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Virtu Financial NASDAQ: VIRT reported strong fourth-quarter 2025 results that management said reflected both a favorable trading environment and early benefits from renewed investment in the firm’s growth initiatives, including infrastructure upgrades, talent additions, and an expanded capital base.
Fourth-quarter results and profitability
Chief Financial Officer Cindy Lee said the company generated adjusted net trading income (NT) of $9.7 million per day in the fourth quarter, totaling $613 million. Lee noted this was the company’s highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2021.
Profitability was also strong. Virtu reported $442 million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, representing a 72% margin, and adjusted EPS of $1.85.
Full-year 2025 performance
For full-year 2025, Lee said Virtu generated adjusted NT of $8.6 million per day, or $2.1 billion in total. The company reported $1.4 billion in adjusted EBITDA, a 65% margin, and $5.73 in adjusted EPS. Lee said these metrics were the company’s highest levels since 2021 and highlighted the operating leverage in Virtu’s model.
Lee also pointed to compensation trends, noting the company’s full-year 2025 cash compensation ratio was 19%, within the historical range. She said higher compensation expense reflected continued efforts to retain and acquire talent, particularly across trading and technology.
Segment performance: Market Making and Execution Services
On a segment basis, Lee said Market Making produced NT of $7.8 million per day in the fourth quarter and $6.7 million per day for the full year.
Virtu Execution Services (VES) generated NT of $2.0 million per day in the quarter and $1.9 million per day for full-year 2025. Lee said the quarter marked the seventh consecutive quarter of increased NT for VES and a “high watermark since early 2022,” which she attributed to technology investments, client acquisition efforts, and expanded product offerings. Management said both operating segments benefited from favorable conditions, elevated volumes, and strong execution.
During Q&A, Co-President and Co-COO Joe Molluso described VES as “firing on all cylinders,” citing accelerating client engagement, new client onboarding, and existing clients doing more business. He said performance improvements were “across all products”—including brokerage, algos, venues, and workflow analytics—and across geographies. He also noted ongoing work to accommodate non-equities asset classes in VES workflow and analytics tools.
Market conditions and the role of non-retail and non-customer activity
Several analysts asked whether Virtu’s strong quarter was driven primarily by activity outside the retail-oriented market-making flows reflected in Rule 605 disclosures, particularly given commentary that quoted spreads appeared to decline sequentially.
Molluso said investors should start with the “favorable operating environment,” noting higher volatility (including an increase in the VIX) and higher equity share volumes. He also pointed to broader market drivers—such as asset rotation and moves across fixed income, currencies, commodities, and equities—arguing Virtu’s global, cross-asset footprint positions it to perform well beyond what is captured in retail flow metrics.
He emphasized that equating “equities” with Rule 605 retail flow is not accurate, noting that Virtu’s non-customer market-making business includes a large equities presence as well as fixed income, currencies and commodities, options, and crypto, and operates globally. While Virtu does not plan to provide a detailed equities-versus-non-equities breakout, Molluso said the non-customer market-making business “did very well” during the quarter and that global equities outside retail flow also performed strongly.
Capital expansion, returns, and priorities heading into 2026
Management repeatedly returned to the theme of scaling the firm’s capital base and deploying it dynamically. Lee said Virtu increased invested capital by $625 million in 2025, with $448 million added in the second half, while generating an average return of 100% over the year. She said the company expects to continue expanding its capital base and infrastructure and will maintain its quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share.
In Q&A, Molluso said Virtu deployed “pretty much all” of the incremental capital added during the year while still maintaining substantial buffers at its regulated entities. He said the increased capital reduced the firm’s cost of capital by relying less on contingent liquidity such as revolvers. He cautioned that returns on incremental capital will not always be as high as they were in the quarter, but added that the firm’s prior long-term goal remains to generate $10 million per day through the cycle.
When asked about strategic priorities for 2026, management reiterated that it is not pursuing only a small number of initiatives. Instead, the company’s focus is broad-based growth across the firm, including:
- Increasing total trading capital and moving it toward the best opportunities
- Investing in infrastructure
- Acquiring “excellent people” across the organization
Other topics included ETFs and prediction markets. Management said Virtu is a large participant across ETFs and acts as an authorized participant for a large number of funds, though it did not quantify contributions from ETF create/redeem activity. On prediction markets, management said Virtu is evaluating connectivity and venue mechanics and establishing relationships, but is proceeding carefully due to uncertainty around regulation and legal frameworks. Leadership also said increased product complexity and additional venues can be a competitive advantage for Virtu given its experience connecting across trading protocols and settlement cycles.
About Virtu Financial NASDAQ: VIRT
Virtu Financial, Inc NASDAQ: VIRT is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.
In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.
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