Interactive Brokers Q3 2026: $0.69 EPS Up 17% as Net Interest Hits $1.15B and Dividend Jumps 71%

Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR), the automated global brokerage, reported third-quarter 2026 net revenues of \$1,914 million, up 15.6% year over year, with diluted earnings per share of \$0.69, up 17% (\$0.67 adjusted). Pretax income of \$1,496 million carried a 78% margin — a number most banks would need a decimal point to express. And the board raised the quarterly dividend 71%, from \$0.0875 to \$0.15 per share. But the quarter's real story is the mix shift now defining this company: net interest income of \$1,154 million is 60% of revenue, while the commission line that built the franchise is decelerating.

Commissions rose 12% to \$602 million on 18% higher DARTs — yet missed the ~\$619 million consensus, because not all trades pay equally. Futures volume grew 13%, but stock trading volume collapsed 24% and options slipped 1%. When customers trade fewer stocks, the take rate sags even as headline DARTs (4.27 million, +18%) look robust. Execution and clearing costs jumped 46% to \$134 million, driven by \$30 million of higher SEC Section 31 fees — passed through to customers, so margin-neutral, but a reminder of how much of the "growth" in both revenue and expense is regulatory plumbing.

The Headline Numbers​

Net interest income, up 19%, did the heavy lifting on both sides of the balance sheet: customer margin loans surged 36% to \$105.2 billion while customer credit balances grew 20% to \$186.2 billion. When clients simultaneously borrow more and hold more cash, the spread business compounds. Other fees jumped 33% to \$88 million, led by \$11 million of additional risk-exposure fees — the price of keeping leveraged clients solvent.

The flywheel keeps spinning: 5.58 million accounts, $965 billion of equity​

The business highlights read like a compounding machine: customer accounts up 35% to 5.58 million, customer equity up 27% to \$964.7 billion. At \$23.3 billion of total equity, IBKR custodies roughly 41 times its own book — the asset-light extreme of finance. Total assets of \$243.2 billion are overwhelmingly client-driven (\$105.6 billion of margin receivables, \$97.1 billion of segregated cash and securities), funded by \$180.5 billion owed back to customers. The 73.4% noncontrolling stake held through IBG Holdings means public shareholders clip about a quarter of every dollar: \$314 million of the \$1,348 million in quarterly net income.

Other income fell 18% to \$70 million, a \$50 million drag from investing activities partly offset by a \$36 million gain from the firm's GLOBALs currency-diversification basket. It is the one line that never quite behaves — and at 4% of revenue, it doesn't have to.

Five years in the ledger: revenue more than doubled​

The six years now in the open ledger trace the rate-cycle transformation: total net revenues rose from \$2,714 million in 2021 to \$6,205 million in 2025, with net interest income nearly tripling as rates climbed, while net income to common stockholders tripled from \$308 million to \$984 million. Every annual income statement and balance sheet, plus this quarter's condensed statements, is modeled as examinable Beancount below. (Per-share history spans a 2024 four-for-one split, so pre-2024 EPS is on the old share count.)

Sources​

• Q3 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K, October 15, 2026)
• Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025