Interactive Brokers or another broker? [2023]

Hello All,

I would like to reconvene about the topic of IB vs Degiro fees (sorry in advance if there is another newer topic regarding this)

before 2-3 years I remember that the fees between Degiro and IB were quite comparable and there was a certain threshold above which a decision to go with the one or the other broker was obvious.

Currently after a recent searching I did, it seems that Interactive Brokers is quite cheaper from Degiro for mostly every investment case:

Example 1: Buying one time (4kEUR) a stock from European Stock Exchange (e.g Paris)

  • Degiro: Transaction fee (4.06) + Handling fees per trade (1) + connectivity fee (2.60) + currency cost (10) → total 17.66 CHF (source: Cost calculator | Trading Fees | Online broker DEGIRO)

  • IBKR: Fixed Direct Routing Model: Transaction fee 0.10% (4) no clearing or exchange fees, so total → 4 CHF

  • IBKR Fixed Smart Routing Model: Transaction fee 0.05% / but minimum 3 CHF (3), clearing fees (0.10), exchange fees 0.01% (0.4), total → 3.14 CHF

(sources: Commissions Stock Europe | Interactive Brokers LLC, https://thepoorswiss.com/degiro-vs-interactive-brokers-european-portfolio/)

Example 2: Buying VT ETF @500 CHF / per month (12 transactions a year)

  • Degiro: Transactions fees (24.96) + Handling fees per trade (12) + connectivity fee (2.60) + currency cost (15) → total 54.56 CHF (source: Cost calculator | Trading Fees | Online broker DEGIRO)

  • IBKR: Fixed Direct Routing Model: Transaction fee 0.10% / but minimum 4 CHF (4) no clearing or exchange fees, so total → 4*12 = 48 CHF

  • IBKR Fixed Smart Routing Model: Transaction fee 0.05% / but minimum 3 CHF (3), clearing fees (0.10), exchange fees 0.01% (0.05), total → 37.32 CHF

Presumably there should not be any case currently that Degiro fees are lower compared to IBKR - even for the selection of free ETFs… Is that correct?

Also how can I find out if I have the IBKR fixed Routing or Smart Routing model?

Would you might have any comments related to my calculations above? Is there maybe something wrong?

Don’t use fixed for IBKR.

I pay like 3 CHF when investing 50k USD into US ETFs.

How is that? How is calculated? I see 0.0035 USD fees for Tiered (for fixed it’s 0.005 fees) but I can’t follow how you calculated 3 CHF for 50K USD?

Also how can I change from Fixed to Tiered? Are they both completely free and entirely my choice?

As I am not going to have a very large volume of transactions I thought Fixed would be just fine for me, maybe Smart Fixed even better?

Also I don’t know how can I check if I have Smart Routing or Direct Routing…

I’m not sure there’s any case where fixed is cheaper than tiered :slight_smile:

It’s just that tiered is less predictable, since it depends on whether you do a limit order that adds liquidity, or you remove liquidity, etc.

1 Like

Top right click on your name → settings → account configuration “IBKR Pricing Plan:”

Yes

Tiered is always cheaper. They try to trick people into paying more by having one stable transaction fee with the fixed model.

I think this is done automatically with smart routing when doing trades in the web interface. AFAIK you can only change this in the TWS application if you strictly want to change to direct routing on a certain exchange. But why bother? If you choose the tiered plan just buy on the web interface and IBKR will find the best price for you.

2 Likes

As another example I buy monthly for 4000 usd in VT etf and it cost less than 0,50 chf and around 1,80 chf for the chf usd change

2 Likes

Degiro has really lost its edge when they surprise hiked the currency conversion from 0.1% to 0.25% (150% increase out of the blue).

In a similar vein, Swissquote also suprise-hiked their custody fees on Jan 1st 2023, and added a new nonsensical fee for large portfolios. To me, both brokers have lost my trust if they think they can just increase their fees whenever they want and without cause. Meanwhile IB has decreased their fees in recent years and is now the most reputable and cheapest broker by a mile.

4 Likes

Degiro goes Zero. :wink:
That was moment I decided to change to IB.

BTW: Welcome to the forum!

2 Likes

Isn’t it impossible to buy VT on DEGIRO anymore? That’s why I left several years ago.

And I can confirm paying less than 0.50 USD on very large transactions on US ETFs.

I mean sorry for the confusion… It was mainly just for the fees comparison (consider maybe better the case as fees comparison for buying a non-European ETF? Does Degiro provides this possibility, I even don’t know because I am using only IBKR myself?)

So in a nutshell, it looks we have a clear “winner” for 2023 in terms of broker’s fees as Interactive Brokers (esp. with Tiered account) is unbeatable!

Thanks to all for the fdc!

Isn’t Degiro cheaper for buying ETFs (and possibly stocks) in CHF at SIX? This only costs a fixed EUR 3 fee per trade, which would be cheaper than both Swissquote and IB, especially for larger amounts. Or does Degiro have additional fees for such trades that I’m missing?

One downside is that it’s not possible (for new customers) to opt out of stock lending. While the risk should be low, it should be taken into account.

Having bought and sold some CHDVD a year ago on DEGIRO I can confirm that DEGIRO is in that case cheaper paying around CHF 2.50 per transaction (amounts ranging from 8k to 30k). But, DEGIRO takes their own fee on dividend payments. I can’t remember the exact numbers but it might be around 2-3% of the dividend, so maybe this should also be taken into consideration if you have bigger amounts of an EFT which pays a nice dividend yield.

I am also tempted to liquidate my DEGIRO account just for that reason. Then I’de rather give my money to Swissquote insetad which I use to as broker diversification.

As I understand it, this only applies to DEGIRO custody accounts, which can no longer be opened. For existing customers this is indeed relevant, though. This can even get more expensive than e.g. Swissquote custody fees.

1 Like

I see, good point. I opened that account around 2 years ago when it was still possible to get a custody account…

This is actually a part of the deal, even if it is not clearly stated. Degiro has cheap transaction fees because they earn money with your portfolio. Not only them, all cheap brokers are doing that. It should be even clearer now when they stopped creating new custody account.

I still kept my DeGiro custody account (in Germany, so I don’t pay an exchange fee for Xetra), but for that reason there are only two things in there:

  • VWCE
  • EUNA

Both are accumulating, when I have some Euro’s to get rid off I might buy some more, but my main investments are at IB, and that is also where I convert currencies.

So, it’s kind of a sleeper account now - a good way to not touch anything. But I don’t trust DeGiro to keep things stable and am kind of waiting for a message that they will convert all custody accounts to standard accounts, or implement a custody fee. Any of that and it will be the end.

I’m reading this post I ask me if it’s a good thing to continue with my Degiro account
I choose (3 years ago) Degiro because I have less of 100k and I buy 1x month the free etf Vwrl €

I pay CHF to € conversion but etf is free for 1 operation month

Does IB have high fees with <100k o something change?

With IB, you don’t pay inactivity fee anymore.
So for US ETFs, it’s just $2 flat currency exchange plus ~$0.35 commission

Quick calculation, depending on how much you invest monthly:
image

In case you want to continue buying VWCE (FTSE All-World ACC) on IB, it may cost a tad more.

1 Like

thanks for the info.

If I switch to IB is for buy for example VT

But with your quick calculation is better continue with Degiro. I invest 500chf month in Vwrl

1 Like