Ligh🍬tspeed and Interactive Brokers offer services that focus on sophisticated,ꦰ active traders. Both brokers provide investors with competitive pricing and hedge-fund-style, low-latency trading platforms. Interactive Brokers has dominated our trading categories for quite some time.

Lightspeed is no slouch, however, as its strengths are purely aimed at active traders, and its singular focus on these investors is why it scores poorly overall but tends to get high reviews from its target users. While both companies seek to serve similar niche markets, the features offered by each company are quite different. We will take an in-depth look at each co💙mpany to help you decide which may be the right choice for your investing needs.

Open an Account

• Account Minimum: $10,000 (web and mobile), $25,000 (software)
• Fees: Per-share rates: $0.0010 to $0.0035, per-trade rates: $2 and $3.99, Options range from $0.20 for trades over 50,000 contracts to $0.50 for trades under 500 contracts

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Open an Account

Open an Account

• Account Minimum: $0.00
• Fees: $0.00 commissions for equities/ETFs available on IBKR’s TWS Lite, or low costs scaled by volume for active traders that want access to advanced functionality such as order routing. $0.65 per contract for options on TWS Lite; that is also the base rate for TWS Pro users, with scaled rates based on volume. $0.85 per contract for futures, also scales with volume for TWS Pro users. 0.12%-0.18% on cryptocurrency trades depending on volume with a minimum $1.75 fee per trade.

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Usability

Both Lightspeed and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) offer clients 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:low-latency platforms suitable for active traders. Lightspeed’s straightforward desktop trading platform, Lightspeed Trader, is designed for active traders, hedge funds, and institutions with direct market access. Lightspeed has multiple platforms, including a website and a mobile app, in addition to Sterling VolTrader, an advanced options evaluation and trading interface, Coinigy for crypto, Eze EMS to trade futures, and Silexx OEMS for multi-asset, hedge-fund-style trades.

Lightspeed is designed for professionals and sophisticated traders and offers a great deal of customization, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:contingent orders, news, and research. While all the customization is n🐟ice, Lightspeed is not an all-in-one platform, so you have to use multiple platforms if you want to access certain features or a✨ssets.

Interactive Brokers has a web platform; the downloadable Trader Workstation; a new streamlined desktop platform, IBKR Desktop; and two mobile apps. The company offers investors the opportunity to invest globally across 150 markets in 200 countries in stocks, ETFs, options, futures, currencies, bonds, mutual funds, an🃏d cryptocurrency from an impressive all-in-one platform, 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Accounts can be funded in 27 currencies and users can trade assets denominated in multiple currencies. Traders are also able to scan world market🍸s for undervalued stocks with the IBKR GlobalAnalyst tool. Additionally, IBKR offers acc🌟ess to real-time streaming data, charting, tools, research, and news on all the platforms. 

Usability Verdict: Interactive Brokers

While both companies offer a plethora of options for active traders, we give the edge in usability to Interactive Brokers. IBKR has consolidated all options and functionality into a singular plꦯatform, rather than requiring investors to utilize different platforms for different features as Lightspeed does. 

Trade Experience

Desktop Trade Experience

Lightspeed’s desktop platform, Lightspeed Trader, offers direct market access for active traders, hedge funds, and institutions. There are many options for customization, including charts, watchlist꧂s, time and sales♔ data, and more. Switching back and forth between equities and options is easy with the click of a button at the top of the screen.

All platforms offer streaming, real-time data; however, you can only stream on one platform at a time. Investors can enter multiple orders simultaneously on Lightspeed Trader, Sterl𝔉ing VolTrader, and Eze EMS. Eze EMS even allows you to staಞge orders for later entry. 

Trader Workstation (TWS) is the desktop platform for Interactive Brokers. It offers an abundance of functionality and features. Designed for active traders who are looking for versatility and access to mult✨iple products, TWS is customizable and provides trading, order management, portfolio management tools, and charting. Traders have access to a myriad of order types, including algorithmic trading, defining hotkeys to place orders ꦬquickly, and options to stage orders for later execution—either one at a time or in a batch.

Investors can set a date and time for an order to be executed or submit a conditional order that becomes active after specific parameters have been met. Orders can be placed, modified, and managed directly from the chart. Streaming real-time quotes, charting, and news are available across platforms, even if you're using multiple devices simultaneously.

Desktop Trade Experience Ver𒉰dict: Interactive Brok🍃ers

Lightspeed and Interactive Brokers both offer superior levels of customization. Interactive Brokers has some options in terms of simpler platforms with simpler trade experiences, which earns it the edge h🥀ere. For high-volume traders, however, this category is essentially tied.

Mobile Trade Experience

Lightspeed’s mobile trading platform offers similar features and functionality as the desktop experience. Users still have access to real-time streaming data and account details, but the app doesn't have the powerful analytics that are built into the desktop platform. While investors can trade equities and options on mobile, trading futures is not possible on the mobile app currently.

Interactive Brokers’ mobile app is commensurate with computer-based trading platforms, with the built-in c꧑apacity to trade all the same asset types and execute the same orders. The mobile platform offers the same research capabilities and tools as the desktop client portal. IBKR also offers a streamlined version of its mobile app, IBKR Global Trader, but we are focused on the more robust IBKR mobile for the purposes of this comparison. 

Mobile♓ Trade Experience Verdict: Interactive Brokers

Because of its superior funct♈ionality and fulꦯl array of asset types, we give the edge to IBKR when it comes to the mobile trading experience.

Range of Offerings

Lightspeed offers low-fee transactions at high speeds for active and professional traders. While the company offers a multitude of routing destinations, it does not offer 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fractional share trading at this time. Trading for futures and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:cryptocurrencies also must be done on separate platforms.

Investors at Lightspeed can trade:

• Stocks/ETFs
• Options
• Futures
• Futures options
• Cryptocurrencies

Interactive Brokeꦰrs allows investors to fund their accounts with one of 27 currencies and trade any product in a different curre🍃ncy. IBKR also supports trading in fractional shares.

This flexibility is offered through an all-in-one integrated account where investors can trade: 

• Stocks/ETFs
• Options
• Futures/FOPs
• Spot currencies
• Cryptocurrencies
• U.S. spot gold
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Hedge funds

Compare Range of Offerings

Range of Offerings Verdict: Interactive Brokers

Because of the vast range of offerings, the one-stop trading platform, and the additional flexibility of fractional share trading, IBKR ܫeasily haꦐs the edge in this category.

Order Types

Lightspeed offers a basic suite of order types, including market orders, limit orders, stop orders, and trailing stop orders. The downloadable platform offers much more advanced options, including algos. The software trading setups, Eze E🌠MS and Sterling Trader Pro, bring a different range of order options, but they also require a larger account minimum. Traders will not lack for order types at Light🌸speed.

Interactive Brokers offers access to over 90 order types and algos, also offering third-party algos to provide additional order type selections for clients. As with Lightspeed, the downloadable desktop, Trader Workstation, offers the most access for order types. Despite some di꧙fferences in platforms, IBKR has a lot more order options than the already impressive range available through Lightspeed.

Order Types Verdict: Interactive Brokers

For the sophisticated investor looking for the most options when it comes to⛎ placing an order, IBKR towers over the competition. For the average trader🌃, though, Lightspeed’s array of order types is more than suitable.

Trading Technology

Lightspeed’s platforms were developed for active stock and options traders, with a focus on speed, execution quality, and flexibility. Investors can also increase trade efficiency with hotkeys, quickly locate hard-to-borrow stocks, develop advanced strategy routes, and automate order entry via API functionality.

Lightspeed focuses on technology with: 

• State-of-the-art precision in order routing and management and real-time profit/loss capabilities
• Fast trade execution speed
• Highly customized Level II order entry system, programmable keys, and order entry features for immediate action
• Microsoft Windows and Intel technology for simple assimilation with in-house networks
• Advanced customization features
• Real-time analytical data with trading reporting and research capabilities

Interactive Brokers utilizes technology to provide clients with a way to instantly transmit orders from the chart using Hot Buttons, set alerts based on time, price, margin, and other criteria, choose from over 120 technical indicators and overlays to add to charts, scan world markets for undervalued stocks, fund their accounts in 24 currencies, and trade assets denominated in multiple currencies.

IBKR features some unique technology attributes:

• Accumulate/Distribute algo
• Bracket orders
• Exit strategy
• Customizable Trader Workstation (TWS) layout library
• Optimized trading in currency markets
• Split the spread orders
• Automated trading supported by TWS API

Trading Technology Verdict: Interactive Brokers

While the technolﷺogical capabilities of both companies are superb, Interactive Brokers is able to prevail in this category because it offers an all-in-one platfo🐎rm. 

Costs

Lightspeed offers a sophisticated low-latency trading platform to active traders. More active traders who meet monthly trading volume thresholds can qualify for discounted trading fees. Lightspeed lowered its rates as of March 2024, with per-share rates ranging from $0.0010 to $0.0035, depending on monthly volume, and per-trade rates falling below $3.99 to as low as $2. Investors who don't qualify for the active trader discounts can trade stocks and ETFs for $0.0035 per share, with a $0.25 minimum. Options are $0.50 per contract, but can go as low as $0.20 with volume, and futures cost $1.29 per side (plus exchange fees).

Interactive Broker's commissions and fee schedules can be a bit convoluted. Actual costs vary depending on whether the investor has an IBKR Lite account or an IBKR Pro account and on the country from which the client is trading. IBKR Lite has $0 stocks, but prices are on the high end of the options and futures range ($0.65 per contract on options and $0.85 per futures contract). IBKR Pro has conditional pricing per share of $0.0005 and $0.0035 and then options from $0.15 to $0.65 per contract and futures from $0.25 to $0.85 per contract. The company does offer low commissions on products across 150 global markets, with no added spreads, ticket charges, platform fees, or account minimums. One area where IBKR has a clear advantage is margin rates. IBKR Pro users pay 5.83% for up to 100,000, whereas that same amount would be 10.50% at Lightspeed.

Costs Verdict: Lightspeed

While Interactive Brokers does offer $0 commissions to IBKR Lite users, not all features are availa🥃ble at that level, and pricing can be a bit 🍰difficult to navigate. For that reason, Lightspeed has the edge in this category with its straightforward, low pricing, making it easy for clients to know what to expect.

Compare Costs

Account and Research Amenities

Lightspeed customers have access to a streaming, professional news feed that is included in the basic market data package. The headlines come from a variety of news sources. Investors also have access to TipRanks, which provides powerful investing tools that serve professional traders. This information is used by major institutions, such as banks, online brokers, and hedge funds. The analyꦰst recommendations are based upon actual♕ stock-picking performance, rank out of all analysts, success rate, and average return.

Interactive Brokers offers several free sources of real-time research, news, and analysis to clients. There are also several additional paid services that investors can subscribe to, many offering a free trial period. Research services are also available to investors with demo accounts and do not require an account application to be approved or funded.

Account and Research Amenities Verdict: Inteဣ💞ractive Brokers

With the abundance of fre🉐e research and news that is easily a✃ccessible on the website, IBKR easily edges out the competition in this category. 

Compare Account and Research Amenities

Portfolio Analysis

Lightspeed offers investors Lightspeed Risk, an application designed to help trade managers and risk supervisors manage risk across multiple accounts. Users can monitor profit, loss, halted trading symbols, and real-time trading activity, and access an autom🔥ated, real-time short-locate system, which allows for electronic requests and 𓄧ensures compliance regulation.

Investors can utilize Lightspeed Risk to:

• Rapidly identify exposure to a particular symbol of interest
• See which traders are holding a halted trading symbol and how many shares
• Watch real-time trade executions for a trading group
• Display real-time profit or loss as a percentage of total account value
• Locate real-time electronic short sale requests and responses that ensure compliance with regulations
• Set trading limits, such as profit and loss, position size, and other trading limits
• Access portfolio margin and advanced options risk
• Custom design window layouts and all columns

Interactive Brokers provides both individual and institutional investors with PortfolioAnalyst, an innovative portfolio management software and account aggregation system. PortfolioAnalyst allows inveꦓstors to consolidate, track, and analyze their portfolios. The system provides real-time monitoring, analysis, and trading; advanced reporting; global support; benchmarks; risk metrics; and powerful on-the-go analytics.

Individual investors can add the following accounts to get an 🦩overall aggregate picture of their f🐻inancial situation:

• Investment
• Bank accounts, including checking and savings
• Credit cards
• Annuities
• Incentive plans
• Mortgages
• Student loans and more

The PortfolioAnalyst tool also helps investors stay on track with asset allocation goals for easy portfolio rebalancing. Portfolio Checkup, the dashboard, provides key analytics including portfolio returns, risk measures, distribution by geography, asset class, sector, and even 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:environmental, social, an𓂃d govern🉐ance (ESG) ratings.

Portfolio Analysis Verdict: Interactive Brokers

Because IBKR haꦰs the ability to link external accounts and get an overall financial picture, we give it the advantage iꦕn portfolio analysis. 

Education

Lightspeed offers several resources for investor education, including: 

• Options Trading Academy
• Active Trader blog
• Live, interactive webinars 
• Trading tutorial videos 

Interactive Brokers has multiple free resources for investor education. Investors can start out at the IBKR Campus and find exactly the resources they need:

• Traders’ Academy
• Traders’ Insights
• IBKR webinars
• IBKR podcasts
• IBKR Quant
• Student Trading Lab
• Traders’ glossary
• Traders’ calendar (international trading calendar)
• Library of short videos

Education Verdict: Interactive Brokers

Both companies offer a great deal of educational resources, but the expanse of educational resources is a bit more encompassing at IBKR. Interactive Brokers’ tutorials go beyond investing and also cover account dashboard utilization. Lightspeed’s educational resources are somewhaౠt limited by comparison.

Customer Service

Customer service is available at Lightspeed via phone during domestic and international market hours or via email, or investors can use the online message form to submit a question or concern. 

IBKR provides 24-hour customer service each business day via regional Client Services Centers located throughout America, Europe, and Asia. While the company does have agents available to field calls, investors are encouraged to utilize the list of Quick Tips to answer questions without the need to call. Inbound communications sent via commercial email are not sup🌌ported due to security and spaꦆm concerns.

Existing clients as well as clients in the application phase are encouraged to submit formal inquiries via the message center located within account management or via the email link on the support page. IBKR offers live, online chat services to current and prospective clients 24 hours a day Monday through Friday, and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Sundays.

Customer Service Verdict: Interactive Brokers

IBKR wins out in customer service due to the 24-hour availabilit🦩y of phone and live chat during business days, whil𓆏e Lightspeed is only available during market hours.

Security

Lightspeed offers two-step verification for client account fund transfers by sending one-time-use passcodes to your mobile device. Wedbush provides excess Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) coverage for each client account carried by Wedbush on behalf of Lightspeed. Each account is covered up to $25,500,000 at no charge; SIPC provides coverage up to $500,000, of which a maximum of $250,000 applies to cash credit balances. 

IBKR requires all users to be two-factor authenticated and does not allow users to partially or fully opt out. Mobile app users can log ﷽in with face, fingerprint, or passcode recognition.

Methods for completing this authentication are:

• IBKR mobile authentication
• Digital Security Card+
• SMS

Client accounts at Interactive Brokers LLC are protected by the 澳洲幸🅘运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Securities Investor Protection C💎orporation (SIPC) for up to $500,000, with a cash sublimit of $250,000. Excess SIPC coverage provides up to an additional $30 million, with a cash subl𓃲imit of $900,000, subject to an aggregate limit of $150 million.

Security Verdict: Tied

Both companies meet and exceed ꦗindustry standar🦂ds when it comes to security.

The Bottom Line

Both Lightspeed and Interactive Brokers offer low-latency trading platforms catering to active traders. Overall, however, we see that Interactive Brokers has been able to offer more value and stand out from the competition in almost every comparison category. From the all-in-one platform, the ability to aggregate portfolio analysis, the over 90 order types, the massive range of markets and tradable assets, and the availability of fractional shares, Interactive Brokers is able to dominate several niches when it comes to serving 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:sophisticated traders.

Lightspe♔ed will still h⛦ave a niche with the highest-volume traders looking for low latency, as well as hedge funds, due to some pricing advantages related to multi-asset trading volumes. For everyone else, however, IBKR’s market breadth and trading capabilities are more than enough for their needs.

How 𓆏We Picked the Best Online Brokers a🎃nd Trading Platforms

Providing readers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of online brokers and trading platforms is a top priority for Investopedia. We combined our industry research, subject matter expertise, and investor survey data to guide the research and weightings for our 2024 online broker awards. To collect the data, we sent a digital survey with 110 questions to each of the 26 companies we included in our rubric. Additionally, our 𝔍team of researchers verified the survey responses and collected any missing data points through online research and conversations with each company directly. The data collection process spanned from Feb. 19 to March 19, 2024.

We then developed a proprietary model that scored each company to rate its performance across 11 major categories and 89 criteria to find the b♌est online broker♎s and trading platforms. The score for each company’s overall star rating is a weighted average of the criteria in the following categories:

🀅Additionally, during our 2024 research, many of the companies we reviewed gave us live demonstrations of their platforms and services via video conferencing methods and also granted our team of expert writers and editors access to live accounts so they could perform hands-on testing.

Through this all-encompassing data collection and review process, Investopedia has provided ♈you with an unbiased and thorough reꦕview of the top online brokers and trading platforms.

Learn more about 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:how we review online brokers.