Citadel founder Ken Griffin’s market making business Citadel Securities has kicked off 2025 with a blowout quarter, reporting $3.4bn in net trading revenue – a 45% year-on-year surge – as persistent market volatility fuels record profits across the trading ecosystem, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The Miami-based business, a key liquidity provider to hedge funds, asset managers, and banks, also reported $1.7bn in net income for Q1, up 70% from the same period last year, according to sources familiar with the numbers. EBITDA reached $1.9bn, delivering a margin of 58%, up from 53% in 2024.
The gains come amid elevated trading volumes triggered by policy shifts under President Donald Trump’s second term, along with renewed geopolitical uncertainty – conditions that have created fertile ground for quant and macro-driven strategies across equity and fixed-income markets.
For hedge funds deploying high-frequency, systematic, or arbitrage strategies, the results underscore Citadel Securities’ growing dominance in a space once led by global investment banks. With $18bn in trading capital as of Q1, the firm continues to scale aggressively into corporate bonds, interest rate swaps, and institutional block trading.
“Citadel Securities is capitalising on a fragmented and fast-moving market environment in a way few can match,” said one industry insider. “This is directly relevant for hedge funds that rely on deep, consistent liquidity and tight spreads in both traditional and evolving asset classes.”
The firm, led by CEO Peng Zhao, has ramped up hiring from top-tier Wall Street institutions, recently adding JPMorgan’s Elan Luger to spearhead institutional block trading in equities. The move aligns with the firm’s broader strategy to compete with investment banks in bespoke execution services for hedge funds and other sophisticated clients.
The trading powerhouse now handles more than one-third of all US retail equity trades, and continues to expand its fixed-income footprint beyond Treasuries – marking an inflection point for hedge fund execution strategies in credit markets.
Citadel Securities’ largest peer, Jane Street, is also riding the volatility wave, reporting $20.5bn in trading revenue in 2024, and projecting over $7bn for Q1 2025, per recent investor disclosures.
