Interactive Brokers Sees 2026 Elections Boosting Prediction Markets

• Brokerage house runs the popular ForecastEx prediction market.
• Company sees another boom sparked by 2026 midterm elections.

Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ: IBKR), the company behind the ForecastEx prediction market, believes 2026 midterm elections will drive increased event contract activity.

In an interview with Reuters, Chairman Thomas Peterffy said this year’s slate of House, Senate and gubernatorial could spark volume surges for political event contracts. There’s something to that outlook because it was the 2024 presidential election that ushered prediction markets into the mainstream investing and wagering conversations. Peterffy is optimistic about the future of prediction markets even as the population of companies in the space swells.

More and more prospective participants are trying to enter this market and there doesn’t seem to be any barrier. The applications are practically limitless, in the sense that we’re full of questions about the future all the time. I’m incredibly bullish on this space, especially with elections coming this year,” he told Reuters.

Interactive Brokers rolled out political event contracts in September 2024 and has an established track record with economic and financial yes/no derivatives, but the company has steered clear of sports event contracts – a smart move when considering that’s the source of scrutiny applied to the industry.

Prediction Market Users Love Politics

While sports account for the bulk of turnover of on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, 2024 presidential election confirmed bettors and traders love politics, too – a fact cemented by the 2025 New York City mayoral race.

Tight races could bode well for ForecastEx, which Peterffy sees as a growth avenue for Interactive Brokers, both internally and externally.

“We are focusing on adding broker partners, but we’re also focusing on our own Interactive Brokers direct customers participating more and more in forecast contracts,” he said in response to analyst question on the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call.

ForecastEx Known in Prediction Markets Industry

ForecastEx is a Designated Contract Market (DCM), which is the designation necessary for companies to offer exchange-listed derivatives, including yes/no event contracts, in the US. Event contracts offered by ForecastEx are found on Interactive Brokers and Robinhood Markets.

The platform currently features just one sports event contract, but it features a slew of derivatives on 2026 primaries and general elections as well as a robust suite of event contracts on economic data, the environment and financial assets, including Bitcoin, foreign currencies, and equity indexes.