GREENWICH, Conn., June 29, 2005 -- Global direct-access broker- dealer Interactive Brokers LLC (IB) is launching Interactive Analytics (IA), a set of mathematical risk assessment tools that can help savvy investors and fund managers better manage diversified portfolios.

"Our customers are sophisticated traders who need sophisticated tools. We are pleased to provide it to them free of charge," said IB Managing Director Steve Sanders.

"Vendors provide similar tools for a hefty fee, but IB makes it available as an integral part of its value-added offering to active traders, portfolio managers, registered investment advisors (RIAs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs)," Sanders added.

The new IA, available to all IB customers as part of IB's Trader Workstation (TWS) services, includes three modules:

-- Portfolio Analytics allows traders to assess the risk of their diversified portfolio across asset classes; if also looks at the various risk in "what-if" scenarios, as selected by the trader;

-- Option modeler calculates model option prices based on real-time market data, including the implied volatility "smile," which is named after the shape of the graph that plots the strike price and implied volatility of options with the same expiration date;

-- Options Analytics allows traders to focus on the risk and valuation of specific option contracts.

The three modules provide the traditional "Greek" risk measures:

-- delta, for the change in the options or derivatives price based on the change in the underlying asset price;

-- gamma, for the rate of change in delta vs. the underlying asset price;

-- theta, for the rate of decline in the value of an option due to the passage of time or time decay;

-- and vega for an option price change vs. a 1-percent change in volatility.

IB plans to add Value at Risk (VAR) measures in the near future.

IB is a unit of the Interactive Brokers Group, the 16th-largest U.S. broker-dealer with $1.9-billion capital. IB is the gateway to trading a broad array of financial instruments -- stocks, options, futures, corporate bonds as well as foreign exchange -- on over 50 exchanges and marketplaces in 14 countries.

Web Site: http://www.interactivebrokers.com