Traded as NASDAQ: IBKR Area served Worldwide | ||
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Founded 1993; 24 years ago (1993) Headquarters Greenwich, Connecticut,United States | ||
Interactive Brokers LLC (IB) is a U.S.-based electronic brokerage firm. It is the largest U.S. electronic brokerage firm by number of daily average revenue trades; it also is the leading forex broker. The company is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut and has offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai (a representative office), Sydney, and Zug. It is a subsidiary of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., which has offices in thirteen countries.
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In May 2016, client equity with the broker was $ 72 billion. According to Thomas Peterffy, CEO of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., a majority of it is managed by IB's institutional client base: Hedge Funds, Proprietary Trading Groups, Advisors and Introducing Brokers/Banks.
According to research firm Preqin in 2015, Interactive Brokers figures in the list of top 10 prime brokers servicing Hedge Funds in the world.
IB is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), New York Stock Exchange, Financial Conduct Authority and foreign regulatory agencies. The company is a provider of fully disclosed and non-disclosed broker accounts and provides correspondent clearing services to 200 introducing brokers worldwide. It has offered direct market access on Australian contracts for difference since 2008.
History
Interactive Brokers was founded in 1993 by Thomas Peterffy, an early innovator in computer-assisted trading. He introduced electronic devices to options floor trading at the Chicago Board of Trade and went on to develop related trading technologies before entering the electronic brokerage business.
In 1983, the company created the first handheld computers used for trading. As Peterffy explained in a 2016 interview, the battery-powered units had touch screens for the user to input a stock price and it would produce the recommended option price, and it also tracked positions and continually repriced options on stocks.
Litigation and arbitration decisions
In July 2012, Interactive Brokers paid $700,000 to settle charges (by CFTC) that it has "violated reporting rules" and "failed to 'diligently' supervise the handling of accounts".
In February 2015, a FINRA arbitration panel ruled that the firm must pay $667,000 for customer losses resulting from the way the firm handled margin calls.
In April 2015, the trading firm was required by an arbitrator to pay $1,200,000 in damages to a customer because the firm failed to stop “reckless trading” by a trust fund overseer which reduced $800,000 to $75,000.