How we make money. MoneyMint has no paid relationship with any broker on this page, and the links below are ordinary links that earn us nothing. If that changes we will say so here, on every page, before you click anything. Nothing you read here has been paid for.

Investing › Online brokers › Interactive Brokers

Broker review

Interactive Brokers Review

Reviewed by Jen · Checked against Interactive Brokers’s own pricing on 19 September 2026 · We have not traded on this platform

The bottom line. Interactive Brokers is the cheapest place in this comparison to convert currency, by a wide margin: 0.2 basis points with a US$2 minimum, against 1.5% or more almost everywhere else. Trading is priced by the share, a cent on Canadian stocks and half a US cent on US stocks under Fixed pricing, each with a $1 minimum, so a typical trade costs a dollar or two. There is no minimum, no inactivity fee and no account fee on registered plans. What Canadians do not get is IBKR Lite, the $0 plan offered in the United States, or an RESP or LIRA, and real-time Canadian market data costs $9 a month. It suits someone who buys US or international securities in size, and anyone converting large amounts. It is more platform than a first-time investor needs.

Full offer detail

IBKR runs no new-client cash bonus in Canada that we could find. Its referral program pays the referrer US$200 for each new client who qualifies, up to 15 a year; the person joining receives nothing in Canada, and registered accounts are excluded. IBKR does not reimburse transfer fees. If you are choosing between brokers on the strength of a sign-up offer, IBKR is not competing on that basis.

Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, based in Montreal, and part of Interactive Brokers Group, one of the largest electronic brokerages in the world. It describes itself as order-execution-only and gives no advice.

IBKR prices trades by the share rather than by the ticket. You choose between Fixed pricing, one all-in rate per share, and Tiered pricing, a lower base rate with exchange and clearing fees passed through separately. The commission-free IBKR Lite plan that American clients can choose does not appear on any Canadian pricing page, so Canadians pay one of the two.

Is It Right for You?

Good Fit

You buy US or international securities in size and want the lowest conversion cost anywhere: 0.2 basis points
You trade actively and want professional order types, futures and bonds
You hold a large cash balance; interest is paid above $13,000 or US$10,000
You want a TFSA, RRSP, RRIF or FHSA with no account fee

Look Elsewhere If

You want a flat, predictable commission and a simple app
You want real-time Canadian quotes without a $9 subscription
You need an RESP or LIRA

What It Costs

What you are doing	What Interactive Brokers charges
Canadian stock or ETF, Fixed pricing	$0.01 a share, $1 minimum, capped at 0.5% of the trade
Canadian stock or ETF, Tiered pricing	$0.008 a share plus exchange and clearing fees, $1 minimum
US stock or ETF, Fixed pricing	US$0.005 a share, US$1 minimum, capped at 1% of the trade
US stock or ETF, Tiered pricing	US$0.0035 a share plus exchange and clearing fees, US$0.35 minimum
Canadian options	$1.25 a contract, $1.50 minimum an order
US options	US$0.25 to US$0.65 a contract depending on premium, US$1 minimum
Account fee, registered plans	None
Inactivity fee	None
Minimum to open	None
Withdrawals	Two free a month, then $12 by wire or $2 by EFT
Real-time TSX quotes	$9 a month; US real-time quotes free on a basic feed
Currency conversion	0.2 basis points of the amount, US$2 minimum
Mutual funds	Not published for Canada

Under Fixed pricing, 100 shares of any Canadian stock costs $1 and 500 shares costs $5, with the 0.5% cap protecting very cheap stocks. Tiered starts lower but adds exchange and clearing fees on top, and the base rate falls further with monthly volume. For most people trading a few times a month, Fixed is simpler and the difference is pennies. IBKR’s Canadian fee pages do not itemize a transfer-out fee for the ATON system that Canadian registered accounts use, so we report that as not published.

What a Year Might Cost You

Worked from Interactive Brokers’s own fee schedule for four common patterns: 12 ETF purchases a year, 60 stock trades, 100 options contracts across 10 trades, and converting $10,000 to US dollars once. Where pricing is per share we assume 100 shares an ETF purchase and 200 a stock trade. Illustrations, not quotes.

ETF investor$1212 purchases of 100 shares at $1 each; add $108 a year for real-time TSX quotes

Stock picker$12060 trades of 200 shares at $2 each under Fixed pricing

Options trader$125100 Canadian contracts at $1.25 each

US stocks in a TFSA$2Converting US$10,000 once at 0.2 basis points, the US$2 minimum applies

Buying US Stocks at Interactive Brokers

A US stock settles in US dollars. If your account holds only Canadian dollars, the broker converts on every purchase and again on every sale, taking a markup each time. Holding US dollars means you convert once. Two things matter: whether you can hold US dollars, and what the conversion costs.

US-Dollar Side

Yes. Non-registered accounts can hold many currencies. TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and FHSAs are limited to Canadian and US dollars, with conversion between the two allowed inside the plan.

What It Costs

No separate charge for holding US dollars.

Interactive Brokers publishes its conversion cost. IBKR charges a commission of 0.2 basis points of the amount when you convert currency yourself, with a minimum of US$2, at interbank spreads it describes as narrow as a tenth of a pip; its lower tiers, down to 0.08 basis points, apply only above US$1 billion of currency trading a month. If you instead let IBKR convert automatically when you buy a US security, it typically adjusts the exchange rate by 0.03% rather than charging a commission.

A basis point is a hundredth of a percent, so 0.2 basis points on US$10,000 is 20 cents, and the US$2 minimum applies. The same conversion costs $150 at a broker charging 1.5%, and even IBKR’s automatic route, at about 0.03%, is roughly $3. This is the single biggest reason to consider IBKR if you buy US securities with Canadian dollars. IBKR’s pages do not say outright that the same rate applies inside a TFSA or RRSP; they confirm only that CAD-USD conversion is allowed there.

Accounts You Can Open

Registered

TFSA, RRSP, spousal RRSP, RRIF and FHSA. RRIFs were added in February 2026.

Non-Registered

Individual, joint and trust accounts, cash or margin.

Not Offered

RESP and LIRA do not appear on IBKR Canada’s registered-account pages. Corporate and institutional accounts are available.

Registered plans carry no maintenance fee, cannot use margin, and can only be transferred out electronically through ATON. Withdrawals from registered plans are in Canadian dollars only. There is no minimum deposit.

The Platform and Research

Platform

There are five ways in: Trader Workstation, the full desktop platform for active traders; IBKR Desktop, a newer and simpler desktop app; Client Portal in the browser; IBKR Mobile; and GlobalTrader, a stripped-down app that supports fractional shares from $1 and paper trading. US stocks trade overnight from 8:00pm to 3:50am Eastern. Excel and FIX APIs are available.

Research and Data

Market data is where IBKR differs from every bank platform. Real-time US quotes come free on a non-consolidated feed; real-time TSX and TSX Venture quotes cost $9 a month each, and Level 2 and Montreal Exchange data cost extra again. Without a subscription you see delayed Canadian prices and up to 100 free snapshot quotes a month.

We have not traded on this platform ourselves, so we make no claims about how it feels to use. Everything above is drawn from what Interactive Brokers publishes.

Fixed or Tiered Pricing

Fixed pricing is one rate per share that already includes exchange, clearing and regulatory fees, with a minimum per order and a cap as a percentage of the trade. The price you see is the price you pay. It suits anyone who does not trade in volume.

Tiered pricing starts at a lower rate per share and falls as your monthly volume rises, from $0.008 down to $0.003 a share on Canadian stocks, but exchange and clearing fees are added on top, so the total per trade is less predictable. It generally works out cheaper for active traders once volume is high enough to matter.

Before You Open an Account

Have your Social Insurance Number, a piece of government photo ID and a Canadian bank account ready. Every CIRO dealer needs the SIN for registered accounts and for tax slips.

Check your TFSA, RRSP or FHSA contribution room with the CRA before funding a registered account; the broker does not track room for you.

Moving an existing account? IBKR does not reimburse transfer fees, and does not publish its own ATON transfer-out fee.

Decide which currency you will fund in. If you plan to buy US stocks, read the conversion section above first; it is usually the largest cost at a commission-free broker.

Where It Falls Short

No IBKR Lite in Canada

Canadians pay Fixed or Tiered per-share pricing. The $0 plan advertised in the United States is not offered here.

Canadian Quotes Cost Money

$9 a month for real-time TSX prices, where every other broker in this comparison includes them.

No RESP or LIRA

Registered accounts stop at TFSA, RRSP, RRIF and FHSA.

Built for Professionals

Trader Workstation, two pricing plans, per-share minimums and caps, and data subscriptions are a lot for a first account. GlobalTrader is simpler, and also much more limited.

Some Canadian Fees Not Published

Mutual fund commissions and the ATON transfer-out fee do not appear on IBKR’s Canadian fee pages.

Common Questions

Is my money safe at Interactive Brokers Canada?

Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. CIPF protects property held by a member firm that becomes insolvent, within set limits, not against investments falling in value.

Is IBKR Lite available in Canada?

No. Every Canadian pricing page shows Fixed and Tiered only. IBKR Lite appears solely on the US site.

Can I hold a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA at Interactive Brokers?

Yes, plus a spousal RRSP and a RRIF, all with no maintenance fee. RESPs and LIRAs are not offered.

Does IBKR pay interest on uninvested cash?

Yes, on Canadian dollar balances above $13,000 and US dollar balances above US$10,000, at a rate set half a percent below a benchmark. Accounts under US$100,000 in total earn a blended, lower rate that IBKR’s page does not fully itemize.

How we reviewed this. Every fee, account type and platform feature above was taken from Interactive Brokers’s own published material on 19 September 2026, not from other review sites. Sources used: interactivebrokers.ca commission pages for stocks, options and futures; interactivebrokers.ca registered accounts page (RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, FHSA), account guide and required minimums; interactivebrokers.ca other fees, market data pricing and interest rate pages; interactivebrokers.ca US stock trading costs for Canadian residents and currency trading pages; interactivebrokers.ca referral, platforms and overnight trading pages. Where we could not find a figure we say so rather than estimate it. We do not publish a star rating on broker reviews yet, because we have not finished building a scoring model we can defend; when we do, it will be documented before any number appears.

Brokerage terms change without notice. Verify current fees and offer terms with the broker before opening an account. This review is general information about a product. It is not investment advice and does not take your personal circumstances into account. MoneyMint is not a registered dealer or adviser. Consider speaking with a qualified professional about decisions that depend on your own situation.

Disclosure. MoneyMint has no paid relationship with Interactive Brokers. The links on this page earn us nothing.