Individual Retirement Accounts at Interactive Brokers
Key takeaways:
• Interactive Brokers and its affiliate Interactive Advisors both offer Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
• Multiple IRA options are available at both Interactive Brokers and Interactive Advisors.
• IBKR doesn’t charge recurring fees for IRAs.
If you're seeking a tax-advantaged account to save for retirement, Interactive Brokers might be able to meet your needs. Here’s a detailed look at their retirement account offerings:
Overview of IRAs at Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers offers the ability to open a brokerage account as an IRA. The firm provides the following IRA options:
• Roth
• Traditional
• Rollover
• Inherited
• SEP
• SIMPLE
The Rollover IRA is only available with traditional tax treatment. However, a standard Roth IRA can accept rollovers, so this issue can be easily addressed. The Inherited IRA can be set up with either Roth or traditional tax treatment. Despite recent changes in federal law, SEP and SIMPLE accounts are still limited to pre-tax contributions.
Overview of IRAs at Interactive Advisors
Interactive Advisors, a sister company of Interactive Brokers, offers investment-advisory accounts rather than brokerage accounts. You can open an IRA through Interactive Advisors, but they only provide Roth, Traditional, and Rollover accounts directly.
However, there's a workaround. You can open an IRA at Interactive Brokers and then allocate a portion of it for use at Interactive Advisors. For instance, you could open a SEP IRA at Interactive Brokers and transfer part of it to Interactive Advisors. This way, you can use any IRA available at Interactive Brokers within Interactive Advisors.
Interactive Advisors operates exclusively with robo-advisory services, so all their IRAs are automated accounts.
Available Investments
A brokerage IRA at Interactive Brokers allows you to buy and sell most investment products available in taxable accounts. This includes a wide range of assets such as stocks, bonds, ETFs, futures, options, and mutual funds. Foreign exchanges are also accessible. Cryptocurrencies, however, cannot be traded within these accounts, and some Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) are not permitted either.
A self-directed IRA at Interactive Brokers gives you access to their target-date mutual funds, which are designed to help you build savings over time. These funds are offered by companies like Vanguard and JPMorgan.
A robo-IRA with Interactive Advisors gives you access to a selection of stocks and ETFs, organized by investment themes. Some of these themes include:
• Technology
• Mindful Business Models
• Small Cap Dividend
• Telecom
• Consumer Discretionary
Some themes focus only on stocks, while others only use ETFs, and some combine both types of assets.
Limited Margin for IRAs
Both robo-IRAs and brokerage IRAs at IBKR can apply for limited margin. By default, a managed IRA has limited margin enabled, which allows trading with unsettled funds. However, a brokerage IRA needs to apply for this feature. To do so, log into the client portal, click the head-and-shoulders icon in the upper-right corner, and go to the Settings page. From there, scroll down and click on the Account Type link to apply for limited margin. Note that portfolio margin is not available for any IRA accounts.
Once activated, the limited-margin IRA can trade certain option spreads and operate with unsettled funds, similar to the advisory IRA. However, borrowing currencies is not allowed in limited-margin IRAs. To trade in non-base currencies, a currency exchange must occur. Additionally, withdrawals are only allowed in U.S. dollars, even though an IRA can be opened in any base currency.
Futures trading is permitted in a brokerage IRA, but these products have much higher margin requirements when used in retirement accounts.
IBKR IRA Fees
Self-directed IRAs with Interactive Brokers have no minimum balance requirement. You can open one with any amount or even with zero deposit. There are no recurring fees for these accounts, and commissions are zero on U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs for U.S. residents.
A managed IRA with Interactive Advisors requires a minimum of $100 to begin investing, though some portfolios may have higher minimums. These accounts also have an annual fee, ranging from 0.10% to 0.75%, depending on the investment strategy you choose.
Opening an IRA at IBKR
Opening a retirement account with Interactive Brokers or Interactive Advisors is a simple process. Just click on the red button at the top of either website to either open an account (IB) or sign up (IA). For a robo-IRA, a U.S. residential address is required.
Existing IBKR customers can open an IRA by logging into their account and visiting the Settings page. From there, they can click on the button to open a new account.
For U.S.-based accounts, a Social Security Number is required to open any tax-advantaged investment account. Non-U.S. citizens living in the U.S. may be able to use a passport or tax ID number from their home country.
IRAs at Interactive Brokers can be opened by foreign residents, though Interactive Advisors requires U.S. residency for direct applications. There may be additional restrictions, such as a need for a U.S. Social Security Number or tax ID number for residents of certain foreign countries.
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IBKR IRA Review Judgment
Interactive Brokers and Interactive Advisors provide IRAs in several different formats, with access to a wide range of assets. The brokerage offers excellent pricing, and the advisory services are highly competitive.
Updated on 1/17/2026.
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.
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