Interactive Brokers Group

“when we look at some of the institutional products offered at CME and ICE, we tend to see very, very large notional amounts and larger, you know, fees per contract, but less relative to the size to the notional amount of exposure.”

An analyst benchmarks IBKR's institutional prediction-market opportunity against the large-notional institutional products at ICE, framing ICE as a reference exchange.

“when we look at some of the institutional products offered at CME and ICE, we tend to see very, very large notional amounts and larger, you know, fees per contract, but less relative to the size to the notional amount of exposure.”

An analyst benchmarks IBKR's ForecastX prediction-market ambitions against the institutional derivatives products at CME, framing CME as a reference point for large-notional institutional contracts.

“The Carta Visa Infinite card allows eligible clients to link their accounts and access their cash instantly anywhere in the world with no foreign transaction fees, an especially compelling benefit for our global client base.”

IBKR's new premium card runs on the Visa network (Carta Visa Infinite), a co-brand/network partner read-through for Visa serving IBKR's global client base.

“In October, we teamed with Carta to introduce our premium charge card globally.”

Interactive Brokers partnered with Carta to launch a global premium charge card, a distribution/product partnership read-through for Carta.

“let's say they wanted to come to us from Coinbase or from Robinhood or wherever, if they already have cryptocurrency positions with embedded tax gains, unrealized tax gains, the only way for them to come to us now would be to sell their investments and realize those gains.”

IBKR cites Robinhood as a crypto competitor clients might switch away from, with tax-gain friction the main barrier; upcoming asset-transfer capability could erode that switching cost.

“let's say they wanted to come to us from Coinbase or from Robinhood or wherever, if they already have cryptocurrency positions with embedded tax gains, unrealized tax gains, the only way for them to come to us now would be to sell their investments and realize those gains.”

IBKR positions itself as cheaper than crypto incumbents like Coinbase but notes tax-gain lock-in currently limits client switching; planned crypto asset transfers could pressure Coinbase's retention.

“Zero Hash has been a good partner with us. We are working with them on a significant project together. They're going to be the provider we're going to use for our European offering.”

Interactive Brokers relies on crypto-infrastructure firm Zero Hash (in which IBKR holds ~30%) to power its European crypto trading, staking, and stablecoin funding, a positive read-through for Zero Hash's expansion.

“behind only Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, and ahead of all the other historically better-known names in the funds industry”

Interactive Brokers benchmarks its prime-brokerage franchise against JPMorgan, ranking #4 in hedge funds serviced just behind JPMorgan, indicating IBKR is closing on incumbent prime brokers.

“behind only Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, and ahead of all the other historically better-known names in the funds industry”

Interactive Brokers benchmarks its prime-brokerage franchise against Morgan Stanley, noting it now ranks #4 by number of hedge funds serviced, just behind Morgan Stanley, evidence of IBKR gaining share against entrenched prime brokers.

“And it is also connected to a blue ocean that is another significant ATS in the space. So the combination with these two venues allows us to offer thousands and thousands of stocks and ETFs during the overnight trading.”

Interactive Brokers connects its own overnight ATS to Blue Ocean, another significant alternative trading system, to expand liquidity for stocks and ETFs traded outside normal market hours.

“There is also Kraken XShares that are available. Kraken, as you know, is a significant cryptocurrency exchange. They made 60 or so tokens available which are similarly secured notes backed by the underlying in a Jersey entity that they have.”

Interactive Brokers described Kraken's tokenized-stock product (XShares) as prone to significant price dislocations from the underlying shares, citing a Wall Street Journal report of an Amazon token trading far above its prior close.

“So what they put online in the form of tokens on US stocks is a fundamentally worse product than what our European clients had access to for years. Our clients have access to more than 10,000 real US shares and ETFs. Twenty-four hours a day, five days a week. In contrast, the stock tokens that Robinhood made available to the European clients are a derivative on 200 or so symbols.”

Interactive Brokers' management sharply criticized Robinhood's new European tokenized-stock product as a materially worse and more expensive alternative to IBKR's existing direct access to real U.S. shares.