TradeStation Group, Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Monex Group, Inc (TYO:8698), today posted its financial results for the final quarter of 2021.

Due primarily to TradeStation’s increased marketing and headcount, total expenses were $69.5 million for the three-month period to end-December 2021, and $180.0 million for the nine-month period, ended December 31, 2021, as compared to $50.0 million and $147.4 million for the three- and nine-month periods, respectively, ended December 31, 2020.

Marketing expense for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $22.7 million, as compared to $4.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020, and was $39.6 million for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2021 as compared to $11.9 million for the nine-month period of the prior fiscal year.

TradeStation’s total headcount increased, primarily in product development and information technology, from 511 full-time employees at March 31, 2021 to 714 at December 31, 2021, resulting, together with wage inflation, in employee compensation and benefits expense for the three months ended December 31, 2021 of $24.7 million, as compared to $17.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020, and $68.6 million for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2021 as compared to $53.1 million for the nine-month period of the prior fiscal year.

For the three months ended December 31, 2021, the company had a net loss of $11.3 million, a loss before income taxes of $15.7 million, and negative Adjusted EBITDA of $13.6 million, as compared to net income of $2.1 million, income before income taxes of $2.9 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $12.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2021, the company had a net loss of $16.9 million, loss before income taxes of $23.0 million, and negative Adjusted EBITDA of $14.2 million, as compared to net income of $4.5 million, income before income taxes of $6.2 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $35.3 million for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2020.

On the brighter side, TradeStation had total net revenues of $53.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021, a 1.8% increase over the three months ended December 31, 2020. Revenue growth resulted from higher trading-related revenue and net interest income, partially offset by lower average trading-related revenue per account and a decrease in subscription and other revenue.

Total net revenues grew by 6.9% as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2021, driven primarily by an increase in total customer accounts, higher trading-related revenue per account, and an increase in net interest income.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, TradeStation reported total net revenues of $157.0 million, a 2.2% increase over the prior-year nine-month period, driven by higher trading- related revenue and net interest income, partially offset by lower average trading-related revenue per account and a decrease in subscription and other revenue.

At December 31, 2021, TradeStation had 178,863 Total Customer Accounts, an increase of 36.1% from December 31, 2020, and a 9.9% increase from September 30, 2021.

TradeStation added 27,412 Gross New Accounts during the three months ended December 31, 2021, as compared to 15,147 Gross New Accounts added during the three months ended December 31, 2020, an 81.0% increase, and 16,823 Gross New Accounts added during the three months ended September 30, 2021, a 62.9% increase.

For the three months ended December 31, 2021, DARTs were 214,690, a decrease of 10.2% from the three months ended December 31, 2020. This decrease resulted primarily from reduced customer trading activity in the December 2021 quarter as compared to the high level of trading volume in the prior-year three-month period, which was during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, partially offset by customer account growth.

TradeStation’s DARTs increased by 5.6% in the December 2021 quarter compared to the September 2021 quarter due principally to customer account growth.