Interactive Brokers LLC (NASDAQ:IBKR), a global electronic Multi-Asset broker and market-maker, has reported its May 2017 trading metrics. The figures benefitted from an obvious increase in Volatility , which was spurred by a number of political scandals afflicting the Trump administration in the United States.
The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!
[gptAdvertisement]
In addition, a lengthier trading schedule (22 days in May vs. 19 days in April) also helped prop up the latest volumes, which saw DARTs reported at 675,000, nearly equalling its 2017 high of 678,000 DARTs set back in February 2017. This reading justified a gain of 4.7 percent month-over-month from 645,000 back in April 2017.
The latest DARTs rebounded off of a 2017 low last month, which was largely seen over the rest of the industry. A lack of market drivers and episodic droughts of volatility contributed to fluctuating volumes across most retail and institutional exchanges over the past few months.
Looking at a yearly time period, Interactive Brokers’ DARTs were also pointed higher, with a gain of 5.3 percent year-over-year against 641,000 set back in May 2016. In terms of its other monthly statistics, the group’s ending client margin loan balances reached a new 2017 high in May, yielding $22.4 billion for the month, which was 2.8 percent higher from $21.8 billion in April 2017.
The company's loan balances have been trending higher in every month since September 2016 – compared to last year however, the latest figures are 48.3 percent higher year-over-year from May 2016 when the figure was $15.1 billion.
Fresh Highs in Number of Accounts
Moving to its customer accounts, Interactive Brokers disclosed a figure of 418,100 for May 2017, a fresh all-time high at the brokerage. The number has risen in every month during 2017 as the group continues to expand its market penetration in the United States. This also correlated to a slight growth of 1.8 percent month-on-month from 410,800 accounts in April 2017 – the figure was even higher relative to May 2016, soaring 18.6 percent year-over-year from 352,600 accounts last year.
