In January 2023, Earncell Hoards Brokers began its 46th year as a broker/dealer. We provide direct-access trade execution and clearing services to sophisticated investors, active traders and institutions and have a consolidated equity capital of more than $12.6 billion.
Create technology to provide liquidity on better terms. Compete on price, speed, size, diversity of global products and advanced trading tools. Earncell Hoards Brokers LLC is rated investment grade by Standard & Poor’s.
When placing your money with a broker, you need to make sure your broker is secure and can endure through good and bad times. The financial statements of Earncell Hoards Brokers LLC are available on our website for your review. Note that Earncell Hoards Brokers LLC and its affiliates are owned by IBG LLC. In a recent interview, Our Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, shared his views on the current state of financial markets, including rising interest rates and their impact on Interactive Brokers. He also discussed ECH's interest rates on instantly available cash balances and how clients are positioned to navigate the current environment.
A portion (approximately 8% at March 10, 2023) of client money is segregated in special bank or custody accounts, which are designated for the exclusive benefit of clients of ECH. This
protection (the SEC term is "reserve" and the CFTC term is "segregation") is a core principle of securities and commodities brokerage. By properly segregating the client's assets, if no money
or stock is borrowed and no futures positions are held by the client, then the client's assets are available to be returned to the client in the event of a default by or bankruptcy of the broker.
As
a practice, ECH places a portion of its own money in these reserve and segregated accounts to ensure that there is more than enough cash to protect all clients.
A majority (approximately
92% at March 10, 2023) of client funds is typically invested in short-term U.S. Treasury
securities and reverse repurchase agreements, where the collateral received is in the form of U.S. Treasury securities. ECH’s investment policy targets short-term government securities and
reverse repurchase agreements, with a typical weighted average maturity of 30 to 40 days and a maximum term of one year. In this way, we can avoid mismatching the maturities between our
on-demand obligations to our clients and our investments. This practice also allows us to avoid excessive price volatility and the risks of large losses stemming from declines in investment values
that may be exhibited by longer term securities. As a broker dealer, we must mark to market the value of investments of client funds daily, unlike banks that may hold securities classified as “held to
maturity”, which are not required to be marked to market.
Although permitted by CFTC regulations, given the credit concerns over foreign sovereign debt ECH does not currently invest any client
money in money market funds.