NEW YORK, April 19, 2026, 11:35 EDT
Shares of Interactive Brokers Group climbed 2.95% Friday, landing at $81.71 ahead of Tuesday’s first-quarter earnings report. The online broker has investors eyeing fresh numbers for trading activity and interest income after its recent run-up.
The report comes as brokerage shares draw fresh attention. U.S. stocks are sitting at all-time highs, Charles Schwab notched a record quarterly profit thanks to a surge in client trading, and both Robinhood and Webull rallied after U.S. regulators dropped a persistent day-trading cap on small accounts.
Interactive Brokers’ latest figures tell a familiar story: trading activity, client assets, and margin loans all pushing higher. Analysts polled by LSEG, according to Reuters preview data, are looking for earnings of roughly 60 cents per share when the firm posts results after the bell on April 21.
March figures handed bulls some ammunition. DARTs, or daily average revenue trades, jumped 25% year-over-year, landing at 4.329 million. Client accounts increased 31% to 4.754 million. Client equity? Up 38%, reaching $789.4 billion.
Clients’ margin loans wrapped up March at $86 billion, marking a 35% jump from the same month last year. In the fourth quarter, more margin borrowing and stable trading activity drove profit higher—net interest income climbed 20% to $966 million, while commission revenue rose 22% to $582 million, according to Reuters in January.
Management keeps pushing the platform further than just stocks and options. March brought comments from Chief Executive Milan Galik about giving crypto traders access to “competitive crypto pricing” while hanging on to their existing positions. That followed Interactive Brokers’ move in January—24/7 stablecoin account funding went live, and by March, clients could transfer crypto portfolios in directly. Interactive Brokers
Prediction markets—platforms that let users buy and sell contracts based on real-world events—are still in the mix. In January, Chairman Thomas Peterffy put it simply: “I do not see any reason why our account growth would slow down.” Speaking to Reuters, he pointed to U.S. midterm-election betting as a factor likely to boost platform growth this year. AOL
Other firms are pointing to a comparable pickup in activity, even with different trading menus. At Schwab, daily average trades surged 34% to hit a record 9.9 million in the first quarter. Robinhood and Webull, meanwhile, both saw shares jump this week after the SEC cleared the way to scrap the old pattern day-trader rule for smaller accounts.
But not all the March numbers pointed up. DARTs slipped 1% from February, and client equity plus margin loans both dropped 4% month-over-month. That hints at a softer close to the quarter than the headline year-on-year growth might suggest. A slowdown in interest-related revenue or client borrowing could make things bumpier for the stock.
Tuesday’s numbers will put Interactive Brokers to the test, measuring whether it can maintain its edge over a brokerage industry already boosted by livelier trading and a friendlier environment for active retail clients. The bar is set high.
