Interactive Brokers Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Interactive Brokers posted another record quarter in Q2 2026, with record commissions, net interest income, total revenue, accounts, client equity and DARTs. Pre-tax profit margin stayed exceptionally strong at 77%, its seventh straight quarter above 70%.
• Client growth and trading activity accelerated, with new accounts up 34%, client equity up 40% to $930 billion and average daily trades rising 36% to 4.8 million. Strong activity was driven by higher volatility, especially in technology and semiconductor names.
• The company continued expanding its platform globally through new offerings in Korea, European crypto trading, prediction markets and AI-integrated tools. Management also said it has ample excess capital, no long-term debt and sees further growth opportunities through broker integrations and product expansion.

Interactive Brokers Group NASDAQ: IBKR reported another record-setting quarter in the second quarter of 2026, with executives citing stronger trading activity, account growth, higher client balances and continued product expansion across global markets.

Nancy Stuebe, Director of Investor Relations at Interactive Brokers, said the company set records in commissions, net interest income and total net revenue, as well as total accounts, account additions, client equity and total client daily average revenue trades, or DARTs. She said the company’s pre-tax profit margin was 77%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter above 70%.

Stuebe said the S&P 500 rose nearly 15% during the quarter, supported by strong technology earnings, while semiconductor names became a notable driver of client trading activity on the platform. “Our clients tend to embrace volatility and changing market dynamics as they provide opportunities in the market,” she said.

Revenue, Margins and Balance Sheet

Paul Brody, Chief Financial Officer of Interactive Brokers, said the company produced record net revenues and pre-tax income in the quarter. Commissions rose 30% from the prior-year quarter to a new record, supported by higher trading volumes across stocks, options and futures.

Net interest income increased 23% year over year to more than $1 billion, driven primarily by higher balances. Brody said margin borrowing increased as investors took on more risk, while the company’s segregated cash portfolio grew with new account additions. Those gains were partially offset by higher interest paid on customer cash balances.

Other fees and services totaled $87 million, up 40%, which Brody attributed mainly to strong options volumes and higher risk exposure fees. Excluding certain non-core items, other income was $66 million for the quarter.

Expenses also rose. Execution, clearing and distribution costs were $142 million, up 22% from the year-ago quarter. Brody said the increase was primarily due to the reinitiation of SEC regulatory fees, which totaled $34 million in the quarter. He said those fees are largely passed through and increase both commission revenue and execution costs, leaving profits unaffected.

Compensation and benefits expense was $182 million, equal to 10% of adjusted net revenues, down from 11% a year earlier. General and administrative expenses were $68 million, with expanded advertising contributing to the increase. Interactive Brokers had 3,265 employees as of June 30.

Total assets rose 36% year over year to $247 billion, driven by higher margin lending and segregated cash and securities balances. Brody said the company continues to have no long-term debt. Firm equity increased 20% to $22.3 billion.

Client Growth and Trading Activity

Interactive Brokers reported client equity of $930 billion, up 40% year over year. Client uninvested cash balances rose 27% to a record $182 billion, while new accounts grew 34%. Stuebe said strong interest continues from both institutional and individual investors globally in opening and funding accounts.

Brody said total customer DARTs were 4.8 million trades per day, up 36% from the prior year. Options contract volumes rose 17%, futures contract volumes increased 2% and stock share volumes were up 14%.

Brody said the average U.S. Fed funds rate was down 70 basis points from a year earlier, but margin loan interest rose 39% and segregated cash interest increased 7%, supported by balance growth. He estimated that a 25-basis-point increase in the Fed funds rate would raise annual net interest income by $81 million, while a 25-basis-point reduction would lower it by the same amount. For non-U.S. benchmark rates, a 25-basis-point move would affect annual net interest income by about $38 million.

Product Expansion Includes Korea, Crypto and AI

Stuebe said Interactive Brokers became the first e-broker to offer trading in Korea, providing access to the Korea Exchange and Nextrade, Korea’s 12-hour and overnight alternative trading system. She said Korean memory chip companies were highly sought after by clients.

In Europe, the company directly offered the SpaceX IPO to eligible U.K. and European retail clients, according to Stuebe. It also began offering cryptocurrencies throughout Europe, after previously offering crypto in the U.K. since 2024.

The company also released IBKR Connector in partnership with Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI. Stuebe said the integration allows clients to connect AI chatbots directly to their Interactive Brokers accounts to analyze portfolios, research opportunities and prepare orders for stocks, options and futures. She said the company is also expanding internal AI use in client service, compliance, surveillance and account onboarding.

In the question-and-answer portion of the call, Milan Galik, President and CEO of Interactive Brokers, said clients can use AI chatbots to access account data and prepare trading instructions, but those instructions currently require client approval before becoming executable orders. Galik said the company expects to offer fully autonomous agentic trading in the future, but only with guardrails and some form of client testing.

Prediction Markets, Introducing Brokers and Global Trends

Interactive Brokers also launched IBKR Prediction Markets, a platform for trading event contracts across ForecastEx, CME and Kalshi. Stuebe said orders are routed to the venue offering the best net price, with a focus on economic, political and climate contracts. Galik said the company is not offering sports or entertainment contracts and is focused on events that may affect client portfolios.

Asked about ForecastEx, Thomas Peterffy, Founder and Chairman of Interactive Brokers, said the company will continue to focus on weather-related contracts and is adding potential hurricane landfall contracts, which he said could relate to insurance risk.

Stuebe said the introducing broker pipeline remains strong. Galik said the company had a double-digit number of integrations go live for the fourth or fifth consecutive quarter and has more integrations in progress than in the previous quarter. He said recent prospects include firms looking to expand into listed stocks, brokers seeking broader asset-class or regional coverage, and financial institutions moving to Interactive Brokers to reduce costs or access its product offering.

Asked about account growth by region, Galik said the company is “growing everywhere globally” across regions and account types. He said the launch of Korean trading was well timed and generated strong activity from the start.

Capital, Marketing and Risk

In response to a question from Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro, Galik said Interactive Brokers had about $10.3 billion in excess capital after buffers, up approximately $1.1 billion from the prior quarter. He said the company continues to review potential acquisitions, but “nothing so far stood out as worthy” of pursuing.

Peterffy said increased marketing spending has produced a corresponding increase in results, but not a higher yield than before. He declined to promise a sustained account growth rate, noting that the company has previously exceeded 30% growth after earlier expectations centered on 20%.

Asked about rapid growth in margin balances, Peterffy said Interactive Brokers continuously monitors client margin risk and is comfortable with current levels.

Galik also addressed Chinese regulatory actions affecting Tiger Brokers and Futu. He said Interactive Brokers has long complied with mainland Chinese regulations, does not advertise in mainland China and requires accounts to demonstrate residence outside mainland China. Following regulatory actions involving Tiger and Futu, he said Interactive Brokers saw an uptick in broker transfers and assets moving from those platforms.

On cryptocurrency perpetual futures, Galik said roughly one-third of Interactive Brokers’ crypto trading is now coming from those products, which allow clients to short cryptocurrencies and trade with leverage. He said the company will provide access to additional perpetual products where it sees meaningful volume and public interest.

About Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR)

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc NASDAQ: IBKR is a global electronic brokerage holding company that provides trading, clearing and custody services to retail traders, institutional investors, proprietary trading groups and financial advisors. The firm offers direct access to a wide range of asset classes, including equities, options, futures, foreign exchange, bonds and exchange-traded funds across many international markets. Interactive Brokers emphasizes electronic order execution, automated trading and low transaction costs as core differentiators for its clients.

Its product suite centers on advanced trading platforms and infrastructure.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.