Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Comparison – 2024

Top Reasons to Choose Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone

How does the global powerhouse Interactive Brokers stack up against CFD industry innovator Pepperstone? Join us for a detailed side-by-side comparison, exploring key areas like trust, fees, and platforms.

Greenwich, Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR) traces its origins to 1978. A well-established leader in providing access to global markets, IBKR is known for its rock-bottom fees and cutting-edge trading technology. In contrast, Pepperstone, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, is a relative newcomer making significant strides.

When it comes to trust and stability, Interactive Brokers is in a league of its own. It also excels in the overall range of available instruments and fees. On the other hand, Pepperstone offers a wider range of CFD instruments and a more diverse selection of platforms. Its Raw spreads account provides competitive trading costs. I rate Pepperstone as a more user-friendly broker, with better customer support based on my tests. Both brokers offer excellent research and educational materials.

Interactive Brokers: Snapshot

Interactive Brokers is a brokerage industry pioneer with decades of experience. The US-based firm has ten global entities, each licensed and regulated by the corresponding regional financial authority. Clients can access a massive range of assets, including CFDs, global stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds. IBKR offers a range of award-winning platforms, from the web-based client portal to the flagship Trader WorkStation (TWS) platform and two proprietary mobile apps.

Interactive Brokers: Who is it For?

I rated Interactive Brokers as best suited for advanced, semi-professional, and professional traders. However, the offering is also improving for beginners, with the new user-friendly GlobalTrader app and extensive educational materials.

What Makes Interactive Brokers Stand Out?

Interactive Brokers is one of the world’s largest and most stable brokers. It stands apart from other brokers with its enormous range of tradable instruments, competitive fees, advanced trading platforms, and fast order execution.

Pepperstone: Snapshot

Pepperstone is a globally regulated forex and CFD broker with offices in London, Cyprus, Düsseldorf, Dubai, and Kenya. Clients can access over 1,200 CFDs across forex, indices, commodities, shares, and cryptocurrencies. Leading platforms like TradingView, MT4, MT5, and cTrader give traders plenty of options to work with. Pepperstone also provides competitive fees, numerous third-party tools such as Autochartist, as well as custom indicators, and Expert Advisors for MetaTrader 4 and 5.

Pepperstone: Who is For?

Pepperstone is a well-rounded broker that can cater both to beginner and advanced traders. After a thorough review, I concluded that the courses, webinars, and support available are major assets to novice traders. Meanwhile, advanced traders can benefit from tight spreads via the Razor account type and a wealth of sophisticated platforms and tools.

What Makes Pepperstone Stand Out?

Pepperstone offers an excellent range of platforms and tools, a great selection of tradable instruments, and better-than-average customer support. The education and research materials are also first-class. My tests showed that this broker keeps its fees to a bare minimum, with no inactivity fee and no fees for deposits and withdrawals.

Trust

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Trust and Regulation Comparison

Interactive Brokers is one of the world’s largest and most stable brokers. The company is listed on Nasdaq (IBKR), has $14.7 billion in equity capital, and over 2.5 million clients. It is also licensed and regulated by multiple top-tier financial authorities globally.

Pepperstone has a global presence and is licensed and regulated by FCA, BaFin, CySEC, ASIC, DFSA, SCB, and CMA. This places it among the most extensively regulated CFD brokers I have researched. Founded in 2010, the broker has a substantial track record. All client funds are held in segregated Tier-1 banks.

If you want to learn more about brokers’ regulations, be sure to check out our article on the top regulated forex brokers.

Fees

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Spreads, Fees, and Commissions Comparison

Interactive Brokers is highly competitive in the area of fees. It is recognized as a discount leader with the lowest costs in the industry, sometimes by a wide margin. My hands-on tests of forex and CFD instruments showed this to be true. IBKR also does not charge an inactivity fee or any fees for deposits and withdrawals.

Pepperstone’s Standard Account trading fees proved to be mostly average to better than average in my tests using a live account. Some industry leaders offer slightly tighter spreads in their Standard Accounts. However, more competitive pricing is available at Pepperstone via the Razor account type. Pepperstone beats the industry average by not charging an inactivity fee or any fees for deposits and withdrawals.

Platforms and Tools

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Trading Platforms Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers a range of award-winning platforms, from the web-based Client Portal to the advanced Trader WorkStation (TWS) platform and two proprietary mobile apps. I found the TWS platforms powerful enough for professionals, while the GlobalTrader app is user-friendly and accessible to beginners.

Pepperstone clients can access an outstanding range of platforms, including MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and TradingView. While Pepperstone does not offer a proprietary platform, the available selection is excellent in terms of technical features and, in some cases, design and usability. I judged the platform offering as above average for the industry and great for algo traders.

Tradable Instruments

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Instruments Selection Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers an excellent range of over 2 million products to trade, including stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and funds. Traders can access a robust selection of more than 8,000 CFDs on forex and shares, but there is room for improvement in the variety of CFDs on commodities.

Pepperstone offers an impressive range of over 1,200 tradable instruments, including CFDs on forex, stocks, ETFs, stock indices, currency indices, and cryptocurrencies. The selection is far better than the industry standard and is surpassed in sheer numbers by only a few market leaders.

Customer Support

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Customer Support Comparison

Interactive Brokers customer service is available via chat, phone, and contact form from Sunday afternoon through Friday evening, New York time. Customer support is not available on Saturday. In my tests, I found room for improvement in the quality of customer support.

Pepperstone offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and email. Responses were prompt in my tests across each medium, and operators were well-informed and helpful. Overall, my experience with customer support at Pepperstone was positive and far better than average for the industry.

Research

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Research Tools Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers outstanding market commentary and comprehensive financial news coverage through Traders’ Insights, available on its website and trading platforms. The IBKR analyst team provides a steady stream of fresh content, supplemented by third-party contributors such as Nasdaq, Investopedia, and Redwall Analytics.

Pepperstone delivers insightful research from its in-house team of analysts, available in both written and video formats. These materials are complemented by the third-party technical analysis tool Autochartist. I found Pepperstone’s research and analysis to be among the best available within the CFD industry.

Deposits & Withdrawals

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Deposit and Withdrawal Methods Comparison

Interactive Brokers clients are limited to wire transfers and ACH bank transfers for deposits and withdrawals. Some popular funding methods, such as credit cards and digital wallets, are unavailable. Requests are processed relatively fast, and IBKR does not charge any fees for deposits or withdrawals.

Pepperstone provides a standard range of deposit and withdrawal methods, including bank transfers, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal. Processing times are relatively fast, and no fees are charged for deposits and withdrawals unless they are international.

Account Types and Terms

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Account Types Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers a broad range of account types, including Individual, Joint, and Trust accounts. IBKR provides a free simulated account with a balance of $1M, which traders can use across all platforms: Web Portal, Trader WorkStation, IBKR Mobile, and the GlobalTrader app. However, swap-free Islamic accounts are not available. The minimum deposit is $5. Maximum leverage varies by region, and since IBKR does not have an offshore entity, the highest leverage available is 1:30.

Pepperstone offers two account types: Standard and Razor. The Standard account is mostly suited for beginners and casual traders, while the Razor account with raw spreads and commissions caters more to advanced and professional traders. Demo and Islamic accounts are available to clients. The minimum deposit is $0. Maximum leverage varies by region, with the offshore (Bahamas) entity offering up to 1:200.

Education

Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone Educational Content Comparison

The Interactive Brokers Traders’ Academy provides over 65 finance courses broken down into beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. The high-quality materials go into substantial depth and include interactive quizzes to aid the learning process.

Pepperstone has robust educational resources, including articles, video tutorials, courses, and live webinars. There is something for all levels of traders within this section and live webinars led by 20-year market veteran Mark Holstead provide valuable insights. Based on my assessment, the available resources are superior to most industry rivals.

Our Methodology

Since 2011, FX Empire has developed a detailed methodology for evaluating CFD brokers, involving over 250 variables across nine crucial categories. Our team of experts, with deep industry knowledge, conducts live testing and research by interacting with the brokers directly. We check regulations, open accounts, test spreads, account costs, platform functionality, instrument variety, customer support reliability, and the quality of research and educational content. This granular analysis helps us identify each broker’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping our comparisons current with market trends and ensuring our guides meet traders’ needs.

We strive to evaluate each broker objectively, considering how their offerings align with the diverse trading goals and preferences of our readers. Our focus is on providing a balanced overview of each broker’s strengths and weaknesses. This method ensures that our readers receive clear, insightful comparisons to aid in making well-informed trading decisions.

We employ a comprehensive rating system across nine key categories:

• Trust
• Fees
• Platforms and Tools
• Tradable Instruments
• Customer Support
• Research
• Deposits and Withdrawals
• Account Types and Terms
• Education

In each category, we conduct an in-depth analysis for both brokers, outlining features, advantages, and disadvantages and determining their suitability for different trader profiles. By blending insights from our extensive reviews with first-hand experiences and observations, we ensure each comparison is balanced, informative, and tailored to the trader’s unique needs. You can read more about our review process here.

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