Broker Reviews
A side-by-side look at published stock, options, and futures commissions, margin interest rates, and account minimums for two brokers built around active and derivatives traders, pulled directly from each broker's own pricing pages.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and Tastytrade both target more active traders than the typical mobile-first commission-free app, with deeper options and futures product lines than most retail brokers offer. This page lays out what each broker's own published pricing pages say about commissions, margin rates, and account minimums. It is not a recommendation to use either broker — see our standing not-financial-advice disclaimer below.
| Category | Interactive Brokers | Tastytrade |
|---|---|---|
| Stock/ETF commissions | $0 on IBKR Lite; IBKR Pro Tiered from $0.0035/share (min $0.35/order) or Pro Fixed $0.005/share (min $1.00/order) | $0 |
| Options commissions | IBKR Lite: flat $0.65/contract. IBKR Pro Tiered: $0.15 to $0.65/contract depending on monthly volume and premium, min $1.00/order | $1.00/contract to open, $0 to close (equity/index options), capped at $10 max per leg to open |
| Futures commissions | Priced separately by exchange/product on IBKR's futures schedule (not covered in this pass — see IBKR's own futures commission page) | $1.00/contract per side (open and close); micro futures $0.75/contract per side; options on futures $1.25/contract per side |
| Account minimum (cash account) | $0 | $0 |
| Margin account minimum | $2,000 (Reg T minimum equity) | $2,000 (Reg T minimum equity) |
| Standard margin rate (small balance) | 5.130% on the first $100,000 under IBKR Pro (Benchmark + 1.5%); 6.130% flat under IBKR Lite regardless of balance | Not confirmed from a source fetched this run — Tastytrade's public pricing page does not list a numeric margin rate table; left out rather than guessed |
| Margin rate at larger balances | Steps down to 4.630% ($100K–$1M), 4.380% ($1M–$50M), and 4.130% above $50M under IBKR Pro | Not confirmed from a source fetched this run |
Sources: Interactive Brokers' own Commissions — Stocks page (interactivebrokers.com/en/pricing/commissions-stocks.php, fetched in full directly), Commissions — Options page (interactivebrokers.com/en/pricing/commissions-options.php, fetched in full directly), and Margin Rates page (interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/margin-rates.php, fetched in full directly, USD tier table); Tastytrade's own Pricing page (tastytrade.com/pricing, fetched in full directly). Account minimum figures cross-checked against dailyforex.com's and brokerchooser.com's Interactive Brokers and Tastytrade minimum-deposit breakdowns, August 2026.
Interactive Brokers is a large, publicly traded broker-dealer (Nasdaq: IBKR) offering two pricing plans: IBKR Lite (zero commission on U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, flatter fees elsewhere) and IBKR Pro (per-share/per-contract pricing that gets cheaper at higher volume, either Tiered or Fixed). Its published pricing pages list no account minimum or platform fee for either plan.
IBKR's margin rate table is blended by tier: a balance that crosses a tier boundary is charged the lower tier's page-listed rate only on the portion above that threshold, not on the whole balance. IBKR Pro's rate at the smallest tier (5.130% on the first $100,000, per the page fetched this run) is meaningfully lower than IBKR Lite's flat 6.130% rate at every tier, which is the practical tradeoff between the two plans for anyone who borrows on margin regularly.
Tastytrade (formerly tastyworks) is a U.S. broker-dealer built specifically around options and futures traders, with a flat, capped commission structure it markets as simpler than per-share or tiered pricing. Its published pricing page lists $0 commission on stocks, ETFs, and fractional shares, with per-contract pricing on options and futures products.
Tastytrade's options pricing caps the opening commission at $10 per leg regardless of contract count, which matters most for traders opening large multi-contract single-leg positions; closing an equity or index option position carries no commission at all under the page fetched this run. Applicable exchange, clearing, and regulatory fees still apply on top of these commissions on both opening and closing trades, per the same page.