Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IEX: IBKR) an automated global electronic broker, today reported its Electronic Brokerage monthly performance metrics for February.

Brokerage highlights for the month included:

  • 824 thousand Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs), 19% lower than prior year and 3% lower than prior month.
  • Ending client equity of $143.7 billion, 10% higher than prior year and 3% higher than prior month.
  • Ending client margin loan balances of $25.7 billion, 8% lower than prior year and 8% higher than prior month.
  • Ending client credit balances of $52.3 billion, including $1.9 billion in insured bank deposit sweeps1, 8% higher than prior year and 3% higher than prior month.
  • 614 thousand client accounts, 21% higher than prior year and 1% higher than prior month.
  • 301 annualized average cleared DARTs per client account.
  • Average commission per cleared client order of $3.63 including exchange, clearing and regulatory fees. Key products:
                                 
February 2019 Average Commission per Average
Cleared Client Order Order Size
Stocks $2.34 1,986 shares
Equity Options $4.93 7.1 contracts
Futures $6.16 3.4 contracts
 

Futures include options on futures. We estimate exchange, clearing and regulatory fees to be 57% of the futures commissions.

Other financial information for Interactive Brokers Group:

  • GLOBAL2: The value of the GLOBAL, reported in U.S. dollars, decreased by 0.21% in February. Year to date, the value of the GLOBAL decreased 0.03%
  • The Company extended margin loans against a security listed on a U.S. exchange at a conservatively high collateral requirement. Subsequently, the price of the security decreased by over 90%. Through February 27, 2019, the Company has recognized an aggregate loss of approximately $47 million. The maximum aggregate loss, which would occur if the securities’ prices all fell to zero and none of the debts were collected, would be approximately $59 million. The Company is currently evaluating pursuing the collection of the debts3.

In the interest of transparency, we quantify our clients’ all-in cost of trade execution below.

For the full multimedia release with graph see link:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/MonthlyMetrics

  • In February, clients’ total cost of executing and clearing U.S. Reg.-NMS stocks through IB was 1.4 basis points of trade money4, as measured against a daily VWAP5 benchmark (1.2 basis points net cost for the rolling twelve months).
Interactive Brokers Clients' Reg.-NMS Stock Trading Expense Detail            
All amounts are in millions, except %          
    Previous

Mar '18

Apr '18

May '18

Jun '18

Jul '18

Aug '18

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Nov '18

Dec '18

Jan '19

Feb '19

12 Months

#1a - Number of orders
Buys 2.96 2.64 2.74 2.78 2.49 2.78 2.50 3.52 2.84 2.62 2.72 2.49 33.08
Sells 2.62   2.37   2.49   2.53   2.20   2.48   2.21   3.25   2.59   2.42   2.52   2.24   29.92
Total 5.58 5.01 5.23 5.31 4.69 5.26 4.71 6.77 5.43 5.04 5.24 4.73 63.00
 
#1b - Number of shares purchased or sold
Shares bought 1,439 1,225 1,358 1,372 1,189 1,366 1,301 1,876 1,516 1,450 1,487 1,322 16,901
Shares sold 1,419   1,181   1,295   1,374   1,152   1,299   1,255   1,886   1,488   1,441   1,445   1,262   16,498
Total 2,859 2,406 2,653 2,746 2,341 2,665 2,556 3,763 3,004 2,890 2,932 2,583 33,399
 
#2 - Trade money including price, commissions and fees
2a Buy money $71,123 $60,343 $58,472 $58,612 $53,305 $58,497 $52,940 $86,745 $69,605 $66,543 $64,730 $54,810 $755,723
2b Sell money $70,972   $59,990   $56,843   $59,055   $52,347   $57,646   $51,833   $88,256   $69,879   $68,277   $65,048   $53,604   $753,751
2c Total $142,095 $120,332 $115,316 $117,667 $105,652 $116,143 $104,773 $175,001 $139,484 $134,820 $129,778 $108,413 $1,509,475
 
#3 - Trade value at Daily VWAP
3a Buy value $71,101 $60,330 $58,477 $58,603 $53,329 $58,481 $52,927 $86,705 $69,605 $66,513 $64,744 $54,811 $755,625
3b Sell value $70,980   $59,975   $56,852   $59,069   $52,363   $57,656   $51,843   $88,252   $69,888   $68,256   $65,078   $53,620   $753,831
3c Total $142,081 $120,304 $115,329 $117,672 $105,692 $116,137 $104,770 $174,957 $139,493 $134,769 $129,822 $108,431 $1,509,456
 
#4 - Total trade expense, including commissions and fees, relative to Daily VWAP
4a Buys (2a-3a) $22.7 $13.0 ($5.0) $8.7 ($24.0) $15.8 $13.0 $40.6 ($0.0) $29.4 ($14.1) ($1.4) $98.8
4b Sells (3b-2b) $8.4   ($15.1)   $8.8   $13.8   $15.5   $9.7   $9.1   ($4.2)   $8.8   ($21.4)   $29.9   $16.0   $79.5
4c Total trade expense $31.1 ($2.2) $3.8 $22.5 ($8.4) $25.6 $22.1 $36.3 $8.8 $8.0 $15.9 $14.7 $178.2
 
Trade expense as percentage of trade money

4c/2c

 0.022% -0.002% 0.003% 0.019% -0.008% 0.022% 0.021% 0.021% 0.006% 0.006% 0.012% 0.014% 0.012%
 
#5 - Trade expense categories
5a Total commissions & fees $12.4 $10.6 $11.4 $11.8 $10.2 $11.4 $10.8 $15.7 $12.6 $12.2 $12.1 $11.0 $142.2
5b Execution cost (4c-5a) $18.7 ($12.8) ($7.6) $10.8 ($18.6) $14.2 $11.3 $20.6 ($3.8) ($4.2) $3.7 $3.6 $35.9
 
#6 - Trade expense categories as percentage of trade money
Total commissions & fees (5a/2c) 0.009% 0.009% 0.010% 0.010% 0.010% 0.010% 0.010% 0.009% 0.009% 0.009% 0.009% 0.011% 0.010%
Execution cost (5b/2c) 0.013%   -0.011%   -0.007%   0.009%   -0.018%   0.012%   0.011%   0.012%   -0.003%   -0.003%   0.003%   0.003%   0.002%
Net Expense to IB Clients 0.022% -0.002% 0.003% 0.019% -0.008% 0.022% 0.021% 0.021% 0.006% 0.006% 0.012% 0.014% 0.012%
 

The above illustrates that the rolling twelve months’ average all-in cost of a client U.S. Reg.-NMS stock trade was 1.2 basis point.

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Note 1: FDIC insured client bank deposit sweep program balances with participating banks. These deposits are not reported in the Company’s statement of financial condition.

Note 2: In connection with our currency diversification strategy, we have determined to base our net worth in GLOBALs, a basket of 14 major currencies in which we hold our equity. The total effect of the currency diversification strategy is reported in Comprehensive Income; the components are reported in (1) Other Income in the corporate segment and (2) Other Comprehensive Income (“OCI”) on the balance sheet. The effect of the GLOBAL on our comprehensive income can be estimated by multiplying the total equity for the period by the change in the U.S. dollar value of the GLOBAL during the same period.

Note 3: For further discussion of this topic, please see the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019; ITEM 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, Financial Overview, Electronic Brokerage.

Note 4: Trade money is the total amount of money clients spent or received, including all commissions and fees.

Note 5: Consistent with the clients’ trading activity, the computed VWAP benchmark includes extended trading hours.

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More information, including historical results for each of the above metrics, can be found on the investor relations page of the Company’s corporate web site, www.interactivebrokers.com/ir.

About Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.: Interactive Brokers Group affiliates provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities and foreign exchange around the clock on over 120 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single IBKR Integrated Investment Account to clients worldwide. We service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers. Our four decades of focus on technology and automation has enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios at the lowest cost according to Barron’s Best Online Brokers review, February 25, 2019. We strive to provide our clients with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

The foregoing information contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to certain current and future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the company's operations and business environment which may cause the company's actual results to be materially different from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to the company on the date of this release. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any statements expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Additional information on risk factors that could potentially affect the company's financial results may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.