Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
US automated forex broker Interactive Brokers, the largest forex broker in terms of market capitalization, saw its client Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) falling for a second month in a row to 658,000 in March 2016, after starting the year stronger than usual, data published by the broker said on Friday indicated. The figure represents a decline of 14% on a monthly basis, but is higher 3% if compared to the same period a year earlier.
The annualized cleared DARTs per client account also went down to an average 446 in March.
Meanwhile, the number of client accounts the broker handled reached its all-time highest in March of 344,600, or up 1% on the month and 16% year-on-year. Net new accounts, however, numbered 4,900, which is 2% lower than in February and 27% down from a year earlier.
More details about Interactive Brokers’ monthly metrics for the past 14 month, including about last month, follow:
Clients of Interactive Brokers paid on average a commission fee of $3.78 per cleared order, compared to $3.9 in January. The amount includes exchange, clearing and regulatory fees. Commissions varied depending on the instrument type. More data for the commissions the broker’s clients paid in February on the most popular trading instruments follows:
| March 2016 | Average Commission per Cleared Client Order | Average Order Size |
| Stocks | $2.25 | 1,727 shares |
| Equity Options | $5.9 | 8.7 contracts |
| Futures | $6.09 | 3.6 contracts |
Interactive Brokers was also a leader among forex brokers in terms of largest DARTs in February. Meanwhile, in the US it is second last forex broker in terms of retail forex client deposits ($37.1 million), according to the latest report for January by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers is a broker and a market maker. Through its numerous subsidiaries, the company offers online automated trading in stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, contracts for difference (CFDs ) and funds. It serves traders, investors and institutions in over 100 market across the globe.
The brokerage has offices in the North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The group companies holds licenses by the relevant authorities in the US and the UK.
Source: Interactive Brokers
