What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does Interactive Brokers (IBKR) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Interactive Brokers generated $16.84B of operating cash flow and $16.76B of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 99.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Interactive Brokers (IBKR) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Interactive Brokers's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$16.84B

Capex

−$77.00M

Free Cash Flow

$16.76B

FCF Margin

+99.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $16.76B

Cash flow breakdown for Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$16.84B	$16.84B
Capital Expenditure	−$77.00M	$16.76B
Free Cash Flow	$16.76B	$16.76B
Other Investing	−$80.00M	$16.68B
Other Financing & FX	−$855.00M	$15.83B
Net Cash Increase	$15.83B	$15.83B

Operating Cash Flow$16.84B
Capital Expenditure−$77.00M
Free Cash Flow$16.76B
Other Investing−$80.00M
Other Financing & FX−$855.00M
Net Cash Increase$15.83B

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Key Financials

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Cash flow waterfall for Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Cash flow breakdown for Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — TTM through Q1 2026

Frequently asked questions

+What is a cash flow waterfall?

+How does Interactive Brokers (IBKR) spend its free cash flow?

+How much did Interactive Brokers (IBKR) return via buybacks and dividends?

Data & methodology

+What is this view?

+How to read this waterfall

+How is the data calculated?

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) Key Financials

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