Interactive Brokers opened its AI account connector to any tool built on the Model Context Protocol yesterday (Tuesday). Clients can now link accounts from Claude Code, Cursor, Perplexity and Windsurf, the broker said, instead of going only through certified marketplaces.Until this week, a client who wanted an AI assistant to read an IBKR portfolio had one route in, the connector marketplaces operated by ChatGPT, Claude and Grok.Interactive Brokers has now published a connector URL that clients paste into an AI tool's custom server settings, then authorize through the broker's own login screen for a single account.Two Months From Certified Marketplaces to an Open URLThe broker connected client accounts to Anthropic's Claude on June 1, letting the AI research holdings and draft trade instructions for a human to approve.It added ChatGPT and Grok three weeks later, along with options and futures coverage. Both of those ran through vetted marketplaces, where the AI provider certifies the connector and lists it for users.[#highlighted-links#] The protocol underneath has not changed, and Interactive Brokers said its AI Integration has been built on MCP since launch. What went away is the restriction on which clients could call it.Platform Vendors Got There in MaySpotware opened cTrader to AI agents in May through two MCP servers it calls AI Agent Connect, and said the package works with Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI. Traders generate a token in the platform settings and paste it into whichever AI client they use.ThinkMarkets launched a server called ChelseaAI in June, which lets an AI place orders without the trader logging into the platform at all. "Traders can now connect any AI LLM of their choice," co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Nauman Anees told FinanceMagnates.com at the time.MetaQuotes added MCP support to a MetaTrader 5 beta on July 16, opening charts, market data and execution workflows to outside agents including Codex and Claude Code. Prop firms have joined as well, with FundedNext shipping a read-only server this month that lets an AI review payouts and performance but not trade.Spotware and ThinkMarkets let the AI place orders, FundedNext keeps its server read only, and Interactive Brokers stops at a drafted instruction the client has to convert by hand.Every Order Still Needs a HumanClients can ask a connected tool how their holdings would react to a rate rise, or what a 10% fall in the S&P 500 would do to the portfolio, according to the broker. The AI reads the account and writes up instructions.Nothing reaches the market from there. In this release the client reviews each instruction and converts it into an order on an IBKR platform before submitting, and Interactive Brokers said clients control what the AI can access.Chief Executive Officer Milan Galik tied the change to the firm's history of open APIs, saying it gives clients "the flexibility to use the AI applications they prefer." Interactive Brokers has not disclosed how many clients connected an AI tool since June.FM Intelligence counted 10 brokers and platform vendors wiring AI agents into live client accounts in the first half of 2026, sorting them into read-only, human-approved and autonomous tiers.The AI Shelf Around the ConnectorThe connector joins a set of in-house tools the broker has shipped over the past year, among them natural language screeners covering more than 70,000 stocks, an Investment Themes search, the Ask IBKR portfolio assistant and automated news summaries.That product push has run alongside rising trading activity. Interactive Brokers reported second-quarter revenue of $1.9 billion and 5.2 million client accounts, with commission revenue up 30% to $673 million.The AI Integration works across Client Portal, IBKR Desktop, IBKR GlobalTrader, IBKR Mobile and Trader Workstation, and each authorization covers one account. Support for Gemini is still pending, the broker said. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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