tastyworks vs Interactive Brokers is an interesting match-up. Both brokers cater to active traders, since both tastyworks and IB offer deeply discounted commissions and advanced, downloadable trading software.
However, Interactive brokers charges high fees for market data, order cancellations, and inactivity; tastyworks doesn’t charge any of these fees, and when you factor in free closing trades, tastyworks is the cheaper broker.
Ultimately, tastyworks’ lack of maintenance fees, low margin requirements for options strategies, free trading data, and low commission pricing structure make it the better broker when compared to Interactive Brokers.
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tastyworks vs Interactive Brokers 2018 |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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Overall |
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Commissions & Fees |
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Customer Service |
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Trading Platforms |
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Mobile App |
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Overall Ease of Use |
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Promotion Value |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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Minimum Deposit |
$2,500 |
$10,000 |
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Stock Trade Fee |
$5.00 (free closing trades) |
$0.005 / share ($1 min) |
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Options Ticket Charge |
None |
None |
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Options per Contract Fee |
$1.00 (free closing trades) |
$0.70 |
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Mutual Fund Fee |
N/A |
$14.95 |
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Market Data Fee |
Free |
$10+ / month (more for futures & options) |
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Wire fee (outgoing) |
$25 |
$10.00 |
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Inactivity fee |
None |
$10 – $20 per month |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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Stocks |
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Options |
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Futures |
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Forex |
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Bonds |
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OTC Stocks |
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Penny Stocks |
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Options on Futures |
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Crypto |
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Mutual Funds |
0 |
10,051 |
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International Trading |
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Advisor Services |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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Web-based |
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Mobile App |
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Downloadable (Mac) |
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Downloadable (PC) |
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Real-time Level II data |
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Real-time Charting |
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Historical Option Data |
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Options Analysis |
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iPad App |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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In-person Branches |
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Customer Service hours |
9-5 CT, M-F, phone + live chat |
24/6 email + phone |
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Sum of Client Balances |
Not listed |
$129.2 million |
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Member FDIC |
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Savings Account |
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Checking Account |
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Free Online Banking |
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tastyworks |
Interactive Brokers |
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Under $24,999 |
8.00% Base Rate + 1.00% |
3.19% |
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$25k-$49,999 |
7.50% Base Rate + 0.50% |
2.69% |
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$50k-$99,999 |
7.00% Base Rate |
2.69% |
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$100k-$249,999 |
6.50% Base Rate – 0.50% |
2.69% |
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$250k-$499,999 |
6.00% Base Rate – 1.00% |
2.69% |
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$500k-$1M |
5.50% Base Rate – 1.50% |
2.69% |
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Above $1M |
5.00% |
2.19% |
Check out the full review of tastyworks here. Check out the main reasons why Interactive Brokers is deeply flawed here.
Overall, tastyworks beats Interactive Brokers in almost every category, especially customer service. Many Interactive Broker’s customer service representatives are based internationally and have thick accents that often presented us with language barrier issues. Of course, this is assuming you’ll actually get to speak with a representative. Phone wait times for IB are absurd.
We strongly believe that the fees Interactive Brokers charges are almost unfair. If you don’t trade, you’ll be charged $10 per month. And in order to trade, IB charges a minimum of $10 per month for the basic market data package.
Want access to level II futures data? That will cost you extra. Want level II stock and options data? Guess what? That will also cost extra.
Essentially, IB’s fees look cheap on the surface, but in reality, they nickel and dime clients.
But if IB’s hidden fees don’t get you, their auto-liquidation algorithm probably will. We lost $120,000 due to a few futures positions that moved against us that IB’s risk algorithm promptly liquidated. tastyworks doesn’t have an auto-liquidation policy and is often gracious with margin call deadlines to transfer additional funds or liquidate the position.
Bottom line, after you factor in tastyworks’ free closing trades, tastyworks is actually cheaper than Interactive Brokers, and tastyworks is clearly the superior broker.
