Interactive Brokers vs City Index 2024

Interactive Brokers is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by nine Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and zero Tier-4 regulators (High Risk). Interactive Brokers is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Securities Futures Commission (SFC), Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system.

City Index is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by seven Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), one Tier-2 regulator (Trusted), zero Rier-3 regulator (Average Risk), and one Tier-4 regulator (High Risk). City Index is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system.

Interactive Brokers is a highly trusted multi-asset broker with an extensive offering of tradeable global markets. It delivers competitive fees and high-quality research and education, as well as a modern, institutional-grade trading platform suite.

Backed by StoneX Group, City Index is a trusted brand known for its versatile trading platforms, excellent mobile app, diverse market research, and extensive range of tradeable markets.

To open a trading account with Interactive Brokers, you'll need to make an initial minimum deposit of $0.

City Index requires a minimum deposit of £100.00 before you can open an account and start trading.

It's important to make sure that your forex broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. Interactive Brokers offers Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) for banking, whereas City Index provides Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) and PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw). Neither have Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) and Neteller (Deposit/Withdraw).

Comparing the trading costs of forex and CFDs is not easy. Not every broker publishes average spread data, and pricing structures vary. Based on our thorough, data-driven testing of each broker's commissions and fees, we found that Interactive Brokers offers better pricing overall for traders.

Methodology: When testing each broker's commissions, fees, and pricing, we analyze multiple trade scenarios and award points based on the expansiveness (or inexpensiveness) of the broker's spreads. We then run multiple scenarios for different investor types, incorporating any miscellaneous fees, to determine an "all-in" cost per trade. Learn more about how we test.

At ForexBrokers.com, we track over 110 international regulatory agencies and sort them by tiers (Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3, Tier-4, and Tier-5) to help you choose well-regulated, highly trusted forex brokers. Learn more about our proprietary Trust Score rating system. Based on our research on the regulatory status of over 60 brokers, we've found that Interactive Brokers holds 9 global Tier-1 licenses, while City Index holds 7. Both Interactive Brokers and City Index hold 1 global Tier-2 licenses.

After evaluating each broker based on their number of held licenses, years in business, and a range of other data-driven variables, we've determined that Interactive Brokers and City Index have earned the same Trust Score (99).

To compare the trading platforms of both Interactive Brokers and City Index, we tested each broker's trading tools, research capabilities, and mobile apps. For trading tools, Interactive Brokers offers a better experience. With research, Interactive Brokers offers superior market research. Finally, we found Interactive Brokers to provide better mobile trading apps.

Here’s what trading platforms are available at Interactive Brokers:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - No
• MT5 - No
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - Yes

Here’s what trading platforms are available at City Index:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - Yes
• MT5 - No
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - Yes

The MetaTrader trading platform suite is wildly popular among forex and CFD traders across the globe. City Index offers MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while Interactive Brokers does not. Forex traders also appreciate the ability to engage in social copy trading. While City Index offers copy trading, Interactive Brokers does not.

Interactive Brokers provides traders 90 currency pairs (e.g., EUR/USD) compared to City Index's 84 available pairs. If you are interested in trading CFDs, City Index offers traders access to 13500 CFDs, while Interactive Brokers offers access to 8500 CFDs; so City Index offers 5000 more CFDs than Interactive Brokers.

We found in our testing that Interactive Brokers offers a more diverse selection of investment options than City Index, allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), U.S. Stocks (CFD), Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) and Cryptocurrency (Physical).