★ WIDE MOAT STOCKS & COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES ★
VOL. XCIV, NO. 247
Stock Profile
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) Moat Analysis
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.
IBKR · The Nasdaq Global Select Market
Weighted average of segment moat scores, combining moat strength, durability, confidence, market structure, pricing power, and market share.
Request update
Spot something outdated? Send a quick note and source so we can refresh this profile.
Overview
Interactive Brokers runs one brokerage segment across execution, clearing, custody, prime brokerage, securities lending and margin lending. Proprietary automation supports low transaction costs, centralized risk controls and high throughput with modest staffing growth. Its second advantage is breadth: clients reach more than 170 exchanges and market centers across 40 countries and territories and 29 currencies through one platform, including API and FIX connections. Q2 2026 net revenue rose 28%, pretax income rose 32% and DARTs rose 36%, while average headcount increased 6%. This scale does not remove price competition or switching risk. Large incumbents can fund comparable technology, institutional clients often use several brokers, and regulatory, cyber, operational and interest-rate risks remain material.
Primary segment
Brokerage
Market structure
Competitive
Market share
—
HHI: —
Coverage
1 segments · 8 tags
Updated 2026-08-23
Segments
Brokerage
Multi-asset electronic brokerage, clearing, custody, prime brokerage, securities lending, margin lending, and prediction-market access
Revenue
100%
Structure
Competitive
Pricing
weak
Share
—
Peers
Moat Claims
Brokerage
Multi-asset electronic brokerage, clearing, custody, prime brokerage, securities lending, margin lending, and prediction-market access
IBKR reports a single reportable segment, brokerage. Q2 2026 net revenue was $1.90B, up 28%, and income before income taxes was $1.46B, up 32%, for a 77% pretax margin. Quarterly DARTs rose 36% to 4.8M. June monthly metrics reported 5.185M client accounts, $930.3B of ending client equity and 5.269M DARTs.
Operational Excellence
Supply
Operational Excellence
Strength
Durability
Confidence
Evidence
Decades of internally developed, highly automated trading, risk, and back-office systems support low execution costs and scalable global operations.
Operational Excellence moat: definition, examples, and stocks
Erosion risks
- Technology commoditization and rivals closing the automation gap (including AI-enabled tooling)
- Major outage, cyber incident, or operational failure harming trust and triggering client churn
- Third-party dependency failures (exchanges, banks, crypto partners) disrupting service
Leading indicators
- Cost-to-serve (expense per account / per DART) trend
- Platform uptime and incident frequency
- DARTs, client accounts, client equity, and margin loan balances
Counterarguments
- Large incumbents (e.g., Schwab, Fidelity, major banks) also operate at scale and can invest heavily in technology
- Some clients are price and UX sensitive and can switch brokers with relatively low friction via account transfer rails
Interoperability Hub
Network
Interoperability Hub
Strength
Durability
Confidence
Evidence
A unified, multi-currency platform connecting clients to 170+ exchanges and market centers with desktop, mobile, API, and FIX access acts as a hub for global multi-asset trading workflows.
Interoperability Hub moat: definition, examples, and stocks
Erosion risks
- Competitors expand global access and narrow breadth differentiation
- Regulatory and geopolitical restrictions reduce cross-border product and market access
- Standardized connectivity (FIX and OMS) reduces switching friction for institutional multi-broker setups
Leading indicators
- Number of markets and currencies supported
- Growth in non-U.S. client accounts and client equity
- Client account count and client equity from monthly brokerage metrics
Counterarguments
- Institutional clients often multi-home across brokers and prime brokers, limiting lock-in to any single connectivity hub
- For many retail users, breadth of global access is not the primary driver vs UX, content, or brand
Evidence
Our proprietary technology is the key to our success.
Directly supports an operations and technology-driven cost and efficiency advantage.
we employ proprietary technology to automate
Automation reduces unit servicing costs and supports consistent execution and risk controls at scale.
5.269 million Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs)
Current monthly metrics show large-scale transaction throughput on the automated platform.
our focus on automation has allowed us to maintain a relatively small staff.
Q2 net revenue rose 28% and DARTs 36% while average employee count increased 6%, showing fixed-cost scale.
more than 170 electronic exchanges and market centers in 40 countries and 29 currencies
Supports breadth of venue and currency connectivity and the value of a single integrated platform.
Showing 5 of 6 sources.
Risks & Indicators
Erosion risks
- Technology commoditization and rivals closing the automation gap (including AI-enabled tooling)
- Major outage, cyber incident, or operational failure harming trust and triggering client churn
- Third-party dependency failures (exchanges, banks, crypto partners) disrupting service
- Competitors expand global access and narrow breadth differentiation
- Regulatory and geopolitical restrictions reduce cross-border product and market access
- Standardized connectivity (FIX and OMS) reduces switching friction for institutional multi-broker setups
Leading indicators
- Cost-to-serve (expense per account / per DART) trend
- Platform uptime and incident frequency
- DARTs, client accounts, client equity, and margin loan balances
- Commission and financing-rate competitiveness vs peers
- Number of markets and currencies supported
- Growth in non-U.S. client accounts and client equity
Research IBKR elsewhere
Keep the research going
More Rankings & Systems
Quality Stocks
High quality stocks ranked by profitability, margins, free cash flow quality, durability, solvency, and accounting...
Stock rankingUndervalued Stocks
Undervalued stocks from the NA & Europe universe, ranked with a multi-measure value system and quality controls.
Stock rankingDividend Stocks
Dividend stocks ranked by payout yield, payout sustainability, dividend growth, quality, balance-sheet safety, risk...
Stock rankingDefensive Stocks
Defensive stocks ranked by low volatility, low beta, intermediate momentum, durable profitability, balance sheet...
Stock rankingMomentum Stocks
Momentum stocks ranked by total return momentum, relative momentum, trend confirmation, and risk-adjusted momentum...
Stock rankingConviction 10
A concentrated 10-stock strategy from the NA & Europe universe, ranked across quality, value, growth, momentum, and...
Curation & Accuracy
This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).
Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.