Having a cash balance means able to buy.Having a portfolio means...

Having a cash balance means able to buy.
Having a portfolio means able to sell.

So either of the above classes them as 'active'. And the larger the portfolio size, the more likely they'll have a large cash balance.


I'd prefer if they broke down: new sign-ups & newly inactive accounts. Eg. +5000 & -3000 instead of the net +2000 active traders reported. It would give a clearer picture of the underlying business - attrition, and marketing effectiveness.

Eg. $1m marketing divided by 2000 new active users is bad. But if it's actually $1m for 5000 new sign-ups, then the marketing cost is less bad, but the 3000 attrition would be somewhat bad.

Though I doubt they'll start reporting it that way.