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Head to head
Fidelity Investments or Interactive Brokers? Fees, regulation, platform and product range compared side by side — with a verdict drawn from the data.
Risk warning: CFDs and leveraged products are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly. Investments can fall in value. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.
The research-and-education benchmark for US investors, with the cheapest funds in the industry attached.
The cheapest serious route to almost every market on earth — if you can live with the learning curve.
Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.
Four decision axes, each derived from the recorded data.
Overall Fidelity Investments takes it, 4.6 against 4.5 out of 5. Fidelity Investments is the cheaper of the two: a reference EUR 5,000 stock order costs €0.00 there against €2.50. Interactive Brokers scores 90 against 73 out of 100 on the group index. Your account's protection depends on its legal entity. Interactive Brokers covers more ground with 12 of 14 asset classes against 7. We rate platform and app at 4.6 out of 5 for both. Which one is right depends on which of these axes matters for your trading profile.
Fidelity InvestmentsInteractive BrokersFidelity InvestmentsInteractive BrokersFidelity InvestmentsInteractive BrokersFidelity InvestmentsInteractive BrokersFidelity InvestmentsInteractive BrokersUp to four brokers at once — every row a decision point.
Data as of: 30 Aug 2026
| Criterion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 4.6 — Better | 4.5 |
| Group index | 73 of 100 | 90 of 100 |
| Best for | US long-term investorsIndex fund and ETF buyersResearch-driven stock pickersRetirement accountsCash management | Active and professional tradersMulti-currency investorsOptions and futures tradersAlgorithmic and API tradingGlobal stock pickers |
| Regulation | SECFINRAFDIC | SECFCACBIASICMAS |
| Top-tier licences | 3 | 5 — Better |
| Investor protection | US$500,000 | US$500,000 |
| Listed group | No | Yes |
| Banking licence | No | No |
| Segregated client accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Negative balance protection | No | Yes |
| Audited financials | Yes | Yes |
| Disclosed regulatory actions | 2 | 2 |
| Founded | 1946 | 1977 |
| Headquarters | Boston, US | Greenwich, Connecticut, US |
| Fees | 4.7 | 4.9 — Better |
| Safety & regulation | 4.7 | 4.8 — Better |
| Trading platform | 4.5 | 4.8 — Better |
| Product range | 3.9 | 5.0 — Better |
| Mobile app | 4.6 — Better | 4.3 |
| Research | 4.9 — Better | 4.4 |
| Customer support | 4.8 — Better | 3.2 |
| Deposit & withdrawal | 4.3 — Better | 4.0 |
| Account opening | 4.2 — Better | 3.5 |
| Education | 4.8 — Better | 4.0 |
| Reference order EUR 5,000 | €0.00 — Better | €2.50 |
| Minimum deposit | None | None |
| Stocks (per order) | Free | 0.05 % |
| US stocks | Free | US$0.0035/share |
| ETFs | Free | 0.05 % |
| Options | US$0.65 | US$0.65 |
| Futures | Not offered | US$0.85 |
| Crypto | in the spread | n/a |
| Bonds (order) | US$1 | n/a |
| Funds (order) | US$49.95 | n/a |
| EUR/USD spread | n/a | 0.1 pips |
| Index CFD spread | n/a | n/a |
| FX conversion | 1 % | 0.002 % — Better |
| Inactivity fee | None | None |
| Custody fee | None | None |
| Withdrawal fee | free — Better | €1 |
| Deposit fee | free | free |
| Overnight financing | n/a | n/a |
| Other fees |
|
|
| Asset classes (of 14) | 7 | 12 — Better |
| Exchanges | 25 | 160 — Better |
| Stocks | Yes | Yes |
| ETFs | Yes | Yes |
| Options | Yes | Yes |
| Futures | No | Yes |
| Forex | No | Yes |
| CFDs | No | Yes |
| Crypto | Yes | Yes |
| Bonds | Yes | Yes |
| Funds | Yes | Yes |
| Commodities | No | Yes |
| Indices | Yes | Yes |
| Warrants | No | Yes |
| Spread betting | No | No |
| Social trading | No | No |
| Platforms | Fidelity.com web platformFidelity Trader+ (formerly Active Trader Pro)Fidelity MobileFidelity Crypto | Trader Workstation (TWS)IBKR DesktopClient PortalIBKR MobileIBKR GlobalTraderTWS API / Web API / FIXTradingView and other third-party front ends |
| Demo account | No | Yes |
| Fractional shares | Yes | Yes |
| Maximum leverage | 1:2 | 1:30 · Pro 1:200 |
| Account opening | Around 10 minutes online for US residents; funded and tradable the same day via a linked bank | Fully online; typically 1–3 business days, longer if documents need manual review |
| Account types | The Fidelity Account (brokerage)Fidelity Cash Management AccountTraditional / Roth / Rollover IRAFidelity Youth and custodial accounts | IBKR ProIBKR LiteMargin account |
| Payment methods | Bank transferCheque | Bank transferSEPACheque |
| Account currencies | USD | USDEURGBPCHFAUDCADJPYHKDSGDSEK+8 |
| Deposit time | Instant trading availability on a linked bank transfer; 1–3 business days to fully clear | SEPA 1–2 business days; international wire 1–4 business days |
| Withdrawal time | 1–3 business days by electronic funds transfer; same day by wire | 1–3 business days |
| Free withdrawals | n/a | 2/month |
| Languages | EnglishSpanishChinese | EnglishGermanFrenchSpanishItalianDutchPortugueseRussianChineseJapanese+1 |
| Channels | PhoneEmailLive chatBranch | PhoneEmailLive chatTicket system |
| Availability | 24/7 | 24/5, from Sunday evening to Friday evening US time |
Editorial assessment based on the recorded data.
Fidelity Investments
The research-and-education benchmark for US investors, with the cheapest funds in the industry attached.
Pros
Cons
Best for
Interactive Brokers
The cheapest serious route to almost every market on earth — if you can live with the learning curve.
Pros
Cons
Best for
Open an account with either
A demo account costs nothing and answers the platform question in ten minutes.
Advertising disclosure: where a partnership is active, we may earn a commission through broker links. The provider’s terms apply. Commissions do not influence our ratings; paid placements are separately labelled as sponsored.
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