Webull (BULL), Cboe (CBOE): Pattern Day Trader Repeal Lifts Trade Counts

Webull (BULL), Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) each told investors on their late-July and August 2026 earnings calls that after the US pattern day trader rule was removed on 4 June 2026, small-balance accounts are trading more often [1][2][3].

What the pattern day trader rule capped, and what replaced it

US retail brokerage is not mainly a commission business. When a customer places an order, the broker routes it to a market maker, which pays the broker based on the number of orders and shares — payment for order flow. Options exchanges bill per contract traded, and back-office clearing bills per processed trade. Across most of this chain the billing unit is how many times a trade happens, not how large each trade is.

The old rule capped exactly that count. An account holding less than $25,000 in equity could make at most three round trips — buying and selling the same security on the same day — within five business days, or it was restricted. From 4 June 2026 that balance-and-count test was replaced by a real-time intraday margin requirement. Interactive Brokers' (IBKR) CEO said in April that regulators were swapping trade counting and an arbitrary account-size threshold for a risk-based system calculated in real time [4]. Webull said in May that its average account held just under $5,000, so the rule bound the largest cohort of customers on its platform [5].

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Trade counts outran notional, and an exchange measured it too

Webull's 19 August second-quarter call is the only complete set of numbers so far: options contract volume of 213 million, up 34% sequentially; equity notional volume of $279 billion, up only 7% sequentially; and daily average revenue trades of 1.64 million, up 25% sequentially [1]. The count-based measures grew three to five times faster than the notional measure. Management called the rule change the defining event of the quarter and disclosed trading revenue of $147.7 million, up 66% year over year and 74% of total revenue [1].

Cboe is the confirmation from outside the brokers. On 31 July it said June average daily volume in SPX zero-DTE options rose 11% month over month, with the estimated retail share of that volume rising from 53% in April and May to 57%, and attributed the increase to the repeal; it also said partner broker-dealers are still switching the capability on [3]. Robinhood's CFO said on 29 July that June was a tailwind, that the effect is industry-wide, and that Robinhood probably benefited more than peers because its customers hold smaller balances [2].

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The billing unit moves from notional to trade count

Legs billed per trade or per contract should capture more of the increment than legs billed on notional or on assets — payment for order flow at the brokers, contract and clearing fees at the options exchanges, and per-trade processing in the back office. Because broker adoption is still in progress, Cboe's comment implies the increment arrives across several quarters rather than landing entirely in the June quarter [3].

This is not yet a confirmed industry change. June equity volume had another driver: Webull itself named the SpaceX listing as a large retail event that month, and said equities softened in July while options held steady [1]. Charles Schwab, which executes one-third of retail brokerage trades in the industry, never mentioned the rule in its 21 July business update, and Virtu Financial, the largest listed retail wholesaler, called retail a standout for the quarter without attributing it to anything [6][7]. What to watch over the next few quarters is whether the gap between brokers' daily trade counts and their notional volume keeps widening [1][3].

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Companies exposed to this change:

• Futu Holdings (FUTU): Its moomoo unit is a self-directed US retail brokerage with a customer base close to Webull's, sitting under the same cap that was removed, yet its 20 August second-quarter call never mentions the rule [8].
• Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR): Its Global Technology and Operations segment bills per processed trade, which is the exact variable this change moves; for the fiscal quarter ended June 2026 it disclosed trade volumes up 15%, with no mention of the rule on the call [9].
• Monex Group (8698.T): The Tokyo-listed company owns TradeStation, a US brokerage for active traders — the cohort the count cap constrained — and Drillr carries no 2026 earnings call for it [10].

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Sources

[1] Drillr · Webull Corporation (BULL) · 2026-08-19 · Q2 2026 earnings call

[2] Drillr · Robinhood Markets (HOOD) · 2026-07-29 · Q2 2026 earnings call

[3] Drillr · Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) · 2026-07-31 · Q2 2026 earnings call

"The impact of the repeal was immediate with SPX zero DTE ADV increasing 11% month over month in June with the estimated retail share of that volume rising to 57% versus 53% in April and May."

[4] Drillr · Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) · 2026-04-21 · Q1 2026 earnings call

[5] Drillr · Webull Corporation (BULL) · 2026-05-21 · Q1 2026 earnings call

[6] Drillr · Charles Schwab (SCHW) · 2026-07-21 · Q2 2026 summer business update

[7] Drillr · Virtu Financial (VIRT) · 2026-07-30 · Q2 2026 earnings call

[8] Drillr · Futu Holdings (FUTU) · 2026-08-20 · Q2 2026 earnings call

[9] Drillr · Broadridge Financial Solutions (BR) · 2026-08-04 · fiscal Q4 2026 earnings call

[10] Drillr · Monex Group (8698.T) · 2026-08-21 · company search

This is only meant to surface industry changes and companies you may have overlooked - it is not a stock recommendation.