By Telis Demos

Interactive Brokers Group said it saw record trading volume as the markets whipsawed in April. But it also said that customers were dialing back some riskier positions.

The market seems to be responding to the pullback. Shares of the online brokerage firm, which serves a range of customers from hedge funds to financial advisors to retail traders, tumbled sharply Wednesday, following its late-Tuesday earnings report and analyst call.

Shares of Robinhood Markets, the online retail trading platform, were also hit hard.

Both stocks had, before today, been rare gainers for the month of April. This reflects a view that market turmoil can be good for trading activity. Wall Street banks reported strong quarters for their trading units. The brokers are now both down for the month.

Interactive Brokers chief Milan Galik told analysts Tuesday evening that the firm saw a roughly 10% to 12% decrease in margin lending during early April's tariff tumult. This "is something you would expect when there is such a large move downward," he said.

"We also saw somewhat less aggressive positions in options and futures," he said. He said the firm saw more trading in "fixed income instruments and foreign exchange."

Options can be a significant revenue generator for brokerage firms, and margin lending generates interest income on top of trading-based revenues.

Interactive Brokers reported record net revenues of $1.43 billion for the first-quarter; the firm also increased its quarterly dividend, to 32 cents from 25 cents.

Robinhood is slated to report earnings on April 30.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2025 14:36 ET (18:36 GMT)

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