Interactive Brokers clients crushed the S&P 500 in 2025 according to new data

Interactive Brokers just dropped a report showing its customers beat the S&P 500 last year, with individual investors averaging about 19.2% compared to the benchmark’s 17.9%.

Hedge fund clients at IBKR posted even stronger results, clocking around 28.9 percent returns in 2025, outperforming the index by roughly eleven points.

Activity on the platform stayed hot, too. Daily average revenue trades climbed year over year, and total accounts jumped sharply, signaling more traders and investors piling in rather than pulling back.

The firm points to lower trading costs, broad global market access, and efficient execution as reasons customers did better than the market.

So here’s the twist: when the broker serving millions worldwide reports its users outperforming the S&P 500, it begs the question. Is this a sign traders are getting smarter, or just that low costs and tools matter more than we give them credit for?