Interactive Brokers Group reported higher second-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday, as growth in customer accounts, trading volumes and margin lending lifted its main business lines. The automated broker posted net revenue of $1.90 billion for the three months through June, up 28% from $1.48 billion a year earlier, while diluted earnings per share rose to $0.69 from $0.51.Income before taxes came in at $1.46 billion, a 32% annual increase, with the pretax margin at 77%. The Greenwich, Connecticut based firm ended June with 5.19 million customer accounts, up 34% from a year earlier and 9% above the level it reported for the first quarter. Customer equity reached $930.3 billion, up 40% on the year and 18% on the quarter.Interactive Broker’s Trading and Lending Power the Top LineCommission revenue rose 30% to $673 million, which the company tied to higher customer trading. Options volume increased 17%, stock volume 14% and futures volume 2% from a year earlier. Daily average revenue trades, a common gauge of activity, climbed 36% to 4.82 million.Net interest income, the firm's largest revenue source, rose 23% to $1.06 billion. The company attributed the gain to higher average customer margin loans and credit balances. Margin loans ended the quarter at $108.5 billion, up 67%, while customer credit balances rose 27% to $182.4 billion.The broker has widened its product menu over the past year, bundling Kalshi, CME and ForecastEx prediction-market contracts into a single interface for retail and institutional clients.Figures as reported by Interactive Brokers for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. Statements are unaudited.Falling Yields Squeeze the Interest MarginBehind the higher interest income, the profitability of that lending narrowed. Net interest margin slipped to 1.93% from 2.07% a year earlier, as yields fell across the firm's interest-earning assets.The annualized yield on customer margin loans dropped to 4.10% from 4.67%, and the yield on segregated cash and securities fell to 3.32% from 3.86%. In other words, the growth in net interest income came from bigger balances rather than better rates.The pretax margin held at 77%, above the year-ago 75% but under the 79% the company reported for the third quarter of 2025.Retail Peers Report a Cooler BackdropInteractive Brokers caters to active traders, financial advisors and institutions, a base that kept trading through the quarter. The picture has looked different elsewhere in retail. Robinhood reported slower revenue growth in the first quarter, with net revenue up 15% and crypto trading volumes down.Robinhood's own strategists have flagged a pullback, telling clients that net buying has trailed off as US equity gains slow in 2026.Interactive Brokers has leaned on new products to keep engagement up, adding the prediction-market venues noted above and AI trading tools from ChatGPT and Grok for options and futures traders. Commission per cleared order was little changed at $2.64, against $2.65 a year earlier, meaning the jump in commissions reflected volume, not higher pricing.Dividend Held Steady as Currency Basket Trims EarningsThe board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0875 a share, unchanged from the prior quarter and payable September 14 to holders of record on September 1. Total equity stood at $22.3 billion at the end of June.Interactive Brokers also keeps its net worth in a basket of 10 major currencies it calls the GLOBAL. This quarter the strategy cut comprehensive earnings by $36 million as the dollar value of the basket fell about 0.21%, a reversal from early 2025, when a stronger basket added $127 million.Reported net income was $1.34 billion, though most of it, $1.03 billion, was attributable to noncontrolling interests under the group's holding structure, leaving $312 million for common shareholders. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

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