The Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) of popular American electronic trading platform, Interactive Brokers, declined 14% to 1.765 million in April 2023. The average trades per day that generated commissions or fees also slumped 20% last month, the online broker disclosed in its brokerage metrics for April 2023 released on Monday.

Interactive Brokers had ended March 2023 with 2.055 million DARTs, which was 3% lower than the prior month and 16% lower than trades made during the same period in the previous year.

Interactive Brokers’ Client Accounts Increase Slightly

Meanwhile, in April, the number of accounts trading with Interactive Brokers’ electronic platform increased slightly by 1% to 2.22 million. However, compared to the same period last year, the number of accounts jumped significantly by 20%.

In terms of other metrics, ending client equity, or the amount of money clients had in their trading accounts at the end of the month, totaled $342.1 billion, which is about the same amount from the previous month. However, compared to the prior year period, the figure increased 5%.

Furthermore, Interactive Brokers’ ending client margin loan balance, or the amount of money owed the brokerage by clients from leveraged trades, stood at $39.5 billion, which is about the same as what was posted in March. However, the figure is 16% lower compared to the balance generated in April 2022.

However, unlike both the ending client equity and margin loan balance, Interactive Brokers’ ending client credit balances reached $99.2 billion in April, representing an increase of 3% month-over-month and an increase of 9% year-over-year. The balance includes $2.4 billion in insured bank deposits sweeps, Interactive Brokers noted.

Furthermore, Interactive Brokers said it generated an average commission of $3.18 per cleared commissionable orders. This amount includes exchange, clearing and regulatory fees.

Giving the breakdown, Interactive Brokers outlined that it generated an average commission of $2.02 per cleared commissionable order on stocks, with each order carrying an average of 1,105 shares. For equity options and futures, the average order size stood at 6.8 and 3.2 contracts with $4.64 and $4.25 average commission per cleared commissionable order, respectively.

Interactive Brokers Report Record Revenue

Meanwhile, Interactive Brokers reported record revenue of $1.05 billion during the first quarter of 2023, with the adjusted figure standing at $1.01 billion. The numbers jumped significantly from $976 billion and $958 million, respectively, generated at the end of 2022.

In addition, the trading platform's adjusted earnings per share increased from $1.30 per share from the previous quarter to $1.35 during Q1 2023, missing market estimates by about $0.06.

Early last month, in terms of business development, Interactive Brokers introduced Wise payment to its clients. In February, the American firm became the first platform to offer algorithmic trading in Taiwan.

Furthermore, Interactive Brokers in February introduced Stock Yield Enhancement Programme (SYEP) Derivatives to its traders in Australia. However, the service was temporarily halted in March by Australia's financial regulator.