Citadel Securities reports record $7.3B trading revenue in Q2 as retail volumes surge

Citadel Securities pulled in roughly $7.3 billion in trading revenue during the second quarter, a figure that makes its already strong Q1 look modest by comparison. The electronic market maker, founded by billionaire Ken Griffin, posted about $4.3 billion in the first three months of the year.

The Q2 number represents the firm’s best quarter on record, driven by surging retail investor activity and all-time highs in both US equity and options trading volumes.

What’s behind the numbers

Citadel Securities has historically commanded roughly 25% of all US equity trading volume, making it one of the largest market makers on the planet. Its business model is relatively straightforward in concept: sit between buyers and sellers, capture the bid-ask spread, and do it billions of times across millions of securities.

Cash equity volumes in May reportedly exceeded prior peaks by more than 10%, while options premium trading hit new highs in June. The Q1 figure of $4.3 billion already represented a 27% increase year-over-year.

For context on just how big this quarter was: Citadel Securities reportedly generated $9.7 billion in net trading revenue for all of 2024. The firm just did roughly 75% of an entire year’s haul in a single quarter.

The non-bank trading boom

Citadel Securities isn’t the only non-bank trading firm thriving right now. Rivals like Jane Street and Hudson River Trading have also posted strong results amid similar market conditions, though neither has matched the sheer scale of Citadel’s quarterly haul.

Digital assets: present but not the story

Citadel Securities does maintain a specialized digital assets team and has made investments in major crypto exchanges including Kraken and Crypto.com. But the firm’s record Q2 performance was driven by traditional equity and options markets, not cryptocurrency activity.

What this means for markets

For regulators, these numbers will likely fuel ongoing debates about market structure. The concentration of order flow through a small number of market makers has been a recurring concern, particularly around payment for order flow and the question of whether retail investors are getting the best possible execution on their trades.

The firm operates privately, so investors can’t buy shares directly, and reports on its performance typically emerge from unnamed sources acquainted with the firm’s activities.

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