Interactive Brokers Singapore - Is It a Good Broker in 2024?
Interactive Brokers is one of the most renowned investment and trading companies in the US. They’ve been in operation for decades — to be precise, since 1977. In that time, they’ve provided traders with features for trading stocks, indices, CFDs, currency pairs, futures, ETFs, and pretty much every asset imaginable.
In terms of regulation, it’s safe to say that they’re one of the most well regulated companies in the world. They’re US-based, which means they’re regulated by the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), and the UK FCA (Financial Regulatory Authority) as well. At the SEC, their license number is CIK #0000922792.
They’ve also won numerous awards for Best Online Broker and best broker in terms of economic investments. In 2020, the Interactive Brokers Groups expanded into Singapore as well. After opening their office in the local financial district of Marina Bay, they’ve opened up the doors to a wide range of Asian markets as well.
Interactive Brokers Singapore - General Information
Interactive Brokers Singapore is licensed by some of the most reputable regulatory bodies in the world, and is thus considered quite safe. They have a long track record of transparently and publicly disclosing their finances, and they’re listed on a public stock exchange (NASDAQ). It’s worth keeping in mind that while Interactive Brokers Singapore has excellent conditions for professional traders, it is not well-disposed towards novices.
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💰 Account currency:
USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, CZK, DKK, HKD, HUF, ILS, JPY, MXN, NZD, NOK, PLN, SGD, SEK, CHF, CNH
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🚀 Minimum deposit:
No
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⚖️ Leverage:
Depending on the asset
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💱 Spread:
From 0 pips
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🔧 Instruments:
Stocks, options, futures, currency, metals, bonds, ETF, mutual funds, CFD, EPF, Robo-portfolios, hedge funds
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💹 Margin Call / Stop Out:
Depending on the asset
Interactive Brokers Singapore Pros and Cons
👍 Pros
• Access to more than a hundred international markets
• Stunningly wide rage of available trading instruments
• Oversight by some of the most reputable regulatory bodies in the world
•Various accounts for different traders available
👎 Cons
• Platform overwhelmingly complicated for novice traders
Interactive Brokers Singapore Review
The trustworthiness of a broker is one of their most important qualities — and right away, it’s crucial to note that this is something Interactive Brokers has always excelled at. Naturally, their Singapore office is no different, which is why Interactive Brokers Singapore is one of the best trading platforms for the Singapore Exchange. They give their traders a huge array of services, both for passive investment and active trading — as long as they’re experienced professionals who know what they’re doing.
It should be noted that there are inactive account fees, meaning you can’t be a completely passive investor — you still need to log in from time to time, but that’s prudent anyway.
Even though there’s no minimum deposit for most of their accounts, don’t let that fool you into thinking this is a beginner-friendly platform. It’s primarily intended for Canadian and US professional investors who already have a lot of experience and don’t require any hand-holding.
Luckily, the broker is quite transparent about all of their trading conditions — so we recommend checking out the specifics for every trading instrument in-depth on the broker’s document section of the website. We’ll outline the fees for various trading instruments below — but all of that is subject to change, so check the Interactive Brokers Singapore website from time to time.
Interactive Brokers Singapore - Fees
Interactive Brokers lives up to their reputation of one of the most trader-friendly brokerages in the industry when it comes to their fees as well. Unlike many of the less legitimate brokers that try to scalp you through unrealistic spreads and high non-trading fees — Interactive Brokers Singapore has some of the most approachable margin rates you can find online.
US Stocks and ETFs
As we’ve already mentioned, Interactive Brokers Singapore offers fairly low ETF and stock commissions. If you opt for the IBKR Pro package, you’ll get access to SMART routing features that constantly scan various competing markets and route your orders to the best possible one.
Apart from that cost-effective feature, you should know that stock trading fees are volume-based at Interactive Brokers. In other words, they’re calculated either as a percentage of the overall trade value, or they’re calculated per each traded share. There’s a minimum and a maximum, and ETF fees are identical to stock fees — it’s all quite fair and transparent.
If you’re wondering what the fees are for US stocks and ETFs, the commission is a tiny $0.005 per each traded share — with the minimal commission being $1 and the maximum being 1% of the overall trade value.
Singapore Stock Exchange
While all of the Interactive Broker rates are similar across the board, there are some subtle differences depending on your location and the exchange you’re trading assets on. For instance, while the commissions on the Singapore Stock Exchange are still volume-based, they’re 0.08% of the overall trade value, and there’s no maximum cap — the minimal commission being SGD 2.5.
Options
You’ll find that almost all trading fees on Interactive Brokers are volume-based — when it comes to options, you pay fees depending on how many contracts you trade over the course of a single month.
For example, with the IBKR Pro account plan, if you trade below 10,000 contacts in a month and you’ve traded 20 contracts, you’ll pay a $0.65 fee for each of them.
Forex
Just like with stocks and options, Forex trading is subject to a volume-based commission at Interactive Brokers Singapore — in this case, higher volumes mean a lower commission. For example the benchmark fee for a EURUSD position of $5,000 with 30:1 leverage that you hold for a single week would be about $5.75.
Interactive Brokers Singapore - Trading Assets
The Interactive Brokers Singapore broker allows you trade in all sorts of trading assets:
Options
ETFs
Futures
Funds
Stocks
Bonds
CFDs
Forex
Crucially, Interactive Brokers is present in 150 exchanges across the globe, including Singapore — allowing traders access to pretty much the widest possible array of markets. Their alternative services like Interactive Advisors also gives asset management assistance with a mix of social trading and robo-advisory features.
Canadian Markets:
TSX Venture (VENTURE)
Montreal Exchange (CDE)
Chi-X Canada
Alpha ATS (ALPHA)
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE)
Omega ATS (OMEGA)
Canadian Securities Exchange (PURE)
Is Interactive Brokers Singapore Regulated? Is This Сompany Safe?
Interactive Brokers is regulated by the FCA and the SEC — making them one of the most secure brokers in the world. They provide investor protection and negative balance protection to most of their traders, but the level of protection varies from entity to entity.
The clients with the most coverage are from the United Kingdom (£85,000) and the United States ($500,000, with a cash limit of $250,000). EU-based clients receive a smaller level of protection to the tune of 20,000 Euros.
Interactive Brokers Singapore - Best for Professional Traders
While there are plenty of learning materials for Interactive Brokers online, it’s not the type of platform you should use as a complete beginner. It has the widest array of trading instruments and markets in the world — but the platform is too complex for anyone who doesn’t have years of experience with online trading. If you’re just starting out and still want to use Interactive Brokers Singapore, we recommend beginning with some lite Forex trading.
Summary. Is Interactive Brokers Singapore a Good Broker?
Apart from not being beginner-friendly, there are pretty much no downsides to Interactive Brokers Singapore. They provide access to the most world markets out of any broker out there, they’re well-regulated, reputable, and safe. And for US-based and European clients, there’s enough protection even though there’s no minimal deposit. Just make sure you know your way around a FX Pro or MetaTrader interface.
Top 5 Interactive Brokers Reviews
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Comment
I am very glad that I found Interactive Brokers, because it is convenient to work with — the service is well made and streamlined, the user account is convenient, and you can trade on different platforms and use robots. There are a lot of tools for traders. In general, their approach to work is serious.
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Comment
I recently started trading with interactive brokers, but I am already trading on a live account. There is no delay in withdrawing money, the execution is excellent, and they make life easier for traders, as they allow you to trade with different strategies. You can try whatever you want and the choice of platforms is amazing, so there is a space for experiments.
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Comment
There are no problems with Interactive Brokers. All trading operations are carried out as needed. There is a license and regulators, and that definitely says a lot.
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Comment
Attempts to successfully invest funds haven’t always brought me the positive results that were promised to me by the brokers with whom I worked. I had to start searching, and those who search always find. I found interactive brokers. As a result, in six months, I doubled the money invested. I hope that I will stay here for a long time.
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Comment
No worries with Interactive Brokers. I know for sure that the company will not let you down. How many years here and only a positive opinion about Interactive Brokers. Always, on all thematic resources, I advise this company.
FAQs
Can I use Interactive Brokers in Singapore?
Yes, and they have offices there since 2020.
Is there a minimal deposit for Interactive Brokers in Singapore?
Nope, the basic account can be funded according to your abilities.
Is Interactive Brokers safe?
Yes, they’re regulated by extremely reputable US and UK regulatory bodies for financial transactions.
Team that worked on the article
Bruce Powers is an expert trader and technical analyst with over 20 years of experience in Forex, commodities, ETFs, cryptocurrencies and other assets. He is an active trader, technical and fundamental analyst, media commentator, educator and a writer. As an author for Traders Union, he contributes his deep analytical skills, expertise and understanding of the global economy and financial markets to provide market analysis and insights. Powers is also a frequent guest on business TV news shows.
Glory is a professional writer for the Traders Union website with over 5 years of experience in creating content in the areas of NFT, Crypto, Metaverse, Blockchain, or Web3 in general. Over the last couple of years, Glory has also traded on different cryptocurrency and NFT platforms including Binance, Coinbase, Opensea, and others.
Mirjan Hipolito is a journalist and news editor at Traders Union. She is an expert crypto writer with five years of experience in the financial markets. Her specialties are daily market news, price predictions, and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).