> I've used IB (and don't use robinhood). The IB GUI is a fucking trainwreck. If design had ethical obligations the way bridge engineering does, IB's designers would be in prison. It is bad. And it's still one of the better trading interfaces. Ever seen a bloomberg terminal?
I agree that the UI is terrible but keep in mind that IB is very very specifically targeted at active stock traders and institutions, not regular people. The UI starts to make slightly more sense if you're trading a lot.
For an example of a good UI though, I'd look at TD Ameritrade, which has a pretty decent one.
> I agree that the UI is terrible but keep in mind that IB is very very specifically targeted at active stock traders and institutions, not regular people
I understand what you're saying here, and you're right. Large parts of IB's complexity come from accomodating the crazy stuff you have to do when you want to unload millions of shares without tipping off algos.
However..
The implication that "active stock traders" and "regular people" are mutually exclusive is one of the things holding finance software back.
I don't think this is a bad assumption to make though. Active stock trading, daytrading at least, requires a minimum balance of $25k in the account due to SEC regulations. The people who have that much money available for investment outside a retirement account are very very few and near-entirely investors.
I agree that the UI is terrible but keep in mind that IB is very very specifically targeted at active stock traders and institutions, not regular people. The UI starts to make slightly more sense if you're trading a lot.
For an example of a good UI though, I'd look at TD Ameritrade, which has a pretty decent one.