Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
Citadel Securities
The Miami-based electronic market maker founded by Ken Griffin in 2002 as an options-trading offshoot of his hedge fund Citadel, which grew into the largest destination for American retail stock orders (it says it executes 35%+ of US-listed retail volume and roughly a quarter of all US equity volume), the biggest options market maker (~30% of US listed options volume), the largest designated market maker on the New York Stock Exchange, and a top-ranked dealer in US Treasuries — without being a bank. It pays retail brokers such as Robinhood for their customers' orders (payment for order flow), which made it the villain of the January 2021 GameStop saga in the eyes of many retail traders, although both Griffin and Robinhood's CEO told Congress it had no role in Robinhood's trading restrictions. It took its first outside capital in January 2022 ($1.15bn from Sequoia and Paradigm at a ~$22bn valuation) and reported record trading revenue of ~$12.2bn in 2025, putting it alongside the largest bank trading desks.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2002, Chicago, as Citadel's options market-making unit (Citadel Derivatives Group, reported); retail equity wholesaling from ~2005 (later Citadel Execution Services; reported)
- Headquarters
- Southeast Financial Center, Miami (moved from Chicago in 2022); large offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Zurich and elsewhere
- Ownership / structure
- Private. Majority owned by Ken Griffin; Sequoia and Paradigm minority stake since January 2022; legally separate from the hedge fund Citadel LLC, which Griffin also controls. Main US broker-dealer: Citadel Securities LLC
- Leadership (2026)
- Ken Griffin, founder and majority owner; Peng Zhao, CEO (since 2017); Jim Esposito, president (joined from Goldman Sachs in 2023, reported)
- Segment
- Exchange & infrastructure: non-bank market maker in US and global equities, options, ETFs, US Treasuries, interest-rate swaps, FX, credit and (from 2025) crypto
- Scale
- 35%+ of US-listed retail equity volume and ~25% of total US equity volume (company, May 2025); ~30% of US listed options volume (company); ~$23tn of US Treasuries traded in 2025, ~$92bn a day (company); largest NYSE DMM since 2016 (~1,500 issuers at acquisition)
- Profit
- Trading revenue ~$9.7bn (2024) and a record ~$12.2bn (2025, +25%); 2025 net income ~$5.4bn (reported); Q1 2026 trading revenue ~$4.3bn (+26%, reported)
- Valuation
- ~$22bn in the January 2022 minority investment; no later priced external round disclosed (verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Options market making (2002); retail wholesaling and PFOF scale-up after Knight (2012); rates swaps and Treasuries (2014–); NYSE DMM and ATD acquisitions (2016); SEC pricing settlement and enforcement record (2017); GameStop scrutiny and the congressional hearing (2021); Sequoia–Paradigm investment (2022); EDX Markets and crypto (2023–25); record revenue and the CAT and market-structure fights (2025–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2002
Options Market Making Founding
Founding
2012
Retail Wholesaling and PFOF After Knight
Growth / market-share shift
2014
Rates Swaps and Treasuries Expansion
Expansion
2016
NYSE DMM and ATD Acquisitions
Acquisition
2017
SEC Pricing Settlement and Enforcement Record
Regulatory settlement
2021
GameStop Scrutiny and Congressional Hearing
Controversy / regulatory
2022
Sequoia and Paradigm Investment
Funding round (minority investment)
2023
EDX Markets and Crypto
Launch / expansion
2025
Record Revenue and CAT Litigation
Growth / litigation