Interactive Brokers: Your Guide to Market Success
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is one of the leading financial platforms for trading foreign currencies, options, and stocks. It was founded in 1977 and has won several awards for excellent service over the decades. IBKR offers eight trading platforms, each suited to a unique trading experience.
It is a publicly traded company with over $14 billion in shareholder’s equity. Its headquarters is in Connecticut, USA, where it operates and provides its services in over 200 countries.
How to Get Started
Getting started on Interactive Brokers Malaysia is straightforward and fast. IBKR provides comprehensive trading tools for individuals and institutions. So, your trading environment will depend on which category you choose.
The IBKR individual account comes in two types: the Lite and Pro versions. With an individual account, you can manage your personal trades and invest profitably with IBKR’s smart tools. You can also manage multiple accounts from a single master account.
The individual account comes with the following advantages:
- Access to $0 commissions on US-listed stocks and ETFs through the Lite account.
- A comprehensive suite of trading tools and technologies.
- As low as 5.83% in margin rates.
- Up to 4.83% interest for USD cash balance.
- Special Stock Yield Enhancement Program to earn passive income on fully paid shares in your account.
- Access to 150+ markets across 30+ countries.
- Option to buy fractional shares for a more diversified portfolio.
- 25+ tradeable foreign currencies.
Interactive Brokers’s institutional account provides the perfect suite of trading tools for mutual fund managers, small business investors, or an IRA administrator. Here are the additional benefits you get on IBKR’s institution account:
- Reporting and billing support so you can present all your trading activities in the most transparent way possible.
- Free CRM and PortfolioAnalyst for more detailed trading analysis.
- IBKR BestX™ advanced trading tools suite for the best trade executions and least market impact while trading.
- Zero ticket charges or reporting fees.
Each institution account type has a unique design. Interactive Brokers uses an industry-personalized approach to capture the features of each institution account. The accounts range from those for prop traders, hedge funds, small businesses, employment plan administrators, and money managers.
Here are all the available account types at a glance:
Account Types | |||
Individual | UGMA/UTMA | Advisor | Hedge Fund & Mutual Fund |
Joint | Non-Professional Advisor | Money Manager | Compliance Officers |
Trust | Small business | Broker & FCM | Administrators |
IRA | Family office | Proprietary Trading Group | Institutional Hedge Fund Investors |
How to Create an Account
To begin, tap on the Open Account on the top-right side of IBKR’s homepage. The application starts immediately with a pop-up box. You’ll need to fill in your email address, username, password, and country. Once your account is set up, you get access to the trading terminal. For users in Singapore looking to create an Interactive Brokers Singapore account, the steps are the same, ensuring a smooth setup experience.
However, to fully complete your application, you will have to provide additional information. For an individual account, this includes your:
- Contact information.
- Income and tax information.
- Experience and objectives.
- Bank account.
For an institution account, this includes:
- Tax and contact information of the organization.
- Personal and contact information of the authorized person on this account.
- Documents proving the existence of your organization.
- Bank account information.
Login Process
The Interactive Brokers login process is fast and easy once you’ve opened an account.
- Tap the Login box on the homepage.
- Enter your username and password.
- Click Login to complete the process.
Once you’ve signed into your account, here are the features you can expect to see:
Tradable Assets | Trading Tools | Services | Fees & Charges |
Stocks | Japanese Candlestick chart | IBKR GlobalAnalyst | Zero trading fees for IBKR Lite for stock trading. |
Bonds | Technical indicators | PortfolioAnalyst | $0.0005 to $0.005 per share, depending on the commission structure in IBKR Pro for stock trading. |
Mutual funds | Economic events calendar | Bonds Marketplace | Zero base commissions for options trading but up to 65 cents per contract. |
ETFs | Fundamentals explorer | Mutual Funds Marketplace | No annual, transfer, closing, or inactivity fees. |
Options | Market screener | Zero-fee ETFs | 3.83% and 4.83% interest rate on balance over $10,000 in Lite and Pro accounts, respectively. |
Fractional shares | Mutual Fund scanner | Investors’ Marketplace | $0 account minimum accepted. |
Crypto | Bond scanner | Bank Deposit Sweep Program | $1 minimum tradable amount per order. |
Forex | World Data Screener | IBKR’s Securities Loan Borrow (SLB) system | 6.8% USD margin rate |
Metals | World Map Screener | IBKR Mobile app | Free one-time withdrawal per month. $10 per withdrawal is applicable consequently. |
Interactive Brokers Demo Account: A Sneak Peek
You can try most of the trading features without a real account. To access the demo account, navigate to the top bar on the homepage. Click on the Free Trial icon, and you’ll be redirected to the signup page.
After registration, you’ll get $1,000,000 in a simulated trading account. You can use this money to trade real-time forex markets. To access the simulated trading environment, switch from live to paper trading in the login box. The login box should change to the following setup. The Free Trial offer gives you demo access, so you don’t need to pay Interactive Brokers fees to trade.
Enter your username and password, and you’re ready to try out the available trading features. With the free trial, you can execute trades, add watchlists, access research tools, and access educational resources. Some of the limitations of the demo account include the inability to view performance charts or execute live trades.
Interactive Brokers in Malaysia: Closer to Reality
From providing its suite of trading tools to featuring Malaysian-based financial instruments, IBKR remains a critical part of Malaysia’s fintech industry, according to the latest Interactive Brokers review.
The Forex Screener
Interactive Brokers provides some forex screener tools, which come in handy for narrowing down on potential trades or investments. You’ll find the tools under the Research dropdown list.
Understanding the Forex Screener Tool
The forex market is vast, and so are the trading opportunities. One way to stay ahead of the game is by concentrating on a section of the market and using a demo account. Forex screeners allow you to filter through thousands of financial assets so you can focus on those you’re most interested in, while an Interactive Brokers demo account allows you to test your trading strategies without using real money.
The forex screener tool is easy to use, as all you have to do is input your desired metrics. The algorithm will work with your terms and give you the most suitable options. Rest assured that results are based on real-time data featuring the bid, ask, and last price. You can reset the screener to the default setting anytime.
Features and Benefits of Using Forex Screener
Interactive Brokers provides GlobalAnalyst as a service for users looking to identify trading or investing opportunities among thousands of options. There are two primary forex screeners in the GlobalAnalyst portal.
The first is the World Map Screener, a simple tool that allows you to use market capitalization, EPS growth, earnings per share, and other financial metrics to streamline your search. Once you highlight the metrics for your search, the algorithm will combine them into a single blended score and show you the stocks that best meet your criteria.
The second is the World Data Screener, an advanced tool for comparing assets based on their prices and financial metrics. The results are categorized based on global socks in the same currency. The filters available vary from region, country, industry, market cap, and currency. These tools come in handy when you’re down to earth about finding new investment opportunities.
Additionally, IBKR features three forex scanners: the market, the mutual fund, and the bond scanner.
In the market scanner settings, you’ll find a variety of stocks to choose from. US, Europe, and Asia stocks are available, including ETFs, futures, and indices. You can toggle between NASDAQ and OTC markets or filter based on price range and volume. One final feature that comes as a bonus is the option of limiting search results based on Top% Gainers, Top% Losers, Most Active, and Hot Contracts.
The mutual fund scanner provides more specific results than the market scanner. With the mutual fund scanner, you can filter results by country, fund family, if a commission is charged, and the fund type.
The bond scanner features a more elaborate filtering system compared to other scanners on the list. It has five different scanning interfaces, including global corporate bonds, US CFDs, Treasury bonds, Muni bonds, and non-US sovereign bonds. Each category provides segments for the maturity date, yield to worst, coupon rate, and other personalized features.
Interactive Brokers in Different Regions
It is available in over 200 countries across five regions: the Americas, Asia Mideast, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Africa. A region may be subject to different offerings depending on the regulations of that region. For example, IBKR allows one free withdrawal per month. After the first withdrawal, different Interactive Brokers withdrawal fees may apply for any subsequent withdrawal. To see if IBKR provides support for your country, scroll to the footer section of the homepage and tap on Account Type. You’ll be redirected to a new page; tap on Configuring Your Account from the list.
Click on the region your country belongs to and search for it in the dropdown menu. If you can’t find it among the available options, you won’t be able to trade a live account on IBKR. That said, IBKR supports over 200 countries, and chances are, yours is on the list!
Interactive Brokers Singapore: Regulations and Access
Interactive Brokers Singapore Pte. Ltd. is a subsidiary of the group. The Singaporean arm has a license and compliance with the regulations of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This ensures that IBKR provides safe, secure, and properly regulated financial services. Singaporean investors can sign up on IBKR with equal access to the full suite of trading tools that are generally available.
Interactive Brokers Malaysia: Availability and User Experience
Interactive Brokers offers global access for all Malaysian citizens and tax residents living in Malaysia who are 18 years or older. Creating an account or logging into your IBKR trading account from Malaysia is seamless and hassle-free. All trading tools and Interactive Brokers account types are fully accessible at the tap of a button. IBKR is also licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), ensuring your trading activities are safe and legal.
FAQ
Visit the Research section. Tap on the scanner for your intended asset class. You can choose between market, bond, and mutual fund scanners. Customize your search experience using the array of filters available.
You will not receive any charges for using the Interactive Brokers Forex screeners. The tools are free for both individual and institutional accounts.
The screening criteria vary depending on the tool and data source. For technical indicators, IBKR uses time frames to determine which data is most accurate. On the other hand, the forex screeners work by pulling data from various stock exchanges, which are updated in real time.