I bet they offer it in Canada eventually. because I doubt the big 5 banks would follow anytime soon. They are too brain dead for that. IB would clean up.
That’s interesting as they route A majority of retail to hfts https://clearingcustody.fidelity.com/app/literature/item/9890182.html and even for insti a significant part also goes to HFTs. https://clearingcustody.fidelity.com/app/literature/item/9890181.html
They mentioned on the cc they would consider Canada: Will Nance -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst So, I guess, maybe to follow-up on the IBKR Lite platform. Are you seeing any demand for some of the foreign markets that you guys operate in for a product like that? And I guess assuming the rollout goes smoothly, is that something that you would consider in other markets? Thomas Peterffy -- Chairman of the Board of Directors So first of all, you don't have the same high frequency trading activity in foreign markets that you have in the US. So there is nobody clambering to buy our order flow in foreign markets. So that by itself is a limitation. Well, on the other hand, Canada is one place where we would consider going to zero, but otherwise there is no -- we don't have anybody that we would compete with anywhere, right? So, no. The answer is no.
Couple of interesting tidbits from earnings cc: " Rich Repetto -- Sandler O'Neill -- Analyst Yeah, I was going to say, do you contemplate any changes to IBKR Pro going forward given what the industry has done? Thomas Peterffy -- Chairman of the Board of Directors No. No, we are not contemplating any changes to Pro. I think that most of our Pro customers are sophisticated. Some who are not may go over to LIte and that is completely OK with us. Pro customers understand that they benefit from. And the 1% difference in favorable difference to them on interest on cash balances and lower interest on margin borrowings and some of these very sophisticated customers also understand that their orders will not be welcomed by the high frequency traders. So they don't have much of a choice anyway. " " Kyle Voigt -- KBW -- Analyst Hi, good evening. I guess on the IBKR Lite offering, when you announce the offering, obviously, it was very differentiated because of that zero commission rate. But others in the industry have, obviously, moved to cut rate to zero since then. Just wondering if there's anything that you're willing to do or get clients from a promotional standpoint to help differentiate that IBKR Lite offering versus all the other zero commission offerings that now exist in the industry? Thomas Peterffy -- Chairman of the Board of Directors Well, our platform is still differentiated in the sense that the software is more suitable for more sophisticated clients. And although -- although the Lite -- the Lite is fairly simplified, but nevertheless more sophisticated clients would have been reaped the benefit from our platform vis-a-vis the competitors. So we have -- obviously, we have the ability to trade many, many different markets around the world, and also trade futures along with stocks and options. You can also trade -- we also have bond -- online bond trading capability and that's basically it. Yeah. And of course, I mean people who, for example, want to -- are considering going short, it's very unique that we display our short inventory and the rate at which you can borrow or lend stock to us. "