CenterPoint Securities vs Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is the better broker for most traders. CenterPoint Securities is the better specialist choice for active US equity traders who prioritise hard-to-borrow stock locates, small-cap short selling and granular order routing.

If you trade multiple asset classes, invest internationally, use margin heavily, automate strategies or simply want lower fixed account costs, Interactive Brokers is the stronger all-round choice.

If your trading business revolves around shorting difficult-to-borrow US stocks and you value an integrated locate desk, DAS-style execution and dozens of explicit routing choices, CenterPoint Securities has a more specialised proposition.

Verdict:

• Best overall: Interactive Brokers
• Best for hard-to-borrow and small-cap short sellers: CenterPoint Securities
• Best for global and multi-asset trading: Interactive Brokers
• Best for traders who want DAS and specialist US equity routing: CenterPoint Securities
• Best for lower fixed costs and smaller accounts: Interactive Brokers
• Best for API and systematic trading: Interactive Brokers

Pricing and product information below was checked in September 2026.

CenterPoint Securities vs Interactive Brokers at a Glance

CenterPoint's current published equity commission schedule starts at $0.003 per share below 500,000 shares per month, while Interactive Brokers' IBKR Pro tiered schedule starts at $0.0035 per share for the first 300,000 monthly shares. CenterPoint also charges routing and regulatory fees separately, while its premium desktop platform can create an additional fixed monthly cost.

That distinction matters because the broker with the lower advertised per-share commission is not necessarily the broker with the lower total trading cost.

Which Is Better: CenterPoint Securities or Interactive Brokers?

Interactive Brokers also supports stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds and funds through one account. Its Trader Workstation platform supports sophisticated order types, algorithmic execution and both smart and direct routing.

CenterPoint Securities is more specialised.

CenterPoint is now offered as a division of Clear Street LLC and is explicitly designed around serious active traders. Its strongest differentiators are short inventory, an in-house securities-lending operation, integrated short locates and more than 40 routing options.

So the real decision is not simply:

Which broker has more features?

It is:

Do CenterPoint's specialist execution and short-selling tools solve a problem important enough to justify choosing it over Interactive Brokers?

For most traders, the answer is no.

For an active small-cap short seller, the answer may be yes.

CenterPoint Is Better for Hard-to-Borrow Stock Locates

This is CenterPoint's clearest competitive advantage.

CenterPoint says its easy-to-borrow inventory covers roughly 6,000 symbols, while its securities-lending team and integrated Short Locate Tool can source additional locate-required shares. Traders can request locates directly inside the trading platform between 4 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

CenterPoint also operates its ATLAS family of locate routes. These allow traders to request shares and see the available quantity and per-share locate price before accepting the locate.

That workflow is particularly relevant for strategies involving:

• low-float stocks
• small-cap momentum stocks
• stocks with unusually high short interest
• hard-to-borrow securities
• pre-market short setups
• intraday short-selling strategies

There is an important cost distinction.

CenterPoint charges the locate fee when you accept the shares, even if you never execute the short trade. Locate fees vary by stock and available supply. Overnight short positions can also incur separate borrow interest.

For example, CenterPoint gives the example of locating 1,000 shares at $0.05 per share. Accepting that locate costs $50 whether or not the trader ultimately opens the position.

That makes unused locates a real trading expense.

Is Interactive Brokers Good for Short Selling?

Interactive Brokers' Securities Loan Borrow system lets clients inspect:

• available short quantity
• number of lenders
• current indicative borrow rate
• historical indicative borrow rates
• availability by symbol, exchange, ISIN or CUSIP

When checked, Interactive Brokers' availability tool showed almost 20,000 shortable US stocks. Short availability changes continuously, so that figure should not be treated as a permanent inventory guarantee.

Interactive Brokers generally calculates short-selling costs using the stock borrow fee and interest associated with short-sale proceeds rather than CenterPoint's up-front per-share locate model.

For mainstream short selling, Interactive Brokers can therefore be more than sufficient.

The CenterPoint advantage becomes more valuable when your edge depends on finding a locate on a difficult small-cap stock that another broker cannot easily supply.

That is a narrower use case, but for the trader affected by it, it can matter more than almost every other feature in this comparison.

Interactive Brokers Is Better for Global and Multi-Asset Trading

Interactive Brokers provides access to more than 170 markets in 40 countries and supports funding and trading in multiple currencies. Its product range includes stocks, ETFs, options, futures, currencies, bonds, mutual funds and other instruments.

Trader Workstation, commonly called TWS, combines these markets in one professional platform.

That makes Interactive Brokers a much stronger fit for traders combining strategies such as:

• US equities and index futures
• stocks and options
• international equities
• FX and equity hedging
• bonds and equities
• multi-country portfolios
• systematic multi-asset strategies

CenterPoint's published product, pricing and platform proposition is much more heavily centred on active equities and options traders.

If your trading requirements extend beyond that niche, there is little reason to force everything through a specialist US equity broker when Interactive Brokers gives you a broader infrastructure from one account.

Which Broker Has Lower Trading Fees?

This is more nuanced than comparing two headline commission numbers.

CenterPoint Securities stock commissions

CenterPoint currently publishes the following equity rates:

Monthly share volume	Published commission
Under 500,000	$0.003/share
500,000 to 1 million	$0.0025/share
1 million to 5 million	$0.002/share
5 million to 10 million	$0.0015/share
10 million to 20 million	$0.001/share
Above 20 million	Contact CenterPoint

Routing and regulatory fees are additional. CenterPoint also states that the initial commission rate remains in effect unless another rate is negotiated, so high-volume traders should confirm their actual schedule rather than assume a lower tier will automatically apply.

Interactive Brokers stock commissions

For US shares, IBKR Pro currently publishes:

• Tiered pricing starting at $0.0035/share for the first 300,000 monthly shares
• $0.0020/share from 300,001 to 3 million shares
• progressively lower rates at greater volume
• Fixed pricing at $0.005/share
• IBKR Lite commission-free trading on eligible US-listed stocks and ETFs for eligible US retail clients

IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro are materially different products. Serious active traders comparing CenterPoint with Interactive Brokers should generally compare CenterPoint with IBKR Pro, not simply see "$0 commissions" and stop there.

A simple cost example

Assume an active trader executes 100,000 US equity shares per month.

Using only the base published commission schedules:

• CenterPoint: 100,000 × $0.003 = $300
• IBKR Pro Tiered: 100,000 × $0.0035 = $350

CenterPoint appears $50 cheaper.

But a trader using CenterPoint Pro would also face its $120 monthly platform fee unless the waiver threshold is reached. That takes the simplified CenterPoint total to $420 before market data, routing, regulatory charges and any rebates.

Interactive Brokers does not charge a separate TWS platform subscription.

This is why comparing brokers using one commission figure is misleading.

At much higher equity volume, CenterPoint's commission economics can become more attractive, particularly where negotiated pricing and routing rebates enter the calculation.

CenterPoint Has Higher Platform and Account Overhead

CenterPoint Pro costs $120 per month. The fee is waived for clients trading at least 250,000 shares or 1,000 options contracts per month.

CenterPoint Web costs $20 per month and has a lower trading-volume threshold for a waiver. Market-data subscriptions can cost extra.

CenterPoint also publishes a $25 monthly inactivity fee for calendar months in which the account records no securities transactions.

Interactive Brokers publishes a $0 minimum balance and $0 maintenance fee for its standard Lite and Pro pricing plans.

Interactive Brokers therefore makes more sense for traders whose activity is inconsistent or who do not generate enough monthly volume to make CenterPoint's fixed costs irrelevant.

CenterPoint vs Interactive Brokers for Order Routing and Execution

CenterPoint advertises more than 40 routes across:

• ECNs
• market makers
• smart order routers
• dark pools
• liquidity-adding routes
• liquidity-taking routes

Several routes offer rebates for adding liquidity, while other routes charge per-share access fees.

For a trader who actively chooses routes based on queue position, liquidity, rebate economics or a specific execution objective, CenterPoint makes routing a central part of the trading workflow.

Interactive Brokers takes a somewhat different approach.

IBKR SmartRouting continuously evaluates destinations and can dynamically reroute all or part of an order. IBKR Pro users can also configure routing preferences and route orders directly to individual exchanges rather than using SMART.

TWS also supports more sophisticated execution algorithms, including VWAP, TWAP, Adaptive and other algorithmic order types.

So the distinction is not:

CenterPoint has routing and Interactive Brokers does not.

Both do.

A better distinction is:

CenterPoint is built around the workflow of a discretionary US equity trader who wants route-by-route control, while Interactive Brokers integrates routing into a much broader professional execution system.

Interactive Brokers Is Better for Algorithmic and API Trading

The Interactive Brokers API ecosystem includes the TWS API, Web API and FIX connectivity. The TWS API supports languages including Python, Java, C++ and C#, with access to market data, orders and much of the functionality available through Trader Workstation.

CenterPoint also offers API connectivity, but Interactive Brokers has a substantially broader and more mature documented ecosystem for traders building automated infrastructure.

If your broker needs to become part of a software stack rather than simply a screen from which you execute discretionary trades, IBKR is the stronger default.

Which Broker Is Better for Margin?

As of this comparison, IBKR Pro's published USD margin rate for the first $100,000 of borrowing is 5.13%, with progressively lower spreads at higher borrowing tiers.

CenterPoint's pricing page lists a 5.31% margin rate, but the page itself marks that interest-rate information as being effective December 15, 2025. Because margin rates change with interest-rate conditions, CenterPoint clients should verify the current rate before making a financing decision.

Both brokers can provide substantial intraday buying power under applicable margin rules, but margin requirements can increase for concentrated, volatile or hard-to-borrow positions.

Interactive Brokers also offers Portfolio Margin to eligible accounts, with risk-based margin calculations rather than relying entirely on standard Regulation T percentages.

What About the Pattern Day Trader Rule in 2026?

FINRA replaced its traditional Pattern Day Trader framework with new intraday margin requirements effective June 4, 2026. Brokerage firms are permitted a transition period extending through October 20, 2027.

That means two brokers can apply different account restrictions during the transition.

CenterPoint has explicitly stated that it is maintaining its existing account requirements rather than using the rule change to move downmarket.

Interactive Brokers states that accounts which remain subject to the previous PDT framework during the transition must continue to maintain $25,000 in equity for unrestricted day trading.

Interactive Brokers nevertheless has a general brokerage account opening minimum of $0, according to its current fact sheet.

For traders with limited starting capital, Interactive Brokers is therefore the more accessible of the two firms.

CenterPoint Pro vs Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation

CenterPoint Pro is designed around the workflow familiar to active equity traders:

• Level 2
• hotkeys
• time and sales
• configurable layouts
• short locates
• direct routing
• real-time market data
• advanced order entry

CenterPoint Pro is Windows-based. CenterPoint Web provides browser access, while mobile trading is also available.

Interactive Brokers' TWS is more complex, but it is also much broader.

TWS supports:

• more than 170 markets
• multiple asset classes
• direct and smart routing
• advanced option strategies
• algorithmic orders
• portfolio and risk tools
• market scanners
• API connectivity
• multi-currency trading

A pure US stock day trader may prefer the tighter CenterPoint workflow.

A trader running several markets, strategies or asset classes will usually get more mileage from TWS.

Are CenterPoint Securities and Interactive Brokers Safe?

CenterPoint Securities is offered as a division of Clear Street LLC, which CenterPoint identifies as a FINRA and SIPC member.

Interactive Brokers LLC is a member of NYSE, FINRA and SIPC and is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

SIPC protection relates to missing customer assets if a brokerage fails. It does not protect traders against investment losses, margin losses or losses caused by short positions moving against them.

Who Should Choose CenterPoint Securities?

Consider CenterPoint if most of the following describe you:

• You primarily trade US equities.
• You regularly short hard-to-borrow stocks.
• Small-cap stocks form a meaningful part of your strategy.
• Locate availability can determine whether you can take a trade.
• You want locates integrated directly into your trading platform.
• You actively select ECNs, market makers or smart routes.
• You prefer a DAS-style active trading environment.
• You trade enough volume that platform costs become relatively unimportant.

For that trader, CenterPoint should not be dismissed merely because Interactive Brokers is cheaper or offers more markets.

A broker that can source the shares required for your strategy can be more valuable than a broker with 100 extra features you never use.

Who Should Choose Interactive Brokers?

Interactive Brokers is the better fit if:

• You trade stocks but do not depend heavily on difficult HTB locates.
• You trade options, futures, currencies or bonds as well as equities.
• You invest internationally.
• You want to minimise recurring platform costs.
• You use significant margin.
• You run automated or API-based strategies.
• You want one brokerage account for trading and longer-term investing.
• You trade irregularly and do not want an inactivity fee.
• You want access to a much larger global market universe.
• You have a smaller account.

The crucial point is that Interactive Brokers is not merely an inexpensive retail broker. TWS, SmartRouting, direct routing, APIs and institutional-style order functionality make IBKR a legitimate professional trading platform as well.

CenterPoint Securities vs Interactive Brokers: Final Verdict

IBKR provides the better overall combination of cost, global market access, asset-class coverage, margin economics, trading technology and automation. It is the sensible default unless you can identify a specific CenterPoint capability that materially improves your trading operation.

CenterPoint Securities should win instead when hard-to-borrow stock access, small-cap short selling and granular US equity routing are core parts of the strategy.

That is the decision rule:

Choose Interactive Brokers for the better brokerage overall. Choose CenterPoint Securities when its specialist short-locate and active-equity infrastructure is itself part of your trading edge.

Short selling and margin trading can produce losses greater than the capital initially committed. Broker pricing, borrow availability, locate costs and margin requirements can change, so confirm current terms before opening or funding an account.