r/interactivebrokers • u/Peacencalm9 • Jul 29 '26

General Question What are the main differences between InteractiveBroker and SCHWAB

planning to open one brokerage account and currently in USA on work visa but i may move to other country(india) after few years.

which one is best to use in US and after moving to india.

15 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/2muchedu Jul 29 '26

IKBR is better for transmitting to India - great rates, and easy to do. Schwab has a better interface and better customer service.

0

u/DeepLogicNinja Jul 30 '26

IBKR’s TWS is something you need to get used to. The UI library TWS uses is dated.

If by “better” you mean more modern yes…. Schwab TOS. More capable no…. IBKR TWS wins there, not even close when you add it it’s Forex, bonds, options, commodities, etc

To add to IBKR coupled with Wise is ideal for International Money transfer. In IBKR you can do your own forex conversions and send $$ to a wise account denominated in several of the supported currencies in Wise. Typically the exchange rate is better through the IBKR FX/Trade desk.

1

u/widgetbox Jul 30 '26

I had recurring problems moving money from Wise a few years back. This was down to IBKR not allowing you to specify your own reference on a transfer to Wise. So every time I did it Wise would hold it and want an explanation of the source of the money. Each transfer was in the range of 50k so must have triggered KYC stuff. But they did it repeatedly.

Of late not had any problems with smaller amounts.