Interactive Brokers' new user friendly interface

In previous posts I have outlined the pros and cons of using Interactive Brokers.  One of the major cons was that it was the least intuitive brokerage system I had ever used for several reasons including

• You had to log on separately for account management / statements etc versus the webtrader system
• Their tabs system for both trading and getting statements was terrible.  It would take much longer than was necessary to find even basic information.

However in the last month interactive brokers has overhauled its user interface to make it much more user friendly.  When I logged onto the account management part there was a section for me to go to the full webtrader, or if I wanted to I could just put through a quick trade.  Further the options were easy to navigate and everything was in a logical place.

Although this update was well overdue it makes the system a lot more user friendly (especially for those who are not full time traders).  This combined with the unbelievably low trading costs (especially for stocks listed on international exchanges) means that in my view interactive brokers is now the best broker in the market by a long way. 

Note that although I believe it is the best broker out there 'on balance' this does not mean that the system is perfect.  My major gripe with interactive brokers is still the fact that a trader is unable to participate in dividend reinvestment plans through interactive brokers.