Interactive Brokers Group, LLC
| Interactive Brokers Group | |
| |
| Founded | 1993 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Greenwich, Connecticut |
| Key People | Thomas Peterffy, Chairman, CEO |
| Products | brokerage for stocks, futures, options, Forex |
| Website | www.interactivebrokers.com |
Interactive Brokers Group is a futures commission merchant and broker-dealer that provides professional traders and investors with direct access to stocks, options, futures,bonds, and forex on more than 60 market centers worldwide from a single IB Universal Account. The firm's headquarters is in Greenwich, Connecticut, and it also operates offices in major financial centers including Chicago, IL, and New York City.
As of January 2026, the group had a consolidated equity capital of $20.5 billion in equity capital.[1]
History[edit]
Interactive Brokers Group began in 1982 as Timber Hill, Inc., an equity options trading group at the AMEX, led by founder Thomas Peterffy.[2] The following year, Timber Hill introduced the first handheld computers used for trading. The system allowed traders to track and reprice positions in real-time. By 1985, Timber Hill's trading system allowed for the central pricing and management of risk on a derivatives portfolio across multiple locations around the country.
In 1990, Timber Hill began trading equity derivatives at the fully-automated Deutsche Terminborse (DTB) (now Eurex). The company would continue to expand into all of the major equity and futures exchanges.
In 1993, Peterffy incorporated Interactive Brokers, Inc. as a U.S. broker-dealer, which opened Timber Hill's electronic network and trade execution systems to customers.
In 1999, the company provides a "smart routing" linkage for equity options listed on multiple venues. This would become the standard order routing model for the industry. Also in 1999, Interactive Brokers begins clearing online orders for stocks and equity derivatives.
In 2001, the company name was officially changed from Timber Hill Group LLC to Interactive Brokers Group LLC.
On May 3, 2007, the company sold 40 million shares in an initial public offering.
In 2011, IB becomes the largest online broker in terms of daily average revenue trades.
In July of 2012, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an order filing and settling charges against Interactive Brokers LLC for "filing inaccurate large trader reports and failing to diligently supervise the handling and reporting of accounts." The CFTC order required Interactive to pay a $700,000 civil monetary penalty and prohibited Interactive from violating Section 4g of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations 17.00, 17.01, and 166.3, as charged.[3]
In January of 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Interactive Brokers £1,049,412 for failing to oversee its market abuse systems and controls in the UK.[4]
In November of 2023, Interactive Brokers became the first SFC-licensed securities broker to receive approval to allow retail clients to trade cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong.[5]
In October 2024, Interactive Brokers rolled out new election-based “forecast contracts” with yes or no answers on a number of political outcomes, including the U.S. presidential race and control of the US Senate. The contracts were launched just as KalshiEx, a big competitor of IB's in event-based markets, resumed accepting bets on the outcome of 2024 congressional races after a ban on the contracts was lifted.[6] In early 2025, Interactive Brokers expanded its predictive markets trading services into Canada, giving customers the ability to use the IBKR ForecastTrader web platform to bet “yes” or “no” on the outcomes of market-moving events such as economic data releases or political decisions.[7]
Products and Services[edit]
Key People[edit]
- Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
- Thomas Peterffy, Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Earl H. Nemser, Vice Chairman and Director
- Paul J. Brody, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Secretary, and Director
- Thomas A. Frank, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer
- Jill Bright, Director
- Laurence E. Harris, Director
- William Peterffy, Director
- Rich Repetto, Director
- Nicole Yuen, Director
Registration[edit]
- INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC - NFA ID: 0258600
References[edit]
- ↑ About the Interactive Brokers Group. Interactive Brokers.
- ↑ IB Group History. Interactive Brokers.
- ↑ CFTC Orders Interactive Brokers LLC, a Registered Futures Commission Merchant, to Pay $700,000 for Large Trader Reporting and Supervision Violations. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
- ↑ Interactive Brokers fined £1 million for market abuse failures. The Trade News.
- ↑ Interactive Brokers gets regulatory green light for new cryptocurrency retail trading expansion. The Trade News.
- ↑ Interactive Brokers Rolls Out Election Contracts As Kalshi Resumes High-Stakes Congressional Bets. Benzinga.
- ↑ Interactive Brokers Expands Predictive Markets Trading to Canada. Bloomberg.
