Investors didn't want to interact much with Interactive Brokers (IBKR -6.11%) on Wednesday. They were reacting to an announcement by the global securities brokerage that it wouldn't be drawing a particular revenue stream from a new service in a key Asian market. This pushed the stock to a more than 6% decline today, as the S&P 500 index landed in positive territory with a 0.3% rise.
A big, fat goose egg
On Tuesday night, Interactive Brokers announced the launch of its IBKR Lite pricing plan in Singapore. The main feature of this service is that the company charges no commissions for trades on U.S. markets made by users.
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The company also made a point of saying that IBKR Lite is free of sneaky fees that produce compensatory revenue.
"Unlike other brokers that promote 'zero commissions' but charge platform or settlement fees, the Singaporean IBKR Lite program delivers true cost transparency with no commissions, platform or settlement fees, or minimums," the company wrote in the press release trumpeting the new service's rollout.
Although a small country, Singapore is relatively wealthy for its region. As such, it is an appealing market for companies like Interactive Brokers that can offer online trading in U.S. securities, plus selected markets outside our borders.
The end of the commission era
As Interactive Brokers hinted in its press release, it's now common for brokerages to lure investors with promises of commission-free trading. For years, commissions were a great and steady revenue stream for such companies, and since the end of that era, many have had to adjust their business strategies to adapt. Despite this inevitability, it seems this stock's investors aren't taking the unsurprising news well.
