On Tuesday, Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), a major American electronic trading platform , said that it had launched fractional shares trading for European stocks and ETFs. According to the press release, Interactive Brokers’ clients can now invest fractionally in eligible US and European stocks and ETFs regardless of share price, providing a simple way to build a diversified portfolio.
“Interactive Brokers was the first big broker to introduce fractional trading in US shares and it’s been very popular with our clients. Adding European fractional shares gives investors the opportunity to trade across markets in a more affordable way, in addition to the benefit of investing in more stocks to help clients achieve diversified portfolios,” Steve Sanders, the EVP of Marketing and Product Development at Interactive Brokers, commented.
European fractional shares do not have a minimum investment requirement, and US fractional shares can be purchased for as little as $1.00, irrespective of the stock price. Fractional shares enable investors to maximize returns by putting small cash balances to work quickly rather than holding cash and potentially earning lower returns. In addition, Interactive Brokers offers cash quantity stock orders, which allow clients to place orders for a specific amount of cash. As soon as the cash amount does not line up with a whole number of shares, fractional shares will be bought or sold automatically.
Recent Financials from Interactive Brokers
There were 2.204 million DARTs reported in the brokerage recently, which is 1% higher than last year and 10% lower than last month. Client equity ended the month at $324.5 billion, which is down 6% from last year and 9% from the previous month.
Additionally, ending client margin loan balances reached $46.7 billion, which is 4% higher than last year and 3% lower than March. In other figures, 1.85 million client accounts were opened, which is 36% higher than in 2021 and 2% higher than the prior month.
