Interactive Brokers reported mixed results for its brokerage activity in May. Trading volumes held steady compared to April, but clients' assets experienced a significant increase. Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs), a key metric for brokerage activity, remained flat at 2.36 million compared to April but up 27% YoY.

More importantly, clients' assets under management surged by 6% in May, reaching a record high of $486.3 billion. This boost outpaced the year-over-year growth rate of 41%, indicating that existing Interactive Brokers' clients added to their investments.

Growth in Clients' Accounts

The number of client accounts at Interactive Brokers continues to climb. In May, the company added another 2% to its client base, bringing the total to 2.86 million. This represents a 27% YoY increase.

Interactive Brokers posted an ending client margin loan balance of $53.1 billion, representing 33% higher than the previous year and 5% higher than the prior month. The ending client credit balance was $106.7 billion, including $4 billion in insured bank deposit sweeps, 8% YoY growth, and 1% higher than the prior month.

The company's average commission per cleared commissionable order, including exchange, clearing Clearing Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Read this Term, and regulatory fees, was $3.01. For stock trades specifically, the average commission was even lower, at just $2.12 per trade.

The average order size for equity options was 6.6 contracts, with an average commission per cleared commissionable order of $4.04. Besides that, the futures' average order size was 3.2 contracts, with an average commission per cleared commissionable order at $4.61.

Expanding Offerings

Recently, Interactive Brokers expanded access to European derivatives in a partnership with Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX). This initiative grants clients access to over 300 equity derivative contracts on EU companies. Introduced in September 2021, CEDX aims to improve retail traders' access to a diverse range of equity derivatives across Europe. It offers a unified trading and clearing platform for institutional and retail investors.

Recently, the brokerage firm introduced daily options on the CAC 40 Index to assist institutional and retail traders in managing short-term trading strategies and exposure to the French stock market. The platform also recently launched cryptocurrency trading in the United Kingdom.