Interactive Brokers vs Trading 212 2023

Comparing the trading costs of forex and CFDs is not easy. Not every broker publishes average spreads data, and pricing structures vary. Based on our thorough annual assessment, Interactive Brokers offers better pricing overall for traders.

At ForexBrokers.com, we track where each forex and CFD broker is regulated across over 23 international regulator databases. Here's our findings. Interactive Brokers holds 9 global Tier-1 licenses, while Trading 212 holds 2. Interactive Brokers holds 1 global Tier-2 licenses, while Trading 212 holds 0. In our analysis of 23 international regulators across 50 brokers, Interactive Brokers (99) earned a higher Trust Score than Trading 212 (77).

To compare the trading platforms of both Interactive Brokers and Trading 212, 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.

For forex and CFDs traders, copy trading and MetaTrader are both popular platform options. Neither broker offers Meta Trader.Copy trading is not offered by either broker.

Trading 212 provides traders 184 currency pairs (e.g., EUR/USD) compared to Interactive Brokers's 90 available pairs. Forex pairs aside, Interactive Brokers offers traders access to 8500 CFDs while Trading 212 has 1785 available CFDs, a difference of 6715.

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 the European Union via MiFID.

Trading 212 is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. Trading 212 is authorized by two tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), zero tier-2 regulators (Average Trust), zero tier-3 regulators (Low Trust), and zero tier-4 regulators (High-Risk). Trading 212 is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the European Union via MiFID.

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.

Best known for its mobile trading app, Trading 212 offers an easy-to-use trading platform suite for CFD and share trading, as well as a large variety of forex pairs. However, despite its well-designed platform and wide range of symbols, its lack of advanced trading tools and flat research offerings hamper Trading 212’s bid to be considered a top broker.