This brings the total number of market centers offered under the IB Universal Account to 72 across 17 different countries.

"For six years, Interactive Brokers has provided its professional clients with direct access to options, futures, stocks, forex and bonds worldwide from its single interface Universal Account," said Steve Sanders, IB's SVP of Marketing and Product Development. "Our Universal Account allows funding in one currency, simplified risk management across multiple currencies and products, as well as cheap and transparent financing globally."

The multi-product platform allows customers to use a single base currency to trade products in other currencies. Transactions are executed by either securing a loan against the base currency or actually converting the currency. The choice between a loan and conversion is entirely up to the customer, based on a personal appetite for currency risk. In either case, the customer's trading costs are decreased through market-determined financing or currency conversion rates provided directly by a number of bank partners. Real-time forex rates can be viewed on our home page.

"Most brokers would not want to offer our 'Universal Account' structure because it would mean the end of high markups on non-transparent currency conversions and financing rates, which is where some brokers make the bulk of their profits," said Sanders. IB offers access to six interbank currency dealers and will route a forex order to the dealer with the best bid or offer available at any given moment. In addition, complete straight-through processing, large volumes, and self-clearing allow IB to offer execution and clearing services at ultra-low commissions.

Up until a few years ago, traders and investors were forced to involve an additional middleman when investing in overseas or alternative assets. Today, customers have the choice of more direct investments. Rather than paying a middleman to buy a foreign energy company stock or buying an ADR and paying high management fees, customers can directly buy the stock from an overseas exchange through Interactive Brokers.