Interactive Brokers is a Connecticut electronic securities trading company, and for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA [1]) and the United States Securities Investor Protection Corporation (Securities It is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)[1] and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)[2] and offers stocks, options, futures, Exchange of Futures for Physicals (EFPs), futures options, foreign exchange markets, mutual funds, CFDs, and other commodity services. Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and other commodity services. The trading platform has won numerous awards and has been recognized by Barron's as one of the top U.S. Internet brokerage firms for 10 consecutive years.

▍ What is the difference between IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro?？

IBKR Pro is a traditional IBKR pricing program designed for active traders and sophisticated investors, offering low-cost access to over 125 markets in 31 countries and a full suite of best-in-class trading technology.

The IBKR Lite product offers less active traders commission-free trading in U.S. equities and ETFs, as well as streamlined trading through the Client Portal, IBKR Mobile, IBot, and Trader's Workstation (TWS), with no account minimums and no inactivity fees.

▍ IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro which is more suitable for you？

Here are some key details about the IBKR Pro pricing program:

• IBKR Pro is designed for active traders and sophisticated investors.
• It provides low-cost access to global markets.
• It includes access to IB SmartRouting technology, which seeks the best price across multiple liquidity pools.
• It offers a full suite of best-in-class trading technology, including advanced trading platforms, market data, risk management tools, algorithmic trading and more.
• Compared to the IBKR Lite pricing plan, IBKR Pro offers lower trading commissions, access to additional trading tools and platforms, and dedicated support.
• IBKR Lite is better suited for casual investors with the freedom to trade U.S. stocks and ETFs.

More comparisons:

	IBKR Lite	IBKR Pro
Commission:	Commission-free	Fixed or tiered pricing
US Exchange Listed Stocks / ETFs	fixed price	Fixed or tiered pricing
Other Stocks / ETFs	fixed price	Fixed or tiered pricing
Options	fixed price	Fixed or tiered pricing
Currency	tiered pricing	tiered pricing
Bonds	tiered pricing	tiered pricing
mutual fund	fixed price	Fixed or tiered pricing
Account Fees:
Minimum Balance	0 USD	0 USD
Maintenance fee	0 USD	0 USD
Interest paid on immediately available cash balances	Baseline minus 1.5%	Baseline minus 0.5%
Margin Loan Interest	Base rate plus 2.5%	at base rate plus 1.Starting at 5%, the higher the loan amount, the lower the interest rate
Eligible Accounts:
American retail investors	√	√
Institutional Account	X	√
Consultant	√	√
Broker	√	√
Account Features:
Stock Earnings Boost Plan	√	√
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Cape Plan	X	√
Market Data - US Listed Stocks / ETFs	Free non-consolidated live streaming data for major exchanges of U.S. stocks and ETFs *	Free non-consolidated live streaming data for major exchanges of U.S. stocks and ETFs *
Market Data - Other Products	Deliver low-cost packages and single subscriptions	Deliver low-cost packages and single subscriptions
Outside of normal trading hours	07: 00 - 20: 00	04: 00 - 20: 00
Trading technology:
Client Portal	√	√
IBKR Mobile Edition	√	√
IBot	√	√
Trader Workstation (TWS)	√	√
IBKR APIs	X	√
Algos	√	√
Condition Orders & Advanced Order Types	√	√
Paper Trading	√	√
Mutual Fund / ETF Replicator	√	√
Risk NavigatorSM	√	√

▍ How to change my account to IBKR Lite account？

Eligible customers can use the button above or follow the steps below to switch from IBKR Pro to IBKR Lite (and vice versa):

1. Log in to the client portal
2. Click the User menu menu (the head and shoulder icon in the upper right corner) and click Settings
3. Find the Account Configuration section under Account Settings
4. Click "IBKR Pricing Plan"
5. IBKR Pricing Plan Screen Opens
6. Select IBKR LITE or IBKR PRO
7. Click "CONTINUE" and follow the on-screen prompts

If you see an information icon instead of a gear icon, you are currently not eligible for IBKR Lite. Click the information icon to view the reasons for ineligibility.

Please note

All outstanding "Good-til-Cancelled" (GTC) orders will be cancelled when the account is reclassified。

▍ Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is eligible to use IBKR Lite?

IBKR Lite is generally available to U.S. direct clients and to any U.S. clients of independent advisors, including cash and margin type accounts. Direct accounts must be natural persons (i.e., they cannot be legal entities, organizations, etc.). For separate trust accounts, all trustees/beneficiaries on the account must be natural persons. For trust accounts managed by an advisor, the trustees/beneficiaries can be legal entities.

Account types and customers that can use IBKR Lite:

• U.S. Resident Individual, Joint, IRA, and Trust Accounts
• U.S. professional or non-professional consultants (review requirements) and their clients
• U.S. Full Disclosure Introducing Brokers and Their Clients

* IBKR may allow incoming brokers to adopt Lite mode in special cases。

2. What is the commission structure of IBKR Lite?？

Unlimited commission-free trading on U.S. exchange-listed stocks and ETFs.

Fees associated with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) may apply.

For non-exchange listed U.S. equities (e.g., Pink Sheets Market and OTCBB), commissions will follow IBKR's standard commission schedule.

For non-US equities/ETFs, options, futures and mutual funds, commissions will be fixed priced.For FX and Fixed Income, commissions will be tiered pricing.

Please note:

• Buy-Sell or any combination order completed in an IBKR Lite account will be subject to commissions on the options and equity portion of the order in accordance with IBKR's standard commission plan.

• Sell orders for U.S. exchange-listed stocks or ETFs in an IBKR Lite account are commission-free, but are still subject to SEC and FINRA fees.

• For IBKR Lite clients, orders for U.S. listed equities that are executed from the close, at the open, or outside of normal trading hours ("Out of Hours") are commission-free, but still subject to SEC and FINRA fees, as long as the total monthly volume of equities executed through a combination of Opening Bid, Closing Bid, Opening Bid, or Below $1.00 orders does not exceed 10% of the monthly U.S. equities volume of the account (not including trades that are subject to Fixed Pricing2 ). ") U.S. listed stock orders or trades resulting from U.S. listed stock orders executed at less than $1.00 ("less than $1.00" orders) are commission-free, otherwise your account will be charged the lesser of (i) $0.005 per share or (ii) 1% of the value of such (ii) 1% of the transaction value of such trades. In addition, for all trades executed during overnight trading hours, IBKR Lite clients will be charged the lesser of (i) $0.005 per share or (ii) 1% of the value of the trade. Market orders placed prior to normal trading hours will be treated as market orders at the open and count toward the threshold.

• Certain order types and algorithms available to IBKR Lite clients may not be eligible for commission-free trading. In this case, the Client will be notified before the order is submitted.

3. Can I have an IBKR Lite account and another IBKR Pro account at the same time?？

No. All users/accounts owned by the Client must be either IBKR Lite or IBKR Pro. However, if an account is associated with an Advisor, the Client may open a second, separate account, which may be either IBKR Lite or Pro.

4.Can I open an IBKR Lite free trial account?？

There is no free trial account for IBKR Lite. Once you open an IBKR Lite account, you are eligible to open a demo trading account.

5.Who can use IBKR's Web API？

IBKR's API requires that the client's account is fully opened and funded, or that the account is a free trial or test account provided by a sales representative. Where applicable, the IBKR API also requires that the client account is of Pro type, not Lite type.

6.Can I get real-time market data for free through my IBKR Lite account?？

IBKR Lite provides free streaming market data on US-listed NMS stocks and ETFs on Cboe One, which includes BATS, BYX, EDGEA, and DRCTEDGE, which have an average accuracy of 96.8% and are within 1% of the National Best Bid and Offer Spread (NBBO).