Interactive Brokers vs JP Morgan Chase


2023 JP Morgan Self-Directed Investing (Chase) vs Interactive Brokers (IBKR): which firm is better? Compare IRA/Roth accounts, online investing fees, stock broker mutual fund rates, and differences.


Overview of Interactive Brokers and Chase


Interactive Brokers (IBKR) advertises its low margin rates a lot. But does that mean it’s a better choice than Chase’s new upstart J.P. Morgan? There’s only one way to find out.


Cost


Broker Fees Stock/ETF
Commission
Mutual Fund
Commission
Options
Commission
Maintenance
Fee
Annual IRA
Fee
IB $0 $14.95 $0.70 per contract $0 $30
Chase $0 $0 $0.65 per contract $0 $0
WeBull $0 na $0 per contract $0 $0


Services


Broker Review Cost Investment Products Trading Tools Customer Service Research Overall Rating
IB
Chase
WeBull


Promotions


WeBull: 12 FREE stocks valued $36-$36,000 when you deposit ANY AMOUNT at Webull.

Interactive Brokers: Use this referral link to get up to $1,000 of IBKR stock for free!

Chase: Get zero commission on stock and ETF trades.



Financial Instruments


IB customers can trade these products:

  • Closed-end funds
  • Mutual funds
  • ETFs
  • Futures (including index, Bitcoin, and currency contracts)
  • Precious metals
  • Forex
  • Structured products
  • Contracts for difference
  • Equities (including penny and OTC)
  • Options (with options on futures)
  • Warrants
  • Fixed income
  • Cryptocurrencies

J.P. Morgan Chase provides trading in these assets:

  • Equities (including penny stocks, but not OTC stocks)
  • Option contracts
  • Exchange-traded funds
  • Closed-end funds
  • Mutual funds
  • Bonds

Interactive Brokers offers a very extensive global investing service that provides access to many foreign exchanges for multiple financial instruments. During our exploration, we also found an IPO service. Neither of these is available to J.P. Morgan Chase clients.

Winner: Interactive Brokers


JP Morgan Chase Trading Account


Desktop Software


Interactive Brokers has a desktop program available free of charge to both IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro customers. The software has many professional-level features, including:

- Advanced charting with full-screen mode and many tools, including right-click trading
- Order form with many choices, such as bracket orders and margin details for every entered ticker symbol
- iBot, an AI that can answer some questions
- Ability to trade warrants, forex, and futures
- Access to global markets
- Customization and multiple layouts
- Watchlists and market movers
- Demo mode for extra practice

J.P. Morgan Chase has no desktop platform.

Winner: Interactive Brokers


Other Computer Software


IB clients get other trading tools, too. A client portal is a browser-based trading platform that offers weaker charting compared to the desktop system but better research tools. During our trial run of the program, we were able to trade fractional shares of stocks and ETFs.


IB vs Chase


WebTrader is another browser-based program. Only IBKR Pro customers can use it. It offers direct-access routing for derivative trades, a unique feature. Interactive Brokers also offers API functionality.

Once again, J.P. Morgan Chase fails to offer anything here.

Winner: Interactive Brokers


Mobile Apps


Both brokerage firms have mobile apps, although their trading abilities differ widely. On IB’s platform, we found advanced charting with several tools. Moreover, the software has two trade tickets. Take your pick. iBot and a demo mode make appearances as well.


IBKR Lite Mobile App Review


J.P. Morgan Chase’s app has very simple charting, but we did find options trading. Many features found on IB’s app are simply missing on J.P. Morgan Chase’s.


JP Morgan Chase vs IB


Winner: Interactive Brokers


Mutual and Exchange-traded Funds


The best place to go for fund research at Interactive Brokers is the client portal. Here users will find the following resources on fund profiles:

  • Lipper ratings
  • Top 10 holdings
  • Performance history
  • ESG ratings
  • News articles
  • Free fund reports from the ETF Research Center
  • And more!

There’s also an ETF scanner in the client portal, but not a mutual fund screener.

At J.P. Morgan Chase, we did locate both an ETF screener and a mutual fund search tool. Both screeners are easy to use and we found them more effective than IB’s ETF screener. Some of the search criteria on J.P. Morgan Chase’s screeners include:

  • Age of fund (years)
  • Turnover ratio (%)
  • Overall risk rating
  • Minimum investment ($)

Fund profiles show the growth of $10,000, option chains if available, Morningstar ratings, top 10 holdings, and more. IB’s profiles have much more info, however.

Winner: Draw


Options Trading


J.P. Morgan Chase provides chains for calls and puts on its software platforms. It does not have any pre-installed multi-leg strategies, though. IB’s software uses calls and puts by default; but this setup can be changed by turning Strategy Builder on. There are several spreads in IB’s software, including:

  • Unbalanced butterfly
  • Calendar spread
  • Iron condor
  • Synthetic

Winner: Interactive Brokers


Portfolio Management


If you lack the time or skill to manage your own investments, you could turn over the reins to a professional. Chase offers managed accounts through J.P. Morgan Portfolios. This service uses only JPMorgan funds and costs 0.35% per year.

Self-directed accounts through J.P. Morgan Chase can use Portfolio Builder for free; although the service does require $2500 in assets. The digital tool (as the name implies) constructs a brokerage account based on time horizon, goals, and risk tolerance. Unlike J.P. Morgan Portfolios, Portfolio Builder will construct an asset allocation among many ETFs and stocks.

Interactive Brokers doesn’t offer any type of portfolio management at this time; although it does provide its trading technology to independent investment advisors who do offer account management services.

Winner: J.P. Morgan Chase


Day and Swing Trading


Shorting: J.P. Morgan Chase does not have a short locate tool, but IB does.

Extended Hours. Interactive Brokers, but not J.P. Morgan Chase, offers trading before and after the normal day session.

Level II Quotes. Same story here.

Direct-access routing. Again, same story.

Margin. J.P. Morgan Chase doesn't offer margin accounts. Interactive Brokers does, and IBKR Pro clients consistently get some of the lowest margin rates available in the brokerage industry today.

Routing Fees and Rebates. Interactive Brokers has maker-taker fees. J.P. Morgan Chase does not.

Winner: Interactive Brokers


Other Services


Dividend Reinvestment Program: Auto dividend reinvesting is available at both brokerage firms at no cost. However, only J.P. Morgan Chase permits DRIP settings to be established for each individual security in an account. At Interactive Brokers, only an entire account can be enrolled or unenrolled.

IRAs: Individual Retirement Accounts are available at both brokers in this contest. J.P. Morgan Chase offers fewer IRA types than its rival.

Automatic Mutual Fund Investing: J.P. Morgan Chase customers can set up periodic deposits into mutual funds. IB customers cannot.

Winner: J.P. Morgan Chase


Lastly, Our Recommendations


Beginners: Because IB is designed for experienced traders, we pick J.P. Morgan Chase.

Long-Term Investors and Retirement Savers: J.P. Morgan Chase.

Mutual Fund Traders: J.P. Morgan Chase.

Stock/ETF Trading: Interactive Brokers.

Small Accounts: Either.


Best Brokers





JP Morgan Chase vs IBKR: Results


For professional-level trading, Interactive Brokers is hard to beat. For home gamers, J.P. Morgan Chase looks like the better firm.



About the Author
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.