Interactive Brokers vs XTB Comparison – 2025

Top Reasons to Choose Interactive Brokers or XTB

Based on our comparative analyses, I think Interactive Brokers is the best choice for professional traders, investors, and portfolio managers, while XTB is a great fit for beginner to intermediate traders. The table below highlights the key reasons for this conclusion:

Interactive Brokers: Snapshot

Founded in 1978, the Interactive Brokers Group is a publicly traded company based in Connecticut and listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (IBKR). Regulated by multiple Tier-1 financial authorities, it is a pioneer in the trading industry. The broker offers over 2 million tradable instruments, including 8,000+ CFDs, along with ultra-low fees and a comprehensive suite of accounts, platforms, and tools designed for professional traders.

Interactive Brokers: Who is it For?

Interactive Brokers is ideal for professional traders, investors, and portfolio managers who seek a wide range of asset classes, financial products, platforms, low fees, safety, and deep trading liquidity.

What Makes Interactive Brokers Stand Out?

Interactive Brokers distinguishes itself with its true global, multi-asset class offering, low trading fees, and professional-grade trading platforms.

XTB: Snapshot

Founded in 2002, XTB is publicly traded company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (XTB) and headquartered in Poland. Regulated by the FCA (UK), CySEC, CNMV, KNF, and IFSC Belize, XTB provides high-quality in-house research and access to over 2,300 CFD instruments with zero commissions. Traders can execute trades through its proprietary web platform, mobile app, and a variety of trading and investing accounts.

XTB: Who is it For?

XTB is ideal for beginner to intermediate traders who seek a good range of financial instruments with competitive spreads and high-quality market research to aid in trading decisions.

What Makes XTB Stand Out?

XTB stands out by offering zero-commission CFD trading on a good range of asset classes from its feature-rich proprietary trading platforms.

Trust

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Trust and Regulation Comparison

Interactive Brokers, founded in 1978 in Connecticut, USA, operates 10 global entities regulated by top-tier financial authorities, including the SEC/CFTC (USA), IIROC (Canada), FCA (UK), and more. With over four decades of experience, a public listing on NASDAQ (IBKR), and equity capital exceeding $15 billion, the broker maintains high financial stability and a transparent fee structure.

XTB, founded in Poland in 2002, operates through six global entities. European and UK clients trade under the oversight of five Tier-1 European regulators, including the FCA (UK), CySEC (Cyprus), CNMV (Spain), BaFin (Germany), and KNF (Poland). International clients fall under the jurisdiction of the IFSC (Belize), a Tier-3 regulator. As a publicly traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (XTB) with a market cap exceeding 6.2 billion PLN (1.5 billion USD), XTB maintains high transparency in its fee structure.

Fees

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Spreads, Fees and Commissions Comparison

In our live fee test using the Interactive Brokers CFD account, we found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.25 pips, with a commission of 2 USD per lot. Trading one standard lot (100,000 units of currency) resulted in a total cost of $27 (calculated as 100,000 × 0.00025 pips + $2 commission). This pricing is highly competitive, as most brokers charge a $3.50 commission per lot in addition to the spread. Interactive Brokers also has no minimum balance or inactivity fees. Short-term traders often favor such commission-based brokers for their tighter spreads and direct interbank market access.

Using the XTB Standard CFD account, we found the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.8 pips with zero commission. The spread beats the industry average of 1.08 pips. Trading one lot resulted in a fee of $80 (100,000 units of currency * 0.0008 pips). However, an inactive account incurs a €10 monthly fee after a year of no activity. Beginner traders might prefer these commission-free accounts for simpler risk management. Ultimately, traders should select a fee structure aligning with their trading style.

By the way, if you’re looking for a broker with a zero-spread account, we suggest checking out our article on the top zero-spread forex brokers.

Platforms and Tools

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Trading Platforms Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers a range of proprietary platforms tailored to different trader needs. The IBKR Trader Workstation (TWS), Mobile app, and Client Portal provide access to over 2 million tradable instruments, including 8,000+ CFDs. The IBKR Desktop, Impact, and Global Trader platforms focus on stocks, options, and mutual funds. Designed for advanced traders, the TWS platform features customizable layouts, market scanners, economic news, and a variety of order types. Meanwhile, the IBKR Mobile app, with its intuitive design, is ideal for beginners.

XTB‘s xStation 5 is available on web, desktop, and mobile, offering a seamless trading experience across platforms for over 2,300 CFD instruments and 3,600 real stocks. Designed for beginner to intermediate traders, it features an easy-to-use interface, price alerts, customized watchlists, and one-click trading. The xStation mobile app also includes market commentary, an economic calendar, and price alerts.

Tradable Instruments

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Instruments Selection Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers the industry’s largest range of financial products, with 2+ million tradable instruments from 200 countries covering mainly stocks, options, and mutual funds, as well as futures, currencies, warrants, bonds, metals, structured products, and CFDs. The product range is suited to multi-asset traders and portfolio managers, but beginner traders may find the 8,000+ CFDs or the 80+ forex pairs easier to handle. Commodity CFDs are limited to gold and silver, but all global commodities are available via futures and options.

XTB offers CFDs on 1,800+ global stocks, 100 ETFs, 24 indices, 23 commodities, and 69 currency pairs. We discovered that Investors also have the option to purchase 3,000+ physical shares and ETFs from 16 global stock exchanges. The diverse range of markets XTB offers is well-suited for beginner to intermediate traders and investors.

Customer Support

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Customer Support Comparison

Interactive Brokers provides 24-hour multilingual customer support, available six days a week through live chat, phone, and a contact form. Our live test showed mixed results — while the support agents were knowledgeable and capable of handling both basic and complex inquiries, reaching an agent often took considerable time and effort.

XTB offers 24-hour support, five days a week, available in multiple languages via live chat, phone, and email. During our testing, we found the support team to be knowledgeable, and the overall experience was satisfactory. However, while phone support was nearly instant, live chat wait times were longer than expected.

Research

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Research Tools Comparison

Interactive Brokers provides high-quality, professional market research on its Traders Insights page and within its proprietary trading platforms, in both written and video formats. Covering various markets (stocks, forex, crypto, commodities) and trading styles (macro, technical analysis), it includes third-party content from Nasdaq, Investopedia, and Redwall Analytics, catering to professional traders and investors.

XTB offers high-quality, in-depth market research from its in-house research team, accessible on its website and xStation 5 platform. It covers breaking news, fundamental and technical analysis, as well as weekly, daily, and macro outlooks. I found additional tools on xStation, including market sentiment, a list of the market’s top gainers and losers, a stock and ETF scanner, and real-time heatmaps tailored for beginner to intermediate traders and investors seeking a fundamental market edge.

Deposits & Withdrawals

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Deposit and Withdrawal Methods Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers deposit and withdrawal options exclusively via bank wire transfer. The broker does not charge fees for these transactions, and requests are processed relatively quickly. However, some popular funding methods, such as credit cards, are unavailable.

XTB offers many deposit options with zero fees for bank wire transfers, Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro. There is a 2% deposit fee when using Skrill. All deposits are immediate except bank wire transfer, which takes one business day. Withdrawals can only be done via bank wire transfer and are free if above $100; otherwise, there is a $20 withdrawal fee.

Account Types and Terms

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Account Types Comparison

Our test showed that Interactive Brokers provides various account types for individual traders, professional investors, fund managers, and family offices, including Individual, Joint, Trust, Family Advisor, ISAs, SIPPs, Small Business, Money Manager, Broker & FCM, and Proprietary Trading Group Accounts. Individual Trader accounts require no minimum deposit and support 19 currencies. The application process takes 15 minutes, with retail trading leverage capped at 1:30.

XTB offers a Standard Account with a 10-minute setup and no minimum deposit, supporting GBP, EUR, USD, and HUF. We found that this account can be configured as Demo, Live, Professional, Islamic, or Corporate, with the Professional Account offering up to 1:200 leverage. The Islamic Account provides swap-free trading in accordance with Sharia Law.

Education

Interactive Brokers vs XTB Educational Content Comparison

Interactive Brokers offers extensive, high-quality educational content for all trader levels. Its Traders Academy features 65 finance courses with articles, videos, and quizzes, covering the basics of different markets (stocks, bonds, cryptos), platform tutorials, and fundamental analysis. In my view, weekly podcasts and interactive live trading webinars provide valuable resources for various traders and investors.

XTB‘s educational content, primarily for beginner and intermediate traders, is accessible in its Knowledge Base. It includes mainly text-based articles on forex, commodities, indices, stocks, technical analysis, CFDs, and platform guides. Live account holders have access to several eBooks. Video content, featuring 1-4 minute tutorials on different topics, is available on XTB’s YouTube channel.

Our Methodology

Since 2011, FX Empire has developed a detailed methodology for evaluating CFD brokers, involving over 250 variables across nine crucial categories. Our team of experts, with deep industry knowledge, conducts live testing and research by interacting with the brokers directly. We check regulations, open accounts, test spreads, account costs, platform functionality, instrument variety, customer support reliability, and the quality of research and educational content. This granular analysis helps us identify each broker’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping our comparisons current with market trends and ensuring our guides meet traders’ needs.

We strive to evaluate each broker objectively, considering how their offerings align with the diverse trading goals and preferences of our readers. Our focus is on providing a balanced overview of each broker’s strengths and weaknesses. This method ensures that our readers receive clear, insightful comparisons to aid in making well-informed trading decisions.

We employ a comprehensive rating system across nine key categories:

• Trust
• Fees
• Platforms and Tools
• Tradable Instruments
• Customer Support
• Research
• Deposits and Withdrawals
• Account Types and Terms
• Education

In each category, we conduct an in-depth analysis for both brokers, outlining features, advantages, and disadvantages and determining their suitability for different trader profiles. By blending insights from our extensive reviews with first-hand experiences and observations, we ensure each comparison is balanced, informative, and tailored to the trader’s unique needs. You can read more about our review process here.

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