The multinational financial company Interactive Brokers LLC provides its own platform that is available as desktop, web and mobile versions. The company warns that its platforms are intended for ‘sophisticated traders and investors’ and the broker has tough minimum requirements – USD10,000. If you want to trade forex only, you can use the additional module called FXTrader. This broker offers competitive spreads and deep liquidity, providing direct access (DMA) to interbank quotes. However, like many other ECN brokers, there is a fee for each order. FXTrader is part of the complex desktop terminal called Trader Workstation (TWS) and it can be launched only from here. It is loaded in a separate window and you could minimize the main terminal (TWS).
All menus and submenus are accessible from the main menu bar at the top. The quotes of the instruments are in the center and they are shown as boxes. Each box displays the instrument name, sell and buy prices, market depth (Level II data), and orders data. Clicking the buy or sell button sends the order into the Orders section where it is ready to be submitted. You should be careful because orders are planned as pending and you must change it for each instrument from the Configure Presets button. Order details can be changed or cancelled here. Executed orders are shown in the Trades tab. Current profit/loss is displayed in the corresponding box. Quote panel is above the Orders and Trades sections and displays current open positions for the active asset box. Any open position can be closed by right-clicking on it in the FX Portfolio section or in the Quote panel.
Right clicking the instrument box and then choosing Analysis and then New Chart opens the chart of the instrument in a new window. You can trade directly from the chart window by right clicking and choosing the corresponding option.
As mentioned earlier, this platform is not for the average trader. It has many features, but only an experienced trader can handle it.