Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone (2026): Which Broker Is Better?
Interactive Brokers
4.8/5
Regulated by SEC · FINRA · FCA · Min. deposit $0
Pepperstone
4.6/5
Regulated by ASIC · FCA · BaFIN · Min. deposit $0
Our verdict
Interactive Brokers wins on trust, market breadth, headline forex costs, and financing as a listed S&P 500 multi-asset company. Pepperstone wins in the retail forex sector with support for MetaTrader, cTrader, and TradingView, along with features such as copy trading, micro lots, no minimum deposit, and significantly simpler funding and onboarding processes.
This is one of the cleanest cases in our comparison series, featuring two excellent brokers, each built for a different purpose. Interactive Brokers is a Nasdaq-listed, multi-asset S&P 500 institution with roots dating back to 1977. Pepperstone is the best-regulated pure CFD and spread-betting specialist we cover and holds our site-wide Best ECN Broker award. The sensible question is not which is better in the abstract but which job you are hiring a broker for.
Interactive Brokers' strengths include trust, breadth, pricing, and financing. It carries the accountability of a public listing, 4.4 million client accounts, and roughly 780 billion dollars in customer equity, all under layered top-tier oversight, including the SEC, FCA, ASIC, and MAS. One account provides access to real stocks, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, funds, and spot currencies, and it accepts US residents, unlike Pepperstone. Its currency desk is also sharper than most dedicated forex brokers. It recorded total EUR/USD costs of about 0.59 pips, compared with about 0.80 pips on Pepperstone's Razor account. Qualifying idle USD balances earn about 3 percent annually, and margin rates are among the industry's lowest, whereas Pepperstone pays nothing on idle capital.
Pepperstone is the day-to-day platform for a retail forex trader. It supports MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView, as well as its proprietary platform, whereas Interactive Brokers offers none of the first three. It also offers copy trading, including a dedicated app in some regions, whereas Interactive Brokers offers none. Order size starts at 0.01 lots, with a 25,000-unit minimum order at IBKR. Unlike IBKR's $2 minimum commission, Pepperstone has no minimum commission per order. Opening an account is quick and can be funded in minutes using a card, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, avoiding IBKR's cumbersome document requirements and bank-transfer-only deposits. Leverage is set at 1:200 and 1:400 through its Bahamas and Kenya entities, and at 1:30 for retail clients under its top-tier licenses. In contrast, IBKR's forex leverage is margin-capped and subject to real-time automated liquidation.
, the gap is real but conditional. At a standard lot and above, Interactive Brokers is simply cheaper on an all-in basis, and the advantage compounds at institutional size. Below IBKR's 25,000-unit minimum trade size, Pepperstone is the only one of the two that will execute the trade, and its flat-per-lot Razor pricing is far easier to understand than IBKR's multi-layered pricing structure. High-volume forex-only traders can also claw back up to $3 per lot through Pepperstone's Active Trader rebates, narrowing the headline cost difference at scale.
Scores compared
Category wins: Interactive Brokers 9 · Pepperstone 1
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | Pepperstone |
|---|---|---|
Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| Safety & Regulation | ||
Interactive Brokers vs Pepperstone: full comparison
| Feature | Interactive Brokers | Pepperstone |
|---|---|---|
Company | ||
| Established | 1977 | - |
| Headquarters | One Pickwick Plaza, Greenwich, CT 06830 USA | Level 16, Tower One, 727 Collins Street
Melbourne, VIC, Australia 3008 |
| Broker Type | ||
Pros and cons
Interactive Brokers
- Regulated by multiple Tier 1 authorities, including the FCA, SEC, FINRA, ASIC, and MAS
- Publicly listed on Nasdaq (IBKR), with audited financials and substantial capital backing
- Over $15 billion in equity capital
- No minimum deposit to open an account
- Direct market access execution with IB SmartRouting for competitive fills
- Broad choice of account base currencies
- An extensive multi-asset range from a single account, spanning forex, stocks, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, and crypto
- Professional-grade platforms in TWS, plus the cleaner IBKR Desktop, and a TradingView integration
- Wide selection of major, minor, and exotic currency pairs
- Low commission-based forex pricing
- Competitive margin financing rates
Which is better for…
Safety and trust
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is an S&P 500 constituent with 4.4 million accounts and approximately $780 billion in client equity. It holds top-tier licenses from the SEC, FCA, ASIC, and MAS. Pepperstone is among the best-regulated CFD brokers, with authorizations from the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, and BaFin. However, it is not listed and operates at a fraction of Interactive Brokers' regulatory scale.
Range of markets
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers offers real stocks, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, funds, and spot currencies across roughly 8,500 symbols, compared with around 1,700 CFDs at Pepperstone. Pepperstone counters with UK spread betting, a new Australian spot crypto exchange, and pre-IPO perpetuals for eligible UAE clients, but its core account offers nothing in return.
Forex costs
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers' total EUR/USD costs are approximately 0.59 pips, compared with about 0.80 pips on Pepperstone's Razor account, where commissions decrease from 0.2 to 0.08 basis points as trade size increases. This benefit applies to trade sizes of 25,000 units or more.
Leveraged forex trading
Pepperstone
Pepperstone offers micro lots from 0.01, no per-order minimum commission floor, a swap-free option, and leverage up to 1:200 or 1:400 through its offshore entities, whereas IBKR has margin-capped forex, a $2 minimum commission per order, and real-time automated liquidation.
Platforms and copy trading
Pepperstone
Pepperstone offers MT4, MT5, cTrader, and TradingView, as well as a proprietary platform and copy trading. Interactive Brokers offers none of the first three but excels with TWS, IBKR Desktop, and its API stack, all of which are outstanding for systematic multi-asset trading. Both brokers support integration with TradingView.
Frequently asked questions
Interactive Brokers, in most cases. It's measured all-in EUR/USD cost of around 0.59 pips is lower than Pepperstone's Razor account at about 0.80 pips. Its tiered commissions also help reduce costs as trading volume grows. Pepperstone is the cheaper, practical choice below IBKR's 25,000-unit minimum order size, and its Active Trader rebates of up to $3 per lot narrow the gap for high-volume traders.
Both are credible. Interactive Brokers demonstrates greater accountability as a publicly traded S&P 500 company regulated by the SEC, FCA, ASIC, and MAS. Pepperstone also holds strong regulatory credentials, including four top-tier licenses (FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFin) and additional licenses from DFSA, CMA, and SCB. It further segregates client funds, placing it among the highest-rated privately held forex and CFD brokers.
No. There is no support for MT4, MT5, or cTrader. Pepperstone supports all of them, and both brokers connect to TradingView.
No. Interactive Brokers does support copy trading.
No. The minimum forex order size is 25,000 units (0.25 lots) of the base currency. Pepperstone supports trade sizes from 0.01 lots, and there is no minimum commission per order.
Pepperstone. There is no minimum deposit, and funding options include credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. The onboarding process is quick, and support is available 24/7. In contrast, Interactive Brokers offers a professional-grade environment that we do not recommend for complete beginners.
At Interactive Brokers, yes. Pepperstone does not accept US residents.
Related comparisons
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.