Interactive Brokers delivers efficiency and advantages to investors worldwide

Capitalising on the rapid advances in computing and communications technology, electronic trading is making inroads in the global financial markets. More stock exchanges and trading venues around the world are migrating from floor-based trading because of the many cost and operational efficiencies offered by electronic trading platforms. 

In addition to removing physical and geographical constraints on trading and allowing large and complex transactions - which previously would have been prohibitively expensive and technically impossible, automated trading plays a vital role in fostering greater market liquidity and transparency, and increased competition. 

At the forefront of bringing continuous innovations to the industry is premier securities firm Interactive Brokers Group (IB) whose founder, chairman and CEO, Thomas Peterffy, is widely considered as the "father of digital trading". 

Renowned for his pioneering work on algorithmic trading and revolutionary introduction of the first floor-based, handheld computers in 1983, Peterffy served as the initial driving force behind the advancement and deployment of automated technology for the financial markets.

"Applying computer technology to automate trading and brokerage functions has been our primary focus since our formation in 1977," Peterffy says. "From the start, I saw how electronic trading can make the process more efficient and transparent and the people more honest, and how it will lower transaction costs and bring liquidity to the markets."

Through its subsidiaries located all over the world, IB operates as a fully automated electronic broker-dealer and market maker offering a truly global platform. The two businesses are complementary and leverage the firm's combined scale and volume and integrated trading system and communications network.