How Interactive Brokers Profits From Fewer, Richer Clients While Robinhood Chases Scale.

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21 hours ago

Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ:IBKR) continues to ride powerful tailwinds in 2025. The stock is up about 44% year to date. The company reported second-quarter 2025 earnings that beat expectations on both revenue and profit, sending shares up in post-market trading.
In my previous analysis, I argued that there would be fewer rate cuts than the market was demanding, along with the push to acquire retail investors would be the next set of tailwinds. That call looks right so far. Net revenue beat again, daily average revenue trades (DARTs) jumped 49% year over year (YoY), and much more.
In this article, I will break down Interactive Brokers' latest financials, analyze its business and competitive edge, assess the valuation against peers, discuss key risks, and finally offer a data-driven conclusion.
Interactive Brokers is a global leader in electronic brokerage, renowned for its technology-driven, low-cost platform. The company provides automated trade execution and custody across stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and more, on more than 160 markets worldwide. Its clients range from individual retail investors to hedge funds, financial advisors and introducing brokers. IBKR's four-decade focus on automation and efficiency gives it a durable cost advantage and scalability. The broker's platform offers professional-grade trading tools, superior price execution, and a vast array of asset classes all at ultra-low commission rates and tight spreads. This value proposition has helped Interactive Brokers consistently win top rankings from industry reviewers like Barron's and Investopedia.
Interactive Brokers' moat stems from its technology and global scale. By leveraging automation, IBKR operates with lean personnel and overhead. For example, the company has 3.87 million customer accounts with only 3,087 employees. The firm's international reach (customers in 200+ countries) and breadth of offerings (everything from US stocks to European options to Asian futures) attract serious investors and institutions that want a one-stop platform. Additionally, Interactive Brokers' policy of paying high interest on idle cash is a key differentiator. Unlike some rivals that pay nearly zero on client cash, Interactive Brokers passes through interest at rates close to the Fed funds rate. For USD balances above a minimum threshold, Interactive Brokers was recently paying around 3.83% interest (3.351% blended rate), comparable to the best money market rates.
Source: Interactive Brokers
This has proven a magnet for cash-rich clients and is reflected in the huge growth in customer credit balances, which reached $143.7 billion in Q2 (up 34% YoY).
The company has been pushing new product introductions. The company launched ForecastEx, which is an Interactive Brokers' CFTC-regulated prediction-market venue that lets clients trade yes-or-no contracts on macro data, central-bank decisions and climate outcomes for a transparent one-cent fee. Contracts are available almost 24 hours through the ForecastTrader interface and early demand has been brisk, especially around economic-release days. ForecastEx is now live for retail clients across most of Europe, as it is for the US, Canada and Hong Kong. Those forecast contracts were expanded onto financial markets, including indices like the S&P 500, as well as forex and crypto; these have seen strong interest. Even Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) has partnered with Interactive Brokers' ForecastEx to offer these event contracts to its users.
Another recent launch is Investment Themes, an AI-driven discovery tool released on July 16, that helps investors quickly turn market trends into actionable trading ideas. As management said, With Investment Themes, clients can begin with broad topics like Generative AI' or Nuclear Energy' and instantly uncover companies tied to those themes, no ticker symbols or prior research needed. Alternatively, they can start with a ticker symbol and view detailed company profiles, including insights into competitors, related industries, and global revenue sources, helping them assess regional risks and growth opportunities.
Interactive Brokers' 24-hour US stock session continues to gain traction. Management said overnight volumes are growing faster than the overall business because they cater to Europe and Asia-based clients who want to trade US names in their daytime hours. Orders are matched on the firm's own EOS ATS and Blue Ocean, execution costs are low, and the incremental margin is near the company average.
Interactive Brokers has been innovative in these offerings, but one product that the company has not captured the market share management expected in the crypto space. However, with the new administration more friendly to the crypto space and with the GENIUS Act signed, management wants to react to that. One reason for this disappointing uptake is that currently, investors must liquidate coins, turn them into cash, and then deposit them with Interactive Brokers. The fix is in progress. CEO Milan Galik said the platform will soon accept direct crypto transfers, stablecoin deposits and staking, all slated for release later this year. Interactive Brokers wants to enter this space more aggressively through its investment in a cryptocurrency exchange called Zero Hash.
Within the crypto space, Robinhood just launched 200 tokenised US stocks for European users, pitching crypto wrappers as innovation. However, Interactive Brokers' offer is superior in this regard, in my opinion. Interactive Brokers' clients already have access to trade more than 10,000 real US shares and ETFs, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Clients own the underlying security, and pay a fraction of the cost, no derivative IOU, no weekend price gaps, normal settlement.
A closer comparison of the two pure-play brokers shows that Interactive Brokers' market cap is about $112 billion against 3.87 million accounts, or roughly $29,000 of market value per account. Robinhood's cap sits near $113 billion on 26.5 million funded accounts, or roughly $4,280 per account. Yet Interactive Brokers, with only 15% of Robinhood's account count, controls 3x more customer equity ($665 billion versus $279 billion). Average assets per client run about $172,000 at Interactive Brokers and just $11,000 at Robinhood.
That gap highlights the different client profiles each broker attracts. Interactive Brokers draws higher-net-worth, often professional traders who borrow on margin, trade global instruments and pay for advanced tools. Robinhood's larger base is smaller-ticket and more transaction-driven, and the market has recognised this as the stock has soared, believing that sheer account mass can be monetised over time. Interactive Brokers has noticed. Over the past few years, it has rolled out no-commission stock trades, fractional shares, a streamlined mobile app and simplified onboarding, all aimed at retail investors. The goal is to blend the high-value professional cohort with a growing retail crowd.
This also shows the quality of each broker's customer book. For investors, it means Interactive Brokers' durability rests on a concentrated, higher-value cohort, while Robinhood's upside (and risk) lies in scaling smaller balances into broader financial services.
Interactive Brokers' second-quarter numbers underscore the strength of its model in the current environment. Net revenues jumped to $1.48 billion, up from $1.23 billion in the year-ago quarter. This 20% YoY growth was driven by surging trading commissions and solid net interest income. Commission revenue climbed 27% to $516 million on the back of higher customer trading volumes across all products. (Commission revenue would have been roughly $15 million higher had the SEC fee not dropped to zero on 14 May. The matching expense vanished as well, so the margin impact is nil, but the revenue growth line is understated by about 3 percentage points).
Volatility in markets created openings for investors and, by extension, for Interactive Brokers. Management highlighted investors, whether looking for securities with momentum behind them or simply worried about missing out on a rally, bought the dip.
Net interest income (NII) increased 9% YoY to $860 million, reflecting both higher interest-earning balances and still-elevated short-term rates. Customer margin loans grew 18% to $65.1 billion, and customer credit balances (uninvested cash) jumped 34% to $143.7 billion, providing a large base on which Interactive Brokers earns interest spread. Notably, NII for the quarter included a one-off $26 million tax refund related to withheld taxes. Even aside from that non-recurring boost, underlying interest income was strong thanks to the large increase in client cash balances. Adjusted for that item, NII growth would have been 6% YoY.
On the bottom line, GAAP diluted EPS was $0.51, up from $0.41 in Q2 2024. Net income (including noncontrolling interests) totaled $1.006 billion for the quarter, surpassing the billion-dollar mark for the first time. It's worth noting that due to Interactive Brokers' unique ownership structure, only $224 million of that net income was attributable to the publicly traded common stock. This still represented solid growth (about 15% YoY in earnings to common).
Dilution was minimal. The weighted-average share count rose just 1.6% YoY, reflecting a small amount of employee stock grants. Stock-based compensation remains modest relative to Interactive Brokers' scale, contained within the $163 million of quarterly employee compensation expense.
Interactive Brokers' operating leverage shone through in Q2. Total non-interest costs were $376 million, up only 7% YoY, mainly due to growth initiatives. General and administrative expenses jumped 17% to $61 million, driven by an $8 million increase in advertising spend as the company markets its offerings to new audiences.
Interactive Brokers' cost-to-revenue ratio remains low, at roughly $0.25 of operating expense per $1 of net revenue.
Looking at the customer base, customer accounts continue to grow at an exceptional rate, highlighting the company's momentum. Customer accounts increased 32% YoY to 3.87 million, attracting traders and investors globally (with particular strength in international retail clients). Those clients are bringing more assets, with customer equity (assets in accounts) reaching $664.6 billion, up 34% YoY, reflecting both net new inflows and market appreciation. DARTs jumped 49% YoY to 3.55 million trades per day.
Looking at Interactive Brokers' balance sheet, it remains rock-solid. Cash and segregated cash balances were $50 billion with minimal debt (just $8 million in short-term borrowings). The broker's regulatory capital far exceeds requirements, providing a significant cushion for market fluctuations or credit events.
The company continues to return some cash to shareholders in the form of a dividend, which was recently increased (following a post-split adjustment). This equates to $0.32 per share on a pre-split basis, a slight increase from the prior $0.25 quarterly payout before the June 4-for-1 stock split. The dividend remains small, though. Management keeps screening potential acquisition targets, but there are few opportunities at a price that makes sense.
Interactive Brokers' stock has re-rated higher over the past year as the company's earnings climbed with interest rates and client growth.
Source: Author
At around $66 per share (post-earnings pop), Interactive Brokers trades at 35x trailing twelve-month earnings. This valuation is a premium to most brokerage and financial peers. For example, Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) currently trades around 27x trailing earnings and 20x forward earnings. LPL Financial Holdings (NASDAQ:LPLA), an independent broker-dealer network, is about 28x earnings. Meanwhile, traditional broker-dealer firms like Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) trades nearer 15x earnings. The peer outliers, big fintech brokerage Robinhood, despite its meme-stock aura, is now profitable, and its stock surge puts it at an extremely rich multiple (well above 70x forward earnings).
That said, valuation is no longer cheap. The stock's strong rally (up over 100% in the past 12 months) has baked in a lot of the earnings upside from higher interest rates and booming account growth. The forward P/E (looking at 2025 consensus earnings) is in the mid-30s, which assumes Interactive Brokers can continue growing profit at a healthy clip to earn into the multiple. This is possible, but it leaves less margin for error.
Using a multiples-based discounted cash flow, I estimate Interactive Brokers' value at $83 per share, or 30% upside.
Source: Author
Finally, in the first calendar quarter, Interactive Brokers again caught the attention of top?tier value gurus. Renaissance Technologies (Trades, Portfolio), already one of the largest holders among GuruFocus portfolios, increased its stake further, while Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio)'s Bridgewater initiated a sizeable new position, large enough to place Dalio among the company's five biggest guru shareholders.
Even great businesses face risks, and Interactive Brokers is no exception.
A significant portion of Interactive Brokers' revenue (58% of Q2 net revenues) comes from net interest income on client balances. If interest rates decline, this income will shrink. Management estimates that a 25 bps decrease in the Fed Funds rate would cut NII by about $73 million, with another $8 million hit if all the relevant non-USD benchmarks fall by the same amount. At a high level, a full 1% decrease in all benchmark rates would decrease NII by $335 million.
Trading activity is the second lever. DARTs have surged, thanks to heightened volatility, however, a calmer market would lower commission revenue, margin balances and securities-lending spreads at the same time.
Geopolitics and currency add another layer. More than half of the accounts are outside the United States, and a quarter of client cash sits in non-USD currencies. Sharp moves in FX rates skew reported revenue, while capital controls or conflict in any large market could throttle account growth or trading flow.
Interactive Brokers has once again demonstrated why it's a standout in the brokerage industry. The Q2 2025 results showcased powerful growth in accounts, client assets and revenues, all while maintaining extraordinary profitability. The company's tech-centric, low-cost platform is attracting an ever-larger share of global traders and investors, and Interactive Brokers is monetizing that growth efficiently through commissions and interest.
From an investment perspective, Interactive Brokers presents a mix of high quality and rich valuation. Any slip in growth or a turn in the rate cycle could compress the multiple. Management has been fully transparent about the decrease in NII, which could significantly affect revenue growth, but the market priced in in that headwind and still thinks the company deserves a premium multiple. The market is essentially pricing Interactive Brokers as a best-in-class franchise in online brokerage, which, by most measures, it is. At current levels, Interactive Brokers' valuation is not a screaming bargain, but nor is it outrageously priced given the quality. Despite this, I still believe the stock has room to grow, and I see upside potential.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.