Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to Interactive Brokers Group 3Q '24 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Nancy Stuebe, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加盈透證券集團 24 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，投資者關係總監南希·斯圖貝 (Nancy Stuebe)。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our third-quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining us today are Thomas Peterffy, our Founder and Chairman; Milan Galik, our President and CEO; and Paul Brody, our CFO. I will be presenting Milan's comments on the business, and all three will be available at our Q&A.

下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。今天加入我們的是我們的創辦人兼董事長 Thomas Peterffy； Milan Galik，我們的總裁兼執行長；和我們的財務長保羅·布羅迪。我將介紹米蘭對這項業務的評論，這三點都將在我們的問答中提供。

As a reminder, today's call may include forward-looking statements, which represent the company's belief regarding future events, which by their nature are not certain and are outside of the company's control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from what is indicated in these forward-looking statements. We ask that you refer to the disclaimers in our press release. You should also review a description of risk factors contained in our financial reports filed with the SEC.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的信念，這些事件本質上是不確定的，並且不在公司的控制範圍內。我們的實際結果和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中所示的內容有所不同，甚至可能存在重大差異。我們要求您參閱我們新聞稿中的免責聲明。您還應該查看我們向 SEC 提交的財務報告中包含的風險因素描述。

This quarter, the long-awaited interest rate cut in the US finally happened. The market proceeded to rally on the news. The S&P 500 rose 5.5% this quarter, joining higher indices in nearly every global market, save Japan, and following rate cuts in the UK, Canada, Europe, and China.

本季，美國期待已久的降息終於發生了。消息傳出後，市場持續上漲。繼英國、加拿大、歐洲和中國降息之後，標準普爾 500 指數本季上漲 5.5%，除日本外幾乎所有全球市場的指數均上漲。

For the industry as a whole, options contract volumes were up 12% over last year. reaching a new record and surpassing even the strong first quarter. CME futures volumes were up 27% versus last year, also a record, as investors were eager to trade interest rate futures in particular in order to wager on rate changes.

對於整個行業來說，期權合約量比去年增長了 12%。創下新紀錄，甚至超越第一季的強勁表現。 CME 期貨交易量較去年增長 27%，同樣創歷史新高，因為投資者特別渴望交易利率期貨，以押注利率變動。

As for equities, overall US industry volumes were up versus last year, though down slightly from last quarter, as the Magnificent Seven lost some of their grip on US market performance. These stocks contributed just 12% of the S&P's gain this quarter, versus 95% last quarter, with more than half of them down. However, as in prior recent quarters, it appears so far that investors are holding onto these positions and have not made changes like selling them to buy new names.

至於股票，美國整體工業成交量較去年有所增長，但較上季度略有下降，因為七巨頭失去了對美國市場表現的部分控制力。這些股票僅貢獻了標普本季漲幅的 12%，而上季這一比例為 95%，其中一半以上下跌。然而，與最近幾季一樣，到目前為止，投資者似乎仍在持有這些頭寸，並且沒有做出諸如出售它們以購買新名稱之類的改變。

Against this industry backdrop, our options, futures, and stock volumes were all up versus last year. Versus the second quarter, our volumes were up in futures and options, though in equities they were down slightly as investors continued to gravitate towards higher-priced stocks, so the notional value of equities traded rose.

在這個產業背景下，我們的選擇權、期貨和股票交易量均較去年增加。與第二季相比，我們的期貨和選擇權交易量有所增加，但股票交易量略有下降，因為投資者繼續傾向於價格較高的股票，因此交易股票的名目價值有所上升。

We added 196,000 new accounts in the third quarter, behind only the meme stock days of the first quarter of 2021. New accounts meant more cash in those accounts, which helped raise our client credit balances 19% to a record $116.7 billion. Margin loans were up 28% from last year, and our client equity was up 46% to $541.5 billion, the first time we ended a quarter with over $0.5 trillion.

我們在第三季新增了196,000 個新帳戶，僅落後於2021 年第一季的meme 股票日。 %，達到創紀錄的1,167 億美元。保證金貸款比去年增長了 28%，我們的客戶資產增長了 46%，達到 5,415 億美元，這是我們在季度末首次超過 5 兆美元。

Rising markets and the anticipation of lower rates continue to lead clients to feel more comfortable taking on risk. So in addition to taking on more leverage using margin loans, they also took on more assertive positions, which increased our exposure fee revenue.

市場的上漲和利率下降的預期繼續讓客戶更願意承擔風險。因此，除了使用保證金貸款獲得更多槓桿之外，他們還採取了更積極的立場，這增加了我們的風險敞口費收入。

Active markets yielded strong financial results. Both commission revenue and net interest income reached records, as did total net revenues. We maintained our focus on expenses, meaning our pre-tax income also reached a record, and both our reported and adjusted pre-tax profit margins were an industry-leading 72%.

活躍的市場產生了強勁的財務業績。佣金收入和淨利息收入均創歷史新高，淨收入總額也創歷史新高。我們持續關注支出，這意味著我們的稅前收入也創下了歷史新高，報告和調整後的稅前利潤率均為業界領先的72%。

Broken down by geography, our accounts and client equity once again grew fastest in Europe and Asia, as growing numbers of investors worldwide want access to international, and particularly US markets.

按地理劃分，我們的帳戶和客戶資產在歐洲和亞洲再次成長最快，因為全球越來越多的投資者希望進入國際市場，尤其是美國市場。

Of our five client segments, the fastest account growth was again seen with individuals, with introducing brokers and proprietary traders not far behind. On the client equity side, financial advisors once again grew the fastest, followed by IBrokers and individuals. Commission growth was fastest for our proprietary traders, while net interest income growth was led by Individuals, followed by financial advisors.

在我們的五個客戶群中，個人帳戶成長再次最快，介紹經紀商和自營交易者緊隨其後。在客戶資產方面，財務顧問再次成長最快，其次是IBrokers和個人。我們的自營交易員的佣金成長最快，而淨利息收入成長則由個人帶動，其次是財務顧問。

At the company level, we experienced another productive quarter. On August 1, the previously announced merger of IB Central Europe and IB Ireland was completed. As a result, all of our EEA clients can benefit equally from an expanded offering of products and services. The upfront cost of this consolidation was $12 million, which is reflected in our G&A expense.

在公司層面，我們又經歷了一個有成效的季度。 8月1日，先前宣布的IB中歐和IB愛爾蘭合併完成。因此，我們所有的歐洲經濟區客戶都可以從擴大的產品和服務中平等地受益。這次整合的前期成本為 1200 萬美元，這反映在我們的一般管理費用上。

Going forward, assuming today's level of business and regulatory fees, we expect annual savings of $7 million from having only one European brokerage business and one regulator to report to.

展望未來，假設目前的業務和監管費用水平，我們預計僅向一家歐洲經紀公司和一名監管機構報告即可每年節省 700 萬美元。

On September 1, we opened a licensed office in Dubai, solidifying our presence in the Middle East region. We launched trading in both equities and futures on Bursa Malaysia this quarter. We've expanded our offerings to include 22-hour-a-day trading in US Treasuries, European government bonds, UK guilds, and Swiss franc-denominated corporate and sovereign bonds.

9 月 1 日，我們在杜拜開設了授權辦事處，鞏固了我們在中東地區的業務。本季我們在馬來西亞證券交易所推出了股票和期貨交易。我們的產品範圍已擴大到包括美國國債、歐洲政府債券、英國行會債券以及以瑞士法郎計價的公司債券和主權債券的全天 22 小時交易。

In addition to over 10,000 US stocks, ETFs, and equity index options, non-US clients can now also trade Contracts for Difference, or CFDs, on more than 3,500 US NOCs and ETFs during overnight hours. We upgraded our API functionality to provide new introducing broker clients with faster and easier integration. Rather than relying on multiple separate code libraries, our partners can now access our extensive range of services through a single, unified interface.

除了 10,000 多種美國股票、ETF 和股指選擇權之外，非美國客戶現在還可以在隔夜時間內交易 3,500 多種美國 NOC 和 ETF 的差價合約 (CFD)。我們升級了 API 功能，為新的介紹經紀商客戶提供更快、更輕鬆的整合。我們的合作夥伴現在可以透過一個統一的介面來存取我們廣泛的服務，而不是依賴多個單獨的程式碼庫。

In our IBKR ATS, for several years now, we have operated an options crossing session in which we seek opposite-side liquidity for marketable orders in US options, providing customers the opportunity for price improvement. We have now added the same functionality for customer US options orders priced inside the NBBO.

在我們的IBKR ATS中，我們多年來一直在營運選擇權交叉交易，在該交易中我們為美國選擇權的適銷訂單尋求對方流動性，為客戶提供價格改善的機會。我們現在為客戶在 NBBO 內定價的美國選擇權訂單添加了相同的功能。

When we succeed in pairing these tweener orders with liquidity in our ATS, the customer benefits by obtaining a guaranteed fill on their non-marketable order, as well as the opportunity for further price improvement in an on-exchange price improvement auction. We have seen excellent participation by our liquidity providers in this program, and our customers who place non-marketable orders in US listed options are seeing substantial, meaningful benefits as a result. We believe this further demonstrates and enhances our position as the premier broker for options trading.

當我們成功地將這些中間訂單與 ATS 中的流動性配對時，客戶將受益於獲得其不可流通訂單的保證成交，以及在交易所價格改進拍賣中進一步提高價格的機會。我們看到我們的流動性提供者出色地參與了該計劃，而在美國上市選擇權中下不可流通訂單的客戶也因此獲得了實質的、有意義的好處。我們相信，這進一步證明並增強了我們作為選擇權交易首要經紀商的地位。

And finally, we launched ForecastEx, our forecast contract exchange, on August 1. After a 2.5-year approval process, we received the green light from the CFTC and are looking forward to seeing its performance. Investors can now buy Yes and No contracts on the outcome of events that were previously unavailable for direct investment or hedging. Whether it's the release of key economic data, results of US elections, or long-term developments like future global temperatures or the size of the US national debt, investors can manage exposure or hedge their existing positions.

最後，我們在 8 月 1 日推出了預測合約交易所 ForecastEx。投資者現在可以購買有關事件結果的「是」和「否」合約，而這些合約以前無法用於直接投資或對沖。無論是關鍵經濟數據的發布、美國大選結果，或是未來全球氣溫或美國國債規模等長期發展，投資人都可以管理風險敞口或對沖現有部位。

And to ensure it is easy for interested liquidity providers to connect with us, we have both FIX and RESTful API connectivity ready for them. Together with the Interactive Brokers team, I look forward to continuing the work on the many projects we have lined up. Much is planned for the quarters ahead. Our pipeline of new business and new initiatives remains healthy, and we look forward to sharing the results with you as we introduce them.

為了確保有興趣的流動性提供者能夠輕鬆與我們聯繫，我們為他們準備了 FIX 和 RESTful API 連接。我期待著與盈透證券團隊一起繼續進行我們已經安排好的許多專案。未來幾季有很多計劃。我們的新業務和新舉措的管道仍然健康，我們期待在介紹它們時與您分享結果。

With that, I will turn the call over to Paul Brody. Paul?

這樣，我會將電話轉給保羅·布羅迪。保羅？

Thank you, Nancy. Thanks, everyone, for joining the call today. We'll start with our revenue items on page 3 of the release. We're pleased with our financial results this quarter, as we again produced record net revenues and pre-tax income.

謝謝你，南希。感謝大家今天加入電話會議。我們將從新聞稿第 3 頁的收入項目開始。我們對本季的財務表現感到滿意，因為我們再次創造了創紀錄的淨收入和稅前收入。

Commissions rose to a record $435 million. This quarter, both options and futures volumes reached new quarterly highs, as we saw active customers across global regions participate in the markets. Net interest income also reached a quarterly record of $802 million, despite rate cuts in several countries, including the full impact of second quarter cuts in Europe, Canada, and Switzerland, and partial quarter impact of third-quarter cuts in those countries as well as in the US, UK, and Hong Kong.

佣金升至創紀錄的 4.35 億美元。本季度，選擇權和期貨交易量均創下季度新高，因為我們看到全球地區的活躍客戶參與市場。儘管多個國家降息，包括歐洲、加拿大和瑞士第二季降息的全面影響，以及這些國家第三季降息的部分季度影響，但淨利息收入也達到了 8.02 億美元的季度記錄。和香港。

A continued risk on environment in the quarter led to a significant increase in margin borrowing, and strong account growth led to increases in our segregated cash portfolio. These increases were partially offset by the interest paid to our customers on their cash balances. Interactive Brokers pays clients holding US dollars the benchmark Fed funds rate less 50 basis points on their qualified funds, which makes us attractive compared to other brokers and banks and competitive with money market funds.

本季持續的環境風險導致保證金借款大幅增加，強勁的帳戶成長導致我們的獨立現金投資組合增加。這些增長被支付給客戶現金餘額的利息部分抵消。盈透證券向持有美元的客戶支付低於其合格基金 50 個基點的基準聯邦基金利率，這使我們與其他經紀商和銀行相比具有吸引力，並且與貨幣市場基金相比具有競爭力。

And as a truly global broker, we pay similarly competitive rates on qualified balances in 20 other currencies. Other fees and services generated $72 million, up 38% from the prior year, driven by the continued risk on positioning of customers, which is reflected in an increase in risk exposure fees, with contributions also from payments for order flow, from options exchange-mandated programs, and FDIC sweep fees as well.

作為真正的全球經紀商，我們對 20 種其他貨幣的合格餘額支付類似的具有競爭力的利率。其他費用和服務產生了 7,200 萬美元，比上年增長 38%，這是由於客戶定位風險持續存在，這反映在風險敞口費用的增加上，其中還包括訂單流支付、期權交易所的貢獻。強制計劃以及FDIC 掃費。

Other income includes gains and losses on our investments, our currency diversification strategy, and principal transactions. Note that several of these are non-core items and therefore are excluded in our adjusted earnings. Without these excluded items, other income was an $18 million gain for the quarter.

其他收入包括我們的投資、貨幣多元化策略和主要交易的損益。請注意，其中一些項目是非核心項目，因此不包括在我們調整後的收益中。如果沒有這些排除項目，本季其他收入將增加 1800 萬美元。

Turning to expenses, execution, clearing, and distribution costs were $116 million in the quarter of 18% over the year-ago quarter, predominantly from higher regulatory fees that were introduced by the SEC earlier this year. The SEC fee is a pass-through to customers, so it does not impact our profitability.

至於費用，本季的執行、清算和分銷成本為 1.16 億美元，比去年同期增加 18%，主要來自 SEC 今年稍早推出的更高的監管費用。 SEC 費用是轉嫁給客戶的，因此不會影響我們的獲利能力。

As a percent of commission revenues, execution and clearing costs were 21% in the third quarter for a gross transactional profit margin of 79%. We calculate this by excluding from execution, clearing, and distribution $21 million of non-transaction-based costs mainly market data fees, which do not have a direct commission revenue component.

第三季的執行和清算成本佔佣金收入的百分比為 21%，交易毛利率為 79%。我們透過從執行、清算和分配中排除 2,100 萬美元的非交易成本（主要是市場數據費用）來計算這一點，這些費用沒有直接佣金收入組成部分。

Compensation and benefits expense was $145 million for the quarter, for a ratio of compensation expense to adjusted net revenues of 11%, similar to last year's quarter. We remain focused on expense discipline while targeting specific functions to grow the business.

該季度的薪資和福利費用為 1.45 億美元，薪資費用與調整後淨收入的比率為 11%，與去年同期相似。我們仍然專注於費用紀律，同時針對特定職能來發展業務。

Inside our year-over-year staff increase of only 1%, we had good success in hiring talented software developers. And partially offsetting that, we reduced compliance staff as we went into full operational mode with our in-house developed compliance system. Our headcount at September 30 was 2,969.

我們的員工年增幅僅為 1%，但我們在招募優秀軟體開發人員方面取得了巨大成功。為了部分抵消這項影響，我們透過內部開發的合規系統進入全面營運模式，從而減少了合規人員。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的員工人數為 2,969 人。

G&A expenses were $75 million, up from the year-ago quarter, led by a one-time expense to consolidate our European operations and expenses related to legal and regulatory matters. Excluding these items, G&A was up $9 million to $51 million, primarily on higher advertising expense.

一般管理費用為 7,500 萬美元，比去年同期有所增加，其中主要是用於整合歐洲業務的一次性費用以及與法律和監管事務相關的費用。不包括這些項目，G&A 增加了 900 萬美元，達到 5,100 萬美元，主要是由於廣告費用增加。

Our pre-tax margin was 72% for the quarter, both as reported and as adjusted. Income taxes of $80 million reflects the sum of the public companies $45 million and the operating companies $35 million. The public company's effective tax rate was 18.4% within its usual range.

無論是報告的還是調整後的，我們本季的稅前利潤率為 72%。 8000 萬美元的所得稅反映了上市公司 4500 萬美元和營運公司 3500 萬美元的總和。該上市公司的有效稅率為 18.4%，在正常範圍內。

Moving to our balance sheet on page 5 of the release, our total assets end of the quarter 23% higher than the prior year quarter at $148 billion, driven by strong growth in margin lending. New account growth also helped propel our customer credit balances by 19% to a new record level.

轉到本新聞稿第 5 頁的資產負債表，在保證金貸款強勁增長的推動下，本季末我們的總資產比去年同期增長 23%，達到 1,480 億美元。新帳戶成長也推動我們的客戶信貸餘額成長 19%，達到新的紀錄水準。

And we believe that our strong financial standing and competitive interest rates provide customers with an attractive place to hold their idle cash. We continue to have no long-term debt, and healthy profitability drove our 21% increase in firm equity over the prior year quarter.

我們相信，我們強大的財務狀況和具有競爭力的利率為客戶提供了一個有吸引力的地方來持有閒置現金。我們仍然沒有長期債務，健康的獲利能力推動我們的公司股本比去年同期成長了 21%。

And in recognition of this growth, we allocated capital to a dividend increase last quarter. We maintained a balance sheet geared towards supporting growth in our existing business and helping us win new business by demonstrating our strength to prospective clients and partners.

為了認識到這種成長，我們在上個季度分配了資本以增加股息。我們維持的資產負債表旨在支持現有業務的成長，並透過向潛在客戶和合作夥伴展示我們的實力來幫助我們贏得新業務。

In our operating data on pages 6 and 7, we had record customer contract volume in both options and futures. In options, our contract volumes rose 35% over the prior-year quarter, well above industry growth, and futures contract volumes rose by 13%. Stock share volumes rose by 22%, also above industry growth.

在第 6 頁和第 7 頁的營運數據中，我們的選擇權和期貨客戶合約量均創歷史新高。在選擇權方面，我們的合約量比去年同期成長了 35%，遠高於產業成長，期貨合約量成長了 13%。股票交易量成長了 22%，也高於產業成長率。

Stock share volume generally increased versus last year as clients in our largest markets gravitated to larger, higher-quality names and trading relatively less in pink sheet and other very low-priced stocks. Growth in the notional dollar value of shares traded well outpaced the growth in share volumes.

與去年相比，股票交易量普遍增加，因為我們最大市場的客戶傾向於規模更大、品質更高的公司，而粉紅單和其他價格極低的股票的交易相對較少。交易股票的名目美元價值的成長遠遠超過了股票數量的成長。

On page 7, you can see that total customer DARTs were 2.7 million trades per day, up 42% from the prior year. Commission per cleared commissionable order of $2.83 was down from last year, primarily due to smaller average order sizes across all product classes. which was more than compensated by stronger volumes.

在第 7 頁上，您可以看到客戶 DART 總數為每天 270 萬筆交易，比前一年增加 42%。每筆已結算佣金訂單的佣金為 2.83 美元，較去年有所下降，主要是由於所有產品類別的平均訂單規模較小。銷售量的增加足以彌補這一不足。

Turning to net interest income on page 8, total GAAP net interest income was $802 million for the quarter, up 9% on the prior year, while our NIM net interest income was $826 million, or $24 million higher. In the NIM computation, we include some income that is classified as other fees or other income on our income statement, but we believe is more appropriately considered interest. Our net interest income reflects strength in margin loan and segregated cash interest, partially offset by higher interest expense on customer cash balances.

轉向第 8 頁的淨利息收入，本季 GAAP 淨利息收入總額為 8.02 億美元，比上年增長 9%，而我們的 NIM 淨利息收入為 8.26 億美元，增加了 2,400 萬美元。在淨利差計算中，我們在損益表中納入了一些被歸類為其他費用或其他收入的收入，但我們認為將其視為利息更合適。我們的淨利息收入反映了保證金貸款和獨立現金利息的實力，部分被客戶現金餘額利息支出的增加所抵銷。

Several central banks made cuts to their benchmark rates this quarter. The US, UK, and Hong Kong cut for the first time since early 2020, while Europe, Switzerland, and Canada cut their rates both this quarter and last.

多家央行本季下調了基準利率。美國、英國和香港自 2020 年初以來首次降息，而歐洲、瑞士和加拿大本季和上一季均降息。

Reflecting relatively flat benchmark rates year on year, our segregated cash interest income rose 5% on a 6% increase in average balances, while margin loan interest rose by 26% on a 28% increase in average balances. The average duration of our US Treasury portfolio remains at less than 30 days, with the US dollar yield curve continuing to be inverted, except in the very near term. We have been maximizing what we earn by focusing on higher short-term yields rather than accept the significantly lower yields of longer maturities. This strategy allows us to maintain a relatively tight maturity match between our assets and liabilities and positions us to be nimble if the yield curve does revert.

由於基準利率較去年同期相對持平，我們的獨立現金利息收入增加了 5%，平均餘額增加了 6%，而保證金貸款利息則增加了 26%，平均餘額增加了 28%。我們美國公債投資組合的平均久期仍低於 30 天，美元殖利率曲線持續倒掛（除了近期）。我們一直透過專注於更高的短期收益率而不是接受期限較長的收益率大幅降低來最大化我們的收益。這項策略使我們能夠在資產和負債之間保持相對嚴格的期限匹配，並使我們能夠在收益率曲線確實回歸時保持靈活。

Securities lending net interest has not been as strong as in prior quarters for three main reasons. First, an extremely strong stock market with a backdrop of a falling rate environment coincides with a smaller proportion of clients looking to put on shorts.

證券借貸淨利息沒有前幾季那麼強勁主要有以下三個原因。首先，在利率下跌的背景下，股票市場極為強勁，而希望做空的客戶比例則較小。

Second, there are fewer hard-to-borrow names industry-wide, not only because the overall market is rising sharply, but also due to weakness in some of the drivers relevant to securities lending, including IPOs, low market volatility, and merger and acquisition activity. So even though the notional value of what we are lending was higher than last year's quarter, overall industry average lending rates are lower.

其次，全產業難藉名數量減少，不僅是因為整體市場大幅上漲，也因為一些與融券相關的驅動因素疲軟，包括IPO、市場波動性較低、併購重組等。因此，儘管我們貸款的名目價值高於去年季度，但整體行業平均貸款利率較低。

Finally, as noted on previous calls, higher average interest rates versus prior year periods means more of what we earn from securities lending is classified as interest on segregated cash.

最後，正如先前的電話會議所指出的，與去年同期相比，平均利率較高，這意味著我們從證券借貸中賺取的更多收入被歸類為獨立現金利息。

To more accurately reflect all the income we earn from our securities lending business, we estimate that if the additional interest earned and paid on cash collateral were included under securities borrowed and loaned, then total net revenue related to our securities lending business would have been about $156 million versus $181 million in the year-ago quarter. This additional revenue would be reclassified from the line items interest earned on segregated cash and interest paid on customer credit balances, so overall, it would have no effect on our net interest margin.

為了更準確地反映我們從融券業務中賺取的所有收入，我們估計，如果現金抵押品賺取和支付的額外利息計入借入和貸出的證券，那麼與我們的融券業務相關的總淨收入約1.56 億美元，去年同期為 1.81 億美元。這些額外收入將從單獨現金賺取的利息和客戶信貸餘額支付的利息中重新分類，因此總體而言，這不會對我們的淨利差產生影響。

Interest on customer credit balances, the interest we pay to our customers on the cash in their accounts, rose on higher balances from new account growth. As we have noted in the past, the high interest rates we pay on customer cash, currently 4.33% on qualified US dollar balances, is a significant attraction to new customers. Fully rate-sensitive customer balances were $19.5 billion this quarter versus $17.1 billion in the year-ago quarter. Together with firm equity, most of which consists of interest-earning assets, total fully rate-sensitive balances were $33.6 billion.

客戶信貸餘額利息，即我們向客戶帳戶中的現金支付的利息，隨著新帳戶增長導致餘額增加而增加。正如我們過去所指出的，我們對客戶現金支付的高利率（目前合格美元餘額的利率為 4.33%）對新客戶具有重大吸引力。本季完全對利率敏感的客戶餘額為 195 億美元，而去年同期為 171 億美元。加上公司股本（大部分由生息資產組成），完全利率敏感的餘額總額為 336 億美元。

Now, for our estimates of the impact of changes in rates, given market expectations of further rate cuts in the future, we estimate the effect of a 25-basis-point decrease in the benchmark Fed funds rate to be a $64 million reduction in annual net interest income. Note that our starting point for this estimate is September 30, with the Fed funds effective rate at 483% and balances as of that date.

現在，對於我們對利率變化影響的估計，考慮到市場對未來進一步降息的預期，我們估計基準聯邦基金利率下降 25 個基點的影響將是每年減少 6,400 萬美元。請注意，我們這項估計的起點是 9 月 30 日，聯邦基金有效利率為 483%，截至該日的餘額。

Any growth in our balance sheet in interest-earning assets would reduce this impact. About 24% of our customer cash balances is not in US dollars, so estimates of a US rate change exclude those currencies. We estimate the effect of decreases in all of the relevant non-US benchmark rates would reduce annual net interest income by $18 million for each 25-basis-point decrease in those benchmarks.

我們資產負債表中生息資產的任何成長都會減少這種影響。我們大約 24% 的客戶現金餘額不是美元，因此對美國匯率變動的估計不包括這些貨幣。我們估計，所有相關非美國基準利率每下降 25 個基點，年度淨利息收入將減少 1,800 萬美元。

At a high level, a full 1% decrease in all benchmark rates would decrease our annual net interest income by $328 million. This takes into account rate-sensitive customer balances and firm equity.

從較高水準來看，所有基準利率下降 1% 將使我們的年度淨利息收入減少 3.28 億美元。這考慮到了對利率敏感的客戶餘額和公司資產。

In conclusion, we posted another financially strong quarter in net revenues and pre-tax margin, reflecting our continued ability to grow our customer base and deliver on our core value proposition to customers while scaling the business. Our business strategy continues to be effective, automating as much of the broker's business as possible, continuously improving and expanding what we offer while minimizing what we charge.

總之，我們在淨收入和稅前利潤率方面再次實現財務強勁，反映出我們在擴大業務的同時不斷擴大客戶群並為客戶提供核心價值主張的能力。我們的業務策略仍然有效，盡可能實現經紀商業務的自動化，不斷改進和擴展我們提供的服務，同時最大限度地減少我們的收費。

With that, we will open up the line for questions.

這樣，我們將開放提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Patrick Moley, Piper Sandler.

（操作說明）Patrick Moley、Piper Sandler。

Yeah, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. I just had one on the US election forecast contracts that you mentioned in your prepared remarks. Launched on October 3, about four days after launch issued a press release saying you'd already done about 1 million contracts. So I was hoping you could maybe just provide some color on how these contracts are being utilized, where the volumes have come from up to this point. Is it new accounts? Is it existing accounts? And then if you could maybe just help us understand how you're thinking about the opportunity from a new account acquisition standpoint, given you're, I think, one of the only brokers out there that currently offers these contracts. Thanks.

是的，下午好。感謝您提出問題。我剛剛收到一份關於您在準備好的發言中提到的美國大選預測合約的資訊。於 10 月 3 日推出，大約在推出四天後發布新聞稿稱您已經完成了大約 100 萬份合約。因此，我希望您能提供一些關於如何利用這些合約的信息，以及到目前為止的交易量來自哪裡。是新帳號嗎？是現有帳戶嗎？然後，如果您可以幫助我們了解您如何從新帳戶獲得的角度考慮這個機會，因為我認為您是目前唯一提供這些合約的經紀人之一。謝謝。

We launched ForecastEx on August 1. We added the political events on October 4. We've seen around 800 clients trading so far. The volume up to yesterday was around $6 million. Most of it is in the election contracts. So the election political contracts is what currently resonates with our clientele.

我們於 8 月 1 日推出 ForecastEx。截至昨天，成交量約 600 萬美元。其中大部分都在選舉合約中。因此，選舉政治契約目前引起了我們客戶的共鳴。

It should be noted that the political contracts can only be traded by the US clients. There is a regulation speaking to that. And generally, the rest of the contracts are offered by Interactive Brokers LLC clients and Hong Kong clients. In other words, the functionality is not yet fully available worldwide. There are some regulatory approvals that are needed, for example, in Europe.

需要注意的是，政治合約只能由美國客戶進行交易。有一條規定對此進行了說明。一般來說，其餘合約由盈透證券有限責任公司客戶和香港客戶提供。換句話說，該功能尚未在全球範圍內完全可用。例如，在歐洲，需要一些監管部門的批准。

As to who is trading these, we did not look at whether it's new accounts or the old accounts. We were very excited that the judge decided in favor of listing the political contracts on ForecastEx and similar platforms. We hope that the political contracts will attract new clients to our platform.

至於誰在交易這些，我們沒有看是新帳戶還是舊帳戶。我們非常高興法官決定支持在 ForecastEx 和類似平台上列出政治合約。我們希望政治合約能吸引新客戶來到我們的平台。

Okay, thanks. And just to follow up on the competitive landscape in US retail trading, a large mobile-based competitor of yours plans to launch index options in the fourth quarter. They've said that they're planning to introduce those contracts at a lower price point than many of the incumbents. So understanding that nothing has been announced up to this point specifically on where they're going to be priced. Just wanted to get your thoughts on whether you think this is going to create any sort of pricing pressure on index options across the industry and how you think it might just impact the overall, I guess, competitive landscape for index options? Thanks.

好的，謝謝。為了跟進美國零售交易的競爭格局，您的一家大型行動競爭對手計劃在第四季度推出指數選擇權。他們表示，他們計劃以比許多現有企業更低的價格推出這些合約。因此，到目前為止，還沒有任何具體的關於它們的定價的消息。只是想了解您的想法，您認為這是否會對整個行業的指數選擇權造成任何形式的定價壓力，以及您認為這可能會如何影響指數選擇權的整體競爭格局？謝謝。

Well, we will have to see how they're going to be pricing the index options. Index options have, in prior years, been mostly traded by professionals and sophisticated traders. More recently, when a large amount of volume was attracted to the zero-day options, more diverse clientele started trading these. It's difficult for me to estimate the impact given that they haven't yet gone out and they did not announce the pricing either.

好吧，我們必須看看他們將如何為指數選擇權定價。前幾年，指數選擇權主要由專業人士和經驗豐富的交易者進行交易。最近，當大量交易量被零日期權吸引時，就會有更多不同的客戶開始交易這些選擇權。鑑於他們還沒有上市，也沒有公佈定價，我很難估計影響。

Okay, thanks, Milan. I'll hop back in queue.

好的，謝謝，米蘭。我會跳回隊列。

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

詹姆斯·亞羅，高盛。

Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my questions. So I do think there's a lot of optimism among investors on the ForecastEx business. So maybe, Milan, if you could just speak to the time frame over which you expect this to reach scale and actually have a material impact on your results, and I'll let you define materiality, whoever you'd like. And then, just in terms of whether there's any market risk to your balance sheet from these contracts, obviously they're different than equities or options that we're all familiar with. And then, if so, how you might hedge them.

下午好，感謝您回答我的問題。因此，我確實認為投資者對 ForecastEx 業務感到非常樂觀。所以，米蘭，如果你能談談你期望達到規模並對你的結果產生實質影響的時間範圍，我會讓你定義重要性，無論你願意是誰。然後，就這些合約是否會為您的資產負債表帶來任何市場風險而言，顯然它們與我們都熟悉的股票或選擇權不同。然後，如果是這樣，你可以如何對沖它們。

Thanks for your question.

謝謝你的提問。

Would it be okay if I, Milan, would it be okay if I --

如果我，米蘭，如果我──可以嗎？

Go ahead. Yeah, of course.

前進。是的，當然。

So, look, this has been my baby for a long time, this ForecastEx thing. And when it will rescale, I think it will rescale later this year. Namely, in the last few days of the election, we expect that it will really pick up. We have some other interests coming into ForecastEx. So that's where we are with it. We're extremely excited about it.

所以，看，這已經是我的寶貝很長一段時間了，ForecastEx 的東西。當它重新調整規模時，我認為它會在今年稍後重新調整規模。也就是說，在選舉的最後幾天，我們預期情況會真正好轉。我們對 ForecastEx 還有一些其他興趣。這就是我們現在的情況。我們對此感到非常興奮。

We look at the election thing as a very lucky circumstance because there is so much interest on it, that it will draw in other people who then will be customers for the economic and climate contracts. And that is what is really going to be our long-term focus with ForecastEx, the economic indicators and the climate contracts. The elections are just [a lucky interlude now].

我們認為選舉是一個非常幸運的情況，因為人們對此非常感興趣，它將吸引其他人，這些人隨後將成為經濟和氣候合約的客戶。這才是我們對 ForecastEx、經濟指標和氣候合約真正的長期關注點。選舉只是[現在的一個幸運插曲]。

Okay, that's very clear. Thank you so much, Thomas. Maybe just on the RIA channel, which I do think has taken a leg higher in terms of growth, and it appears you are adding larger RIAs than historically. Could you just speak to the growth trajectory in that channel and whether the client base you are adding is different than the past?

好的，這很清楚。非常感謝你，托馬斯。也許只是在 RIA 頻道上，我確實認為 RIA 頻道的成長速度更快，而且您似乎正在添加比歷史上更大的 RIA。您能否談談該管道的成長軌跡以及您新增的客戶群是否與過去有所不同？

Well, what we were hoping to see that more financial advisor would come to our platform as the platform is getting better and better. And a lot of clients are currently on Schwab's platform. And as we all know, Schwab was not paying a lot of interest on uninvested cash. So we had a lot of hopes for the accounts to come in. Some of them came over, not as many as we would like.

嗯，我們希望看到隨著平台變得越來越好，更多的財務顧問會來到我們的平台。目前有很多客戶在施瓦布的平台上。眾所周知，嘉信理財並沒有為未投資的現金支付大量利息。因此，我們對客戶的加入抱有很大的希望。

What I can tell you is that we are continuously working on the improvements to the RIA platform. If everything goes well, we're going to be announcing something new in this coming quarter. If things slow down, maybe the following one. There is going to be new and exciting functionality coming online, and we're hopeful that it's going to translate into more RIA on our platform.

我可以告訴你的是，我們正在不斷致力於 RIA 平台的改進。如果一切順利，我們將在下個季度宣布一些新內容。如果事情慢下來，也許是下一個。將會有新的、令人興奮的功能上線，我們希望它將在我們的平台上轉化為更多的 RIA。

That's excellent. Thanks, Milan.

那太好了。謝謝，米蘭。

Dan Fannon, Jefferies LLC.

丹·範農，杰弗里斯有限責任公司。

Thanks. I think one of the comments you mentioned were that new accounts were coming out with more cash than previously. So I was hoping you could talk about the makeup of those accounts today versus, say, a year ago and what some of the different characteristics might be.

謝謝。我認為你提到的評論之一是新帳戶的現金比以前更多。所以我希望你能談談今天這些帳戶的組成與一年前相比，以及可能存在的一些不同特徵。

Paul, would you like to take this one? I think this was your comment.

保羅，你想買這個嗎？我想這就是你的評論。

Well, it was more of a general comment that new accounts always bring more cash, I don't think that we're seeing -- there's a distinction in the character of those accounts. I think what's -- if there's something illuminating there, it's which client segment, at what rate they're growing. And we said individuals are growing the fastest, followed by the advisors and the introducing brokers.

嗯，這更多的是一個一般性的評論，即新帳戶總是會帶來更多現金，我認為我們沒有看到——這些帳戶的特徵有區別。我認為，如果有什麼有啟發性的話，那就是哪個客戶群，以及他們的成長速度。我們說個人成長最快，其次是顧問和介紹經紀人。

Well, prop traders are the second most lucrative segment, and we do have more and more prop traders coming in, and they are the ones that have more cash in their account than individual traders, certainly.

嗯，自營交易者是第二個最賺錢的部分，我們確實有越來越多的自營交易者加入，當然，他們的帳戶中的現金比個人交易者更多。

And they certainly generate more volume.

而且它們肯定會產生更多的銷售量。

Understood. Okay. And then just as a follow-up, Paul, maybe just as you think about expenses, some one-time items in G&A, but maybe into the fourth quarter. And as you think about next year in budgeting, given the strength in account growth, how should we think about the flow-through from a marketing perspective or other more discretionary-type expenses on a more annual basis?

明白了。好的。然後，作為後續行動，保羅，也許正如您考慮費用一樣，一般管理費用中的一些一次性項目，但可能會進入第四季度。當您考慮明年的預算時，鑑於帳戶成長的強勁，我們應該如何從行銷角度考慮流量或更多年度基礎上的其他更可自由支配的支出？

I think Milan can address the marketing and advertising, perhaps. On the rest, we try to point out the one-time expenses so that they can be dropped out when giving you a better picture of the run rates, but nothing else extraordinary.

我認為米蘭也許可以解決行銷和廣告問題。在其餘方面，我們嘗試指出一次性費用，以便在讓您更好地了解運行率時可以將其剔除，但沒有其他特別之處。

For marketing, our aim is to be increasing the spent approximately 20% a year. We are continuously monitoring the various marketing channels we have been utilizing over time. When a particular ad on a particular channel does better, we spend more money. If it does less well, we decrease the expenditure. But going forward, that is roughly the expectations, 20% annual increase on the marketing spend.

對於行銷，我們的目標是每年增加約 20% 的支出。我們一直在持續監控我們一直在使用的各種行銷管道。當特定管道上的特定廣告效果更好時，我們會花更多的錢。如果效果不佳，我們就會減少支出。但展望未來，行銷支出每年成長 20%，這與預期大致相同。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Chris Allen, Citi.

克里斯艾倫，花旗銀行。

I wanted to talk a little bit about trading activity per account. When you look over the years, it's been consistently coming in, but this year it's stabilized and actually improved a little bit. And I'm guessing some of that's due to mix shift from a client perspective, as you alluded to, prop accounts are seeing positive inflows. or if that's a factor, and or increased hedge fund activity, and how you're thinking about that moving forward.

我想談談每個帳戶的交易活動。當你回顧這些年來的情況時，它一直在持續成長，但今年它已經穩定下來，而且實際上有所改善。我猜測其中部分原因是從客戶角度來看的混合轉變，正如您所提到的，自營帳戶正在看到積極的資金流入。或者這是否是一個因素，和/或對沖基金活動的增加，以及您如何考慮未來的發展。

Well, if we look at the prop trading account, their commissions, the commissions that they generate increase faster than any other segments generated commission, either individual accounts or even hedge funds. So that is -- There is a reason I think you see some sort of a stabilization. Previous years, what we've been seeing is, as a lot of accounts arrived from, for example, IBrokers, they were trading a little less than the professional and active traders we prefer.

好吧，如果我們看看自營交易帳戶，他們產生的佣金比其他部門產生的佣金增長得更快，無論是個人帳戶還是對沖基金。這就是──我認為你看到某種穩定是有原因的。前幾年，我們看到的是，當許多帳戶來自IBrokers等機構時，他們的交易量比我們喜歡的專業和活躍交易者要少一些。

We're thinking about just the revenue outlook moving forward. The big pushback on the stock is that NII will be declining in a lower rate environment. How are you thinking about the offsets here in terms of increased margin balances, trading activity, anything else that we should be conceptualizing in a lower-rate environment moving forward?

我們只考慮未來的收入前景。該股面臨的最大阻力是NII將在較低利率環境下下降。您如何看待保證金餘額增加、交易活動以及我們在未來較低利率環境中應該概念化的任何其他方面的抵消？

Well, there is a predictable hit, the net interest income is going to take on the interest that we earn on the uninvested cash. We alluded to the size of that effect. What we can, though expect is the offset that we're going to receive from new accounts that continue to arrive to our platform and the new free cash that is coming in as well.

嗯，有一個可預見的打擊，淨利息收入將承擔我們從未投資現金中賺取的利息。我們提到了這種影響的大小。不過，我們可以預期的是，我們將從繼續到達我們平台的新帳戶以及即將進入的新自由現金中獲得抵銷。

So there is going to be a tug of war, if you will, between these two effects. If we see it further decreases in the interest rates, but we are optimistic going forward about the account growth. So we are not too worried about that.

因此，如果你願意的話，這兩種效應之間將會發生一場拉鋸戰。如果我們看到利率進一步下降，但我們對未來帳戶成長持樂觀態度。所以我們對此並不太擔心。

As far as the commissions are concerned, that obviously to an extent, depends on how busy the markets are, whether there is volatility present or not. But given that we have been, over years, attracting accounts from various segments, including the hedge funds, including the prop traders who trade for living, we expect continued healthy commission income.

就佣金而言，顯然在一定程度上取決於市場的繁忙程度，是否有波動。但考慮到多年來我們一直在吸引來自各個領域的帳戶，包括對沖基金，包括以交易為生的自營交易員，我們預計佣金收入將持續健康。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Brennan Hawken, UBS.

布倫南霍肯，瑞銀集團。

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. During the quarter, we saw a Chinese stimulus announced. I'm curious to hear what impacts you've seen on customers, either within China or whether or not there's been a broader impact across the region of Asia.

午安.感謝您提出我的問題。在本季度，我們看到中國宣布了一項刺激措施。我很想知道您對中國客戶的影響，或者是否對整個亞洲地區的客戶產生了更廣泛的影響。

Well, the stimulus that was announced by the Chinese government is a relatively recent phenomenon. I think it happened towards the end of September, maybe last week of September. We then all witnessed the very sudden run-up in the prices of the Chinese securities and Chinese indexes, which since then somewhat subsided. So I do not have information as to what exactly it meant in terms of the incoming accounts. We can comment on that next time we meet three months from now.

中國政府宣布的刺激方案是一個相對較新的現象。我認為這發生在九月底，也許是九月的最後一周。然後我們都目睹了中國證券和中國指數價格的突然上漲，此後價格有所回落。因此，我不知道這對傳入帳戶到底意味著什麼。我們可以在三個月後下次見面時對此發表評論。

Okay. And then the legal and regulatory charges, is there any color that you can give on what that was related to?

好的。然後是法律和監管指控，您可以對與之相關的內容進行說明嗎？

Sorry, which regulatory charge?

抱歉，哪個監理費用？

The $9 million legal and regulatory charge that you took in G&A.

您在 G&A 中承擔的 900 萬美元法律和監管費用。

$9 million.

900萬美元。

Well, yeah, so that's every quarter we make an evaluation of open cases and so forth. And we have to make -- we make reserves accordingly when we can determine that they're probable and estimable. So it's not out of the ordinary, but it was large enough to make an impact on the overall G&A.

嗯，是的，我們每季都會對未決案例等進行評估。當我們確定儲備是可能且可估計的時，我們必須相應地進行儲備。因此，這並不異常，但其規模足以對整體一般管理費用產生影響。

Just like any other financial company that is regulated by multiple regulators is continuously scrutinized by regulators. There are constant sweeps. There are specific investigations of individual companies. We are dealing with those on a frequent basis. Our legal department advises us if they feel that an increase in the legal reserve is appropriate. That is what they did this quarter, so we have increased the reserve.

就像其他受多個監管機構監管的金融公司一樣，也會受到監管機構的持續審查。有不斷的掃蕩。具體是針對個別企業進行調查。我們經常與這些人打交道。如果我們的法律部門認為增加法定準備金是適當的，他們會向我們提供建議。這就是他們本季所做的，所以我們增加了準備金。

Thanks for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

Benjamin Budish, Barclays.

本傑明·布迪什，巴克萊銀行。

Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to follow up on one of your earlier comments on ForecastEx. You mentioned that it's largely available in the US right now. It's maybe a two-parter, because what would the path be to making contracts like the election contracts available outside the US? And then I'm curious, what are your thoughts on providing a similar type of product locally in many of the countries in which you operate? I know the kind of value proposition which you talk about is the ability to access US markets in particular, but I imagine this is the sort of thing that a lot of investors would be potentially interested in for the local market. So curious what that path could look like if you see it as one that might be feasible.

嗨，下午好。感謝您提出問題。我想跟進您之前對 ForecastEx 的評論之一。您提到它目前在美國大部分可用。這可能是兩方合作的問題，因為在美國境外提供選舉合約等合約的途徑是什麼？然後我很好奇，您對在您開展業務的許多國家/地區本地提供類似類型的產品有何想法？我知道你所說的價值主張尤其是進入美國市場的能力，但我想這是許多投資人對當地市場可能感興趣的事情。很好奇如果你認為這條路可行的話它會是什麼樣子。

So we are not currently able to activate this for European or British customers, and we are also not able to onboard Canadian customers at this time. But we are with the regulators in all these places, and we're trying to get them, not necessarily for the election contracts, but for the regular economic indicator and climate indicator contracts. And we are, of course, hoping to eventually expand that to sort of social trends.

因此，我們目前無法為歐洲或英國客戶啟用此功能，目前也無法為加拿大客戶啟用此功能。但我們與所有這些地方的監管機構合作，我們正在努力獲得它們，不一定是為了選舉合同，而是為了常規經濟指標和氣候指標合約。當然，我們希望最終能將其擴展到某種社會趨勢。

The issue here with this contract is that we need an arbiter that is an uncorruptible arbiter. So, namely, it has to be a state-regulated agency that publishes the results so nobody can claim that the results are manipulated or something like that.

該合約的問題是我們需要一個廉潔的仲裁者。因此，也就是說，它必須是一個國家監管的機構來發布結果，這樣就沒有人可以聲稱結果被操縱或類似的事情。

Understood. Very helpful. Maybe one other follow-up on an earlier comment. You mentioned that you're opening up a new office in Dubai. Could you maybe talk a little bit about your plans for the region? Is this perhaps related to going after a broader interest in broker opportunity? Is it about seeking out large, wealthy traders, hedge funds in the region? What are your sort of plans for those there?

明白了。非常有幫助。也許是對先前評論的另一個後續行動。您提到您將在杜拜開設一個新辦事處。您能談談您對該地區的計劃嗎？這是否可能與追求對經紀商機會更廣泛的興趣有關？是為了尋找該地區大型、富有的交易商、對沖基金嗎？您對那裡的人有什麼計劃？

Well, we're trying to attract the more sophisticated accounts, maybe hedge funds, maybe investors with accounts of significant size. Dubai is, as we can read in the news, a very hot place nowadays. A lot of expats coming in from various countries in the world. So we have some optimistic expectations as to how we're going to do with that office.

好吧，我們正在努力吸引更複雜的帳戶，也許是對沖基金，也許是擁有大量帳戶的投資者。正如我們在新聞中看到的那樣，杜拜現在是一個非常熱門的地方。許多外國人來自世界各國。因此，我們對如何處理該辦公室抱有一些樂觀的期望。

Okay, thanks for taking my questions.

好的，謝謝你回答我的問題。

Macrae Sykes, GAMECO.

麥克雷·賽克斯，GAMECO。

I actually had just two, but I'll lump them together. We've been through a few election cycles with the platform. I was curious if you could talk about some of the dynamics in trading before and after major general elections. Would you expect anything different this cycle? And then, assuming after a four-year drought of IPOs, we do start to get a little more constructive capital markets activity in '25, how would that impact some of the segments in trading dynamics on the platform? Thank you.

我實際上只有兩個，但我會把它們放在一起。我們已經透過該平台經歷了幾個選舉週期。我很好奇您能否談談重大大選前後的一些交易動態。您期望這個週期有什麼不同嗎？然後，假設在經歷了四年的 IPO 荒之後，我們確實在 25 年開始出現更具建設性的資本市場活動，這將如何影響平台上交易動態的某些部分？謝謝。

I think we can expect increased volatility, especially as we approach the election day. I don't know whether you must remember the volatility that we've seen in the previous elections. I think very similar circumstances will be observed this time around, so higher volumes, higher volatility that is what I would expect. And I'm sorry, what was your second question?

我認為我們可以預期波動性將會增加，尤其是在選舉日臨近之際。我不知道大家是否還記得我們在之前的選舉中看到的波動。我認為這次會出現非常相似的情況，因此交易量更高，波動性更高，這是我所期望的。抱歉，您的第二個問題是什麼？

Assuming we get a more constructive IPO market next year, how does that affect some of the trading dynamics with some of the different segments, institutional versus retail?

假設明年我們將迎來一個更具建設性的 IPO 市場，這將如何影響一些不同細分市場（機構與零售）的交易動態？

Well, what it means to us is we participate in the IPO market in Asia. Just today I read some news that a Chinese company is applying for a listing on the Hong Kong market. So as that IPO activity picks up, we expect to earn some fees resulting from these new listings. That's going to be an impact on our results.

嗯，這對我們來說意味著我們參與亞洲的 IPO 市場。就在今天，我看到一個消息，有一家中國公司正在申請在香港上市。因此，隨著 IPO 活動的增加，我們預計會從這些新上市中賺取一些費用。這將對我們的結果產生影響。

Now IPOs are always hot when they get listed, investors are interested in participating in trading them on day one. That is when our platform is ready for trading them on day one, so that is going to generate some volumes and some increased interest as well.

現在IPO一上市就很火爆，投資人第一天就有興趣參與交易。那時我們的平台已準備好在第一天進行交易，因此這將產生一些交易量和一些增加的興趣。

We also usually see securities lending opportunities go up around those IPOs and we make those available as well.

我們通常也會看到圍繞這些 IPO 的證券借貸機會增加，我們也會提供這些機會。

Thank you.

謝謝。

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

詹姆斯·亞羅，高盛。

Thanks for taking the follow-up. Thomas, the stock has appreciated very substantially this year, but I don't believe that you have returned to selling stock. Maybe you could just speak to the key considerations as you think about whether you might return to selling?

感謝您的關注。湯瑪斯，該股今年已經大幅升值，但我不認為您已恢復出售股票。也許您可以在考慮是否重新開始銷售時談談關鍵考慮因素？

Well to the extent if I get some large bidders, I may offer them stock, but I'm not about to go and sell into the market because when the news hits the market, the stock tanks, I'm not getting the price I'd like to get.

好吧，如果我得到一些大的競標者，我可能會向他們提供股票，但我不打算進入市場出售，因為當消息傳到市場時，股票會下跌，我不會得到我想要的價格。想要得到。

Okay, very clear. Thank you.

好的，非常清楚。謝謝。

And thank you. And I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Nancy Stuebe for closing remarks.

謝謝你。我沒有提出任何進一步的問題。現在，我想將電話轉回給南希·斯圖貝 (Nancy Stuebe)，讓其致閉幕詞。

Thank you, everyone, for participating today. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay on our website, and we will also be posting a clean version of our transcript on the site tomorrow. Thanks again, and we will talk to you next quarter end.

謝謝大家今天的參與。提醒一下，這次電話會議將在我們的網站上重播，明天我們也會在網站上發布乾淨版本的文字記錄。再次感謝，我們將在下個季度末與您交談。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。