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IBKR vs Firstrade in 2026
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Interactive Brokers vs Firstrade Overview
Should you choose Firstrade or Interactive Brokers (IBKR)? Firstrade has the lower pricing
schedule for many basic online trades, while Interactive Brokers is stronger for software and advanced trading
tools.
Cost Comparison
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
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Firstrade
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$0
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$0
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$0 per contract
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$0
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$0
|
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IB
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$0
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3% of trade value up to $14.95
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$0.65 per contract
|
$0
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$0
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Services Comparison
| Broker Review |
Cost |
Investment Products |
Trading Tools |
Customer Service |
Research |
Overall Rating |
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Firstrade
|
|
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|
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IB
|
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Promotions
Interactive Brokers: Use this referral link to get up to $1,000 of IBKR stock for free!
Firstrade: Currently, no promotions.
Firstrade Pros and Cons
Firstrade customers will probably appreciate these major advantages:
- No per-contract options fees
- Excellent list of more than 11,000 mutual funds
- Free access to security research from Morningstar and other providers
The broker’s weaker points include:
- Software is not as advanced
- Some asset classes aren’t tradable
Interactive Brokers Pros and Cons
IBKR’s main advantages include:
- Multiple software platforms, some of which are professional-level
- Large list of tradable assets
- Many advanced trading features (discussed up ahead)
IBKR’s downsides are:
- Software can take time to learn
- Per-contract options fees
Here is how these two brokerage firms compare in the most important investment categories:
Available Products
Firstrade customers can trade these investment vehicles:
- ETFs
- Mutual funds and closed-end funds
- Options contracts
- Equities
- Fixed-income securities
- IPOs
The broker-dealer’s tradable lineup includes penny stocks and over-the-counter stocks.
Interactive Brokers offers the same broad categories Firstrade has, plus these assets:
- Structured products
- Futures
- Currencies
- Precious metals, including spot gold and silver for eligible clients
- Warrants
- Contracts for difference for eligible non-U.S. and non-Canadian clients
- Cryptocurrencies
IBKR also has a very broad foreign securities service that gives clients access to many overseas investments. Firstrade does not have a global investment service of the same type.
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Research and Education
The Interactive Brokers website is a strong starting point for learning about trading and investing. Open the Education section from the top menu and you’ll find many resources, including:
- Self-guided courses on a range of topics
- Live and recorded webinars
- Blog
- Glossary
- In-person events in Europe and Canada
The broker’s platforms include screeners and security profiles. IBKR also provides access to many free and premium third-party research and news services. The available details go beyond simple trade ideas and include items such as dividend history, ESG ratings, and news articles.
Firstrade tries to compete with IBKR in this category through its own education and research sections. However, they do not provide the same depth of course material and platform training. Firstrade does offer webinars, but we didn’t find the same level of in-person events.
Security research is supplied through Morningstar and other providers. We also liked Firstrade’s
screeners, which are simple to use.
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Website Trading
Firstrade’s website is fairly simple, but its trade bar helps improve the experience. The tool can place orders for equities, options, ETFs, and closed-end funds. It can also handle a small amount of research if you do not want to use other parts of the site for that. Charts are available on Firstrade’s website in either Morningstar’s format or TradingView’s.
At Interactive Brokers, traders can use several web-based platforms. The first is Client Portal, which includes many useful tools. Examples include:
- Basic charting
- Lots of research tools
- Advanced trade ticket with several order types
- iBot, an AI-powered assistant
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Desktop Software
IBKR clients who do not want to use a browser-based platform can choose Trader Workstation, the firm’s desktop software. Available to both Pro and Lite customers at no charge, this professional-level platform delivers a deep trading experience with many tools. Highlights include:
- Access to foreign exchanges
- Margin details on any entered ticker symbol
- Advanced charting
- Another appearance from iBot
Firstrade has no comparable professional-level downloadable desktop platform like Trader Workstation.
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Mobile Apps
Traders who cannot sit at a desktop or laptop can use a smartphone platform at either broker. Interactive Brokers’ app also works on tablets, and the company has a platform for Apple Watch, too.
Highlights from IBKR’s mobile app include:
- Horizontal charting with many tools, such as Bollinger Bands
- Wheel order ticket in horizontal mode
- Regular order ticket in vertical mode
- Alerts
- Security screeners
- Option spreads
- Demo mode
Firstrade’s app doesn’t have a demo mode, but it does provide horizontal charting with several technical studies.
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Day Trading & Swing Trading
Margin: Interactive Brokers has very low margin rates, and its desktop platform can show margin details for a hypothetical trade. Firstrade’s software doesn’t do this.
Shorting: Only IBKR provides online short locating.
Extended hours: Both brokerage firms offer extended-hours and overnight trading. IBKR has more total hours and a very large list of eligible securities.
Level 2 quotes: Firstrade doesn’t offer these advanced quotes, but IBKR does.
Direct-access routing: Again, IBKR offers this service, but Firstrade doesn’t.
Routing fees and rebates: Same story here.
Winner: Interactive Brokers
Miscellaneous Services
Dividend reinvestment program: Both firms offer DRIP service, although IBKR only permits automatic dividend election to be controlled at the account level by default.
IRAs: Both firms offer Individual Retirement Accounts, but only Firstrade has the SIMPLE account.
Automatic investing: A periodic mutual fund investing service is available at
Firstrade. Interactive Brokers offers recurring investments for eligible stocks and ETFs.
Whole-dollar investing: Both firms offer fractional-share trading. Firstrade supports fractional shares in eligible U.S. stocks and ETFs, and IBKR supports fractional shares in eligible U.S., Canadian, and European stocks and ETFs.
Winner: Firstrade
Recommendations
Long-term investors and retirement savers: We pick Firstrade for a larger selection of target-date mutual funds.
Beginners: Interactive Brokers has stronger educational materials, but Firstrade has simpler software. Toss up.
Stock/ETF trading: Interactive Brokers easily.
Small accounts: Firstrade or IBKR Lite.
Options trading: Firstrade offers Options Wizard, powered by OptionsPlay, a decent derivative trading tool. But IBKR offers many professional-level options tools on Trader Workstation, and these get our stamp of approval.
Promotions
Interactive Brokers: Use this referral link to get up to $1,000 of IBKR stock for free!
Firstrade: Currently, no promotions.
Firstrade vs Interactive Brokers Results
Although Firstrade has one of the most appealing commission schedules, it still does not offer all the bells and
whistles. Mutual fund investors, however, should find plenty to like there.
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Updated on 5/28/2026.
Chad Morris has been analyzing investment firms for Brokerage-Review.com since 2015. Backed by FINRA Series 65, 66, and SIE credentials, his work reflects a deep knowledge of the retail brokerage industry and digital trading tools.
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