Interactive Brokers
Founded in New York, USA in 1978 by Thomas Peterffy, Interactive Brokers has grown into a global brand with over 2.1 million clients. It is an American Multinational brokerage firm headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. It has become one of the leading online trading solutions for traders, investors, and advisors. The brokers give access to over 5000+ tradable assets including forex, CFDs, warrants, ETFs Options, Futures, Mutual Funds, and Bonds. To trade online, IBKR offers WebTrader, FIX API, MobileTrader (MobileApp), and TWS trading platforms. To learn more about IBKR, you can read our review of Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers Overview
- Founded In: 1978
- Founder: Chairman Thomas Peterffy
- Headquarters: Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
- Minimum Deposit: None
- Maximum Leverage: 500:1
- Regulations: SEC , CFTC ,FCA, FSCS, ASIC , IIROC , FSA
- Trading platform: WebTrader, FIX API, MobileTrader
- Account Types: Family Office Account ,UGMA/UTMA, IRA, Trust ,Joint, Individuals
- Payment Options: Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), ACH (Automated Clearing House), BPAY, Check, Direct Debit, Local Bank Deposits, Transfer from Existing Broker
- US Traders: Accepted
BlackBull Markets
Founded in 2014 in Auckland, New Zealand by Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman, BlackBull is a forex and CFD broker that enables the trading of over 26,000 instruments including forex, CFDs, real stocks, and ETFs. The available platforms are MT4, MT5, TradingView, cTrader, BlackBull shares and BlackBull Trade. Social trading is through BlackBull CopyTrader and ZuluTrade. Trading tools such as free VPS and Autochartist are provided. To learn more about Blackbull Markets, you can read our review where we have covered features, pros, cons, and more.
Blackbull Markets Overview
- Founded In: 2014
- Founder: Michael Walker and Selwyn Loekman
- Trading Instruments: 26000+ trading instruments including Forex, Equities, Commodities (Energies, agriculture, and Metals), Futures, Indices
- Minimum Deposit: between $0 and $20,000 ( $0 for Standard, $2000 for Prime, $20,000 for Institutional Accounts)
- Maximum Leverage: upto 1:500
- Regulations: FMA ,FSA
- Trading platform: MT4,MT5, Ctrader, Tradingview
- Trading Tools: Trading Tools: VPS, Zulutrade, Myfxbook, Calculators,
- Trading Fees: starting from 0.8 pips spreads for Standard account, 0.1 pips spread+$4 per lot for Price account, Spreads 0.0 + $4 per lot for Institutional Account.
- Account Types: Standard, Prime, Institutional
- Payment Options: Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), VISA, MasterCard, Cryptocurrency, FasaPay, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay
- US Traders: Not Accepted
Interactive Brokers vs: BlackBull Markets Features
Interactive Brokers
- Trading Instruments: 5000+Trading instruments including forex, CFDs, warrants, ETFs Options, Futures, Mutual Funds, stocks, options, and Bonds
- Maximum leverage: 50:1 for US Clients, 30:1 for EU clients, and 400:1 for global clients.
- Minimum Deposit: The Interactive Brokers minimum deposit is $0 for a cash account, $2,000 for a T Reg margin account, and $110,000 for a portfolio margin account. The minimum deposit is subject to change depending on the trading account opened and the base currency selected.
- Trading Fees: spreads starting from as low as 0.1 pips, Stock fees USD 0.005 per share.
- PAMM/ MAM: Not Available
- Scalping: Allowed
- News Trading: Allowed
- EA/ Robot Trading: Allowed with Capitalise.ai
BlackBull Markets
- Trading Instruments: 26000+ trading instruments in 80 markets including Forex, Crypto CFDs, Indices CFDs, Commodities CFDs, Stocks CFDs,
- Maximum leverage: up to 1:500
- Minimum Deposit: $0 for standard, $2000 for Prime, $20,000 for Institutional account
- Account Types: Offers 3 account types including ECN standard, ECN Prime, and ECN institutional.
- Fees: starting from 0.8 pips for a standard account, (0.1 pips + $6) per lot for an ECN Prime Account, and (0.0 Pips +$4) for an Institutional account.
- PAMM/ MAM: Yes,
- Zulutrade: Yes
- Scalping: Allowed
- News Trading: Allowed
- EA/ Robot Trading: Allowed
Interactive Brokers vs BlackBull Markets: Pros and Cons
Interactive Brokers Pros & Cons
- IBK is a Forex and Stock Broker
- Excellent reputation (founded in 1978)
- Regulated by top regulators like ASIC, FCA, FSA, SFC, IIROC
- A wide range of products offered warrants, ETFs, Options, Futures, Mutual Funds, Bonds
- Over 18,000 no-transaction-fee mutual funds.
- No monthly inactivity fee
- Low trading fees and high interest (up to 4.58% for USD) on cash balances
- Access to international markets and exchanges
- Mobile apps are convenient for individual investors.
- Complicated account opening
- Learning Curve for Beginners
- The maximum leverage is only 1:40
- No Metatrader platforms (MT4, MT5) offered
- High minimum deposit requirements for some account types
- Interactive Advisors (Robo-advisor feature) is only available for US customers
- No fixed spread is available
BlackBull Markets Pros & Cons
- Regulated by FMA, FSPR, FSP, FSA-S
- Founded in New Zealand and operating globally
- Professional and Retail Trading options
- No Minimum Deposit Requirement ($0)
- The Maximum Leverage is as high as 1:500
- Allow Scalping, News Trading, EA/Robot Trading
- Offers Multiple Trading platforms including MT4, MT5, WebTrader, TradingView
- Supports multiple third-party copy trading platforms, such as ZuluTrade, Duplitrade, and Myfxbook.
- BlackBull lacks additional Tier-1 regulatory licenses outside of New Zealand.
- $2,000 minimum deposit for Prime Account
- The Ctrader platform is not offered
- Withdrawal fees
- Limited Research Tools
- Not very diverse range of tradable assets
Interactive Brokers vs BlackBull Markets: Side-by-Side Comparison
Interactive Brokers Vs BlackBull Markets: Our Scores and Ratings
We rated both brokers, Interactive Brokers and BlackBull Markets, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 0.1 increments. To achieve a comprehensive rating, we broadly grouped all services offered by brokers into 6 macro categories and assigned percentage weights to them. Each macro category is subdivided into several data points which contributes to the total score of 1.0-10.0 assigned to each macro category. Since all categories are not equally important, our weight percentage plays a significant role in assessing the broker accurately. For example, Regulation and Security contributes a total weight of 40% to the whole ratings because this is the most important rating category. To learn more, read our methodology.
