“We believe that the trading engagement you've seen is sustainable, and it's supported by broad client participation.”

In context

“Rick Wurster: Yeah, thanks for the question. We believe that the trading engagement you've seen is sustainable, and it's supported by broad client participation. We've really seen a growth in young investors. I think part of that was started with the removal of commissions, which brought more people into the market that had less money. We've also seen growth and comfort with options trading as people have become more familiar with that as a way to add income or hedge portfolios. I think there's been a structural shift in the amount of options trading that we'll see. The change in the pattern day trader rule is another factor that's likely to be in some of our numbers, but also likely to fuel our numbers in the future as the barriers for less wealthy clients continue to be removed and them being actively participating in markets. AI is absolutely been a factor in our trading levels and will continue to drive trading as people use AI to both do research on how to position themselves and how to invest, as well as use AI in more of an algorithmic fashion to drive some of their trading. I think AI is a factor. Finally, I do think the market environment is conducive, and it's conducive for a few reasons. Number one, returns have been good, but we actually find client behavior to be more driven by the volatility of markets and then the interesting activities in the market. The fact that there's been the AI, the Magnificent Seven, SpaceX more recently, all those things drive client interest, and not just in those areas, but more broadly in investing. I think you've seen a structural shift in people wanting to be engaged and wanting to invest, young investors, AI, all of that is leading towards a more sustained period of high levels of trading from our perspective.”