Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire founder and chairman of electronic brokerage giant Interactive Brokers Group Inc. IBKR, thinks the rally in the U.S. stock market has been overdone, and views hopes for a soft landing for the U.S. economy as simply “wishful thinking.”
He sat down on Tuesday with MarketWatch in New York to talk about stocks, the economic backdrop, his bitcoin holdings, and his puzzlement over why more customers aren’t taking advantage of the hefty interest rates paid to Interactive Brokers’ clients who opt to keep their money in cash.MARKETWATCH: The big story in markets this month has been the Dow Jones Industrial Averages’ DJIA winning streak.
PETERFFY: I’m not sure about tomorrow, but maybe the day after tomorrow. That’s been the pattern after Fed meetings. The following day is usually a nasty one.PETERFFY: Yes, I’ve been wrong.PETERFFY: No, I think the market should be much lower than where it is. But I can’t deny that it has risen. But I do think that it’s going to go down pretty soon.MARKETWATCH: It’s a market you’ve been involved in almost since the beginning.
PETERFFY: I don’t know what is retail and what is professional, but it looks like they are both climbing, yes, definitely.PETERFFY: Oh, definitely, we do about 4 [million] to 5 million contracts a day now.PETERFFY: I don’t remember, but I would venture to guess that it’s up about 50% from five years ago. But that’s just a guess.PETERFFY: Well, you know, it’s been gradual growth with some fluctuations over the past 50 years.
MARKETWATCH: How has options trading changed post-pandemic? Do you think it’s changing how the market functions?