Interactive Brokers’ November Volumes Jump MoM, Accounts Reach New Highs

Interactive Brokers LLC (NASDAQ:IBKR) has just disclosed its consolidated trading volumes for the month ending November 2016 – the latest figures corroborate an industry-wide trend, as the group witnessed a virtual explosion of DARTs MoM following what has been billed as one of the most volatile months of the trading year, according to an Interactive Brokers report.

During November 2016, the number of DARTs were reported at 728,000, good for growth of 20.7% MoM from 603,000 in October 2016 – this reading more than pares what had been slightly diminishing volumes in October, with the primary catalyst being the US election in early November that helped spark Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders Read this Term, namely in the aftermath of an upset victory by now President-elect Donald Trump.

Over a YoY basis, Interactive Brokers saw a similar ascension in DARTs relative to its 2015 counterpart with November 2016’s DARTs jumping approximately 13.8% YoY relative to 640,000 DARTs reported back in November 2015. Given the lack of any market driving events such as a national election, this disparity can be explained, however, the group’s latest figures are it’s highest since February 2016.

Strong Performance Across the Board

Looking further into Interactive Brokers’ other monthly metrics of interest, the group’s equity balance across customers’ accounts during November 2016 edged higher to $84.7 billion, up over 3.0% MoM from $82.2 billion in October 2016. Additionally, this climb was not only localized to a monthly timeframe, having soared 25.8% YoY from $67.3 billion in November 2015, highlighting the growth in this segment at the brokerage.

Interactive Brokers’ ending client margin loan balances also continued their upward trajectory in November 2016, yielding $18.0 billion for the month, inching higher by a factor of 2.9% MoM from $17.5 billion in October 2016. However, over a yearly timetable this figure was inverted, compared to just $16.5 billion in November 2015, or 9.1% YoY.

Moving to its customer accounts, Interactive Brokers disclosed a figure of 380,100 during November 2016, methodically rising by 1.4% MoM from 374,900 accounts in October 2016. Interactive Brokers has seen its accounts rise in every calendar month this year, and YTD boasts an account growth of 13.6%.