Interactive Brokers has published its report for the month of March 2023. Numbers are in comparison to the previous month and the same month for the previous year. There is a fall in the daily average revenue trades, with Interactive Brokers losing 2.05 million in comparison to 2.12 million in February 2023. While this signals a loss of 16% on a monthly basis, the number is a small drop when viewed from a yearly comparison perspective.
DART in March 2022 was higher; this time, it has gone by over 3%. February 2023 did see a rise of 7% in DART, but it was a decrease of 15% compared to February 2022. What encouraged investors and traders was that it was still a reflection of a 7% rise from January 2023.
Equity balance kept the rising trend going. Interactive Brokers saw the figure for March 2023 touch $343 billion. It was a decline of 4% on a year-over-year basis but an increase of 3% over February 2023. The figure for the same was $331.6 billion.
A significant increase has been noted in terms of active accounts. It rose to 2.19 million in March, which is 2% more than in February and 21% more than in March last year, when there were 1.80 million accounts. More traders onboarding Interactive Brokers are simultaneously making a point of how secure Interactive Brokers are as per industry standards.
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March 2023 saw Interactive Brokers charge a bit higher commission at $3.21 for every order. It was on the lower end for February 2023, with the number being $3.12. Both figures are exclusive of clearing, exchange, and regulatory fees. The same for stocks, equity, and futures orders is $2.11, $4.64, and $4.21, respectively.
An increase, definitely, but it largely remained muted amid the higher operating expenses and a fall in trading volume. Commission revenue still managed to touch $331 million, a 3% increase on a year-to-year basis. There was a moment when Interactive Brokers, a US-regulated forex broker, pushed to have a policy of no trading fee. That appears to have faded away with the reported commission revenue.
Recently, Interactive Brokers started a service for trading cryptocurrencies with one of the lowest fees for professional investors. It is limited to the Hong Kong region, with a sure shot at expanding the offerings of digital assets.
Earnings for the fourth quarter are pretty strong, courtesy of the recovery in interest income and investment in Tiger Brokers. Lower stock trading volume and higher operating expenses have kept commission revenue under check, but there has been an increase when the number is compared to the same period of the previous year.
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Meanwhile, Interactive Brokers has announced to host a conference call for Q1 earnings on April 18, 2023.
