Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Virtu Financial
The New York electronic market maker that Vincent Viola, a former NYMEX chairman, founded in 2008 with Douglas Cifu, and that became the one large US high-frequency market maker whose economics are audited and public — the rare evidence in a business where Citadel Securities, Jane Street and HRT disclose nothing. Its March 2014 IPO filing showed only one losing trading day in 1,238 (Jan 2009–Dec 2013) with 151 employees; the IPO was pulled in April 2014 as Michael Lewis's Flash Boys turned high-frequency trading into a scandal, then completed on Nasdaq on 16 Apr 2015 at $19 a share. Virtu then bought scale: Madison Tyler (2011), KCG for ~$1.4bn in cash (closed 20 Jul 2017) — the successor to Knight Capital and Getco and the number-two US retail wholesaler — and ITG for ~$1bn (closed 1 Mar 2019), adding agency execution services. Its filings show how market-making revenue rises and falls with volatility: revenue $3.24bn in 2020, down to $2.29bn in 2023, a record $3.63bn in 2025, with Q3 2026 revenue up ~40% year on year (10-Ks and 8-Ks).
At a glance
- Founded
- 2008 by Vincent Viola and Douglas Cifu (with Graham Free) (Wikipedia; S-1 says Cifu "has been with us since our founding in 2008" and Virtu East was founded in 2008); Virtu Financial, Inc. incorporated in Delaware 16 Oct 2013 as the IPO vehicle (S-1); redomestication to Texas approved Nov 2026, "expected to occur later this year" (8-K, 5 Nov 2026)
- Headquarters
- New York City; other offices in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Palm Beach Gardens, Short Hills, Rye Brook, Toronto, Dublin, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Shanghai (virtu.com contact page, Nov 2026)
- Ownership / structure
- Public (Nasdaq: VIRT, since 16 Apr 2015) with an Up-C structure; the founder's family entity controlled ~93.4% of combined voting power after the IPO (424B4); voting control remains with the Viola family through Class C/D shares (verify current %)
- Leadership (2026)
- Aaron Simons, CEO since Jul 2025 (succeeded Douglas Cifu, CEO Oct 2013–Jul 2025) (Wikipedia); Vincent Viola, founder and chairman emeritus (verify title); an Aug 2026 8-K (Item 5.02) reported an officer or director change (contents not checked — verify)
- Business lines
- Market Making (equities, options, ETFs, FX, commodities, fixed income, crypto; US retail wholesaling via the KCG business; NYSE DMM via KCG — verify current status); Execution Services (agency execution, algorithms, workflow technology and analytics, largely from ITG)
- Scale (dated, audited)
- Revenue: $664.5m (2013), $723.1m (2014), $1.03bn (2017), $1.88bn (2018), $1.52bn (2019), $3.24bn (2020), $2.81bn (2021), $2.36bn (2022), $2.29bn (2023), $2.88bn (2024), $3.63bn (2025) (S-1, 424B4, 10-K XBRL). Net income (incl. non-controlling interests): $182.2m (2013), $190.1m (2014), $18.9m (2017), $620.2m (2018), −$103.7m (2019), $1.12bn (2020), $827.2m (2021), $468.3m (2022), $263.9m (2023), $534.5m (2024), $912.3m (2025). Adjusted Net Trading Income (non-GAAP): $2.15bn in 2025 (Market Making $1.67bn, Execution Services $479m). Q3 2026: revenue $1,153.9m
- Regulators
- SEC and FINRA (US broker-dealers); CFTC/NFA; the FCA and Central Bank of Ireland; ASIC and others abroad (verify entity list)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding (2008); Madison Tyler and Silver Lake (2011); the IPO filing, one losing day and the Flash Boys postponement (2014); the Nasdaq IPO (Apr 2015); KCG (2017); ITG and execution services (2019); the 2020 volatility boom and the 2021–23 normalisation; the SEC information-barriers case (2023–25); CEO succession and record revenue (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.
2008
Founding by Vincent Viola
Founding
2011
Madison Tyler Acquisition and Silver Lake
Acquisition / capital raise
2014
IPO Filing One Losing Day and Flash Boys Delay
IPO attempt (filed, then postponed)
2015
Nasdaq IPO
IPO
2017
KCG Acquisition
Acquisition
2019
ITG Acquisition and Execution Services
Acquisition / strategy pivot (adding an agency execution business)
2020
Pandemic Volatility Boom and Normalisation
Market regime / outcome (no single decision — how a market maker's audited results track volatility and retail activity)
2023
SEC Information Barriers Case
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (litigated, then settled)
2025
CEO Succession and Record Revenue
Leadership change / outcome of strategy in a high-volume regime