Interactive Brokers' DARTs in the Green 23% YoY & 2% MoM

Leading US headquartered Multi-Asset financial services firm, Interactive Brokers, has reported strong trading volumes for the month of December. The online brokerage firm saw a sharp rise in the Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) reaching 590,000 in the month, 23% higher than the prior year and 2% higher than the prior month. Overall, the broker-dealer saw an increase in performance across the board on a year-on-year basis.

The listed firm also saw activity increase in the total value of client funds held, exceeding $56 billion. December's figure was 24% higher than the prior year and 1% lower than the prior month. The total number of trading accounts was also higher on an annual basis with the firm seeing 281,000 accounts on its books, 17% higher than the prior year and 1% higher than the prior month.

December's figures are usually lighter than other months as traders reduce their market exposure during the festive period, however Volatility in emerging markets, for example Russia, with the ongoing Ukraine conflict impacting the economy and a last minute slump in the energy sector saw oil drop to unfavourable levels supported trading volumes.

The broker also reported that its ending customer margin loan balances of $16.9 billion, 25% higher than the prior year and 10% lower than the prior month. Its ending customer credit balances of $31.5 billion, 22% higher than the prior year and 2% lower than the prior month. In addition, there were 480 annualized average cleared DARTs per customer account.