly better learning experience for traders who want the most complete set of educational resources.
| Feature |
Interactive Brokers
|
Swissquote
|
|---|---|---|
| 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 Swissquote. Interactive Brokers finished with an overall rank of #2, while Swissquote finished with an overall rank of #11.
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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Swissquote
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 |
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Both Interactive Brokers and Swissquote let you buy actual (delivered) cryptocurrency, but only Swissquote also offers cryptocurrency CFDs, while Interactive Brokers does not.
Interactive Brokers and Swissquote both support ACH/SEPA and bank wire transfers for deposits and withdrawals, while Swissquote additionally accepts PayPal and Skrill and Interactive Brokers does not; card (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 | Swissquote | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | Swissquote Review |
| Broker Screenshots | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
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| Regulation | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Year Founded | 1977 | 1996 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes | |
| Bank | No | Yes | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 8 | 5 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 2 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Japan (FSA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | Yes | 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 | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | |||
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | No | Yes | |
| UAE (DFSA, FSRA, or CMA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) |
| Investments | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 8500 | 472 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 90 | 80 | |
| U.S. Stocks (Shares) | Yes | Yes | |
| Global Stocks (Non-U.S. Shares) | Yes | Yes | |
| Copy Trading | No | Yes | |
| Cryptocurrency (Underlying) | Yes | Yes | |
| 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 | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average spread (EUR/USD) - Standard account | 0.226 | N/A | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | 0.226 | N/A | |
| Inactivity Fee | No | Yes | |
| Order execution: Agency | Yes | Yes | |
| Order execution: Market Maker | No | Yes |
| Funding | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $0 | $1000 | |
| 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 | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Desktop Trading Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Copy Trading | No | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No |
| Trading Tools | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 155 | 86 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Price Alerts | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlist [DELETED] | |||
| Mobile Watchlists - Syncing | Yes | No | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 155 | 30 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Trendlines Autosave | No | Yes | |
| Mobile Research - Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary (Articles) | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | Yes | |
| Trading Central | Yes | No | |
| TipRanks | Yes | No | |
| Client sentiment data | Yes | No | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Webinars | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Major Forex Pairs | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Swissquote Review |
| Overall | Interactive Brokers | Swissquote | |
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| Trust Score | 99 | 99 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Interactive Brokers Review | Swissquote Review |
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