Schwab Trading Activity Jumps 44%, Outpacing Revenue Growth

Charles Schwab reported a 44% year-over-year increase in daily trading activity for the third quarter of 2026, with clients averaging 10.7 million trades per day, up from 7.4 million a year earlier. Trading revenue climbed 16% over the same period, from $995 million to $1.158 billion, according to the brokerage's quarterly results.

Despite the higher activity and trading revenue, revenue per reported trade fell 20% year over year to $1.69, down from $2.11 in the third quarter of 2025. The picture was different on a sequential basis: daily average trades slipped 10% from the second quarter and trading revenue declined about 5%, which lifted revenue per trade to $1.69 from $1.64 in Q2.

How Schwab Counts a Trade

Schwab calculates the metric by dividing trading revenue by all reported trades, a figure that includes commission-free stock and ETF orders as well as trades allocated by investment advisers. Options trades carry a $0.65 per-contract fee. Trading revenue itself combines commissions, payments for order flow and principal transactions, and the third-quarter release does not break out those contributions, so the results do not identify what drove the year-over-year decline in revenue per trade.

Trading remains a minority of Schwab's overall business. It accounted for roughly 16% of quarterly net revenue, while net interest revenue and asset management and administration fees together supplied about 75%. Net interest revenue rose 14% to $3.476 billion, and asset management and administration fees also grew 14%, to $1.913 billion.

Total net revenue reached $7.171 billion, up 17%, while net income increased 23% to $2.906 billion. Schwab drew $190.4 billion in core net new assets during the quarter, 38% more than a year earlier. Total client assets stood at $13.33 trillion, and clients opened 1.2 million new brokerage accounts.

Client balances feed other parts of the model: uninvested cash supports interest-earning assets, while funds and managed investments generate recurring fees.