Citadel Securities
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersMiami, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
Citadel Securities firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Citadel Securities
- Legal name
- Citadel Enterprise Americas LLC
- Website
- https://citadelsecurities.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Citadel Securities industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Capital Markets / Market Making
- NAICS
- Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation (523150), Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523), Other Financial Investment Activities (5239)
- SIC
- Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211), Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Equity Prime Brokerage (Custody, Financing & Services) (FSACAFAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Securities Borrowing & Lending (Equities/Bonds) (FSACAIAC), Securities Lending & Collateral Management (Custodian-Led) (FSAFAHAC), Margin Trading & Collateralized Borrowing (Exchange-Operated) (FSADAAAL)
Keywords
Where Citadel Securities is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Miami
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices14 records
Markets served
Citadel Securities business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Market Making - Bid-Ask Spread: Market makers provide two-way quotes and earn the spread between bid and ask prices. Citadel Securities competes with other market makers to deliver better outcomes for investors while generating revenue from accurate pricing and execution at scale.
- Price Improvement for Retail Investors: For retail equity investors, market makers regularly offer a better price on securities than public exchanges, generating revenue while saving investors money (over $1.4 billion saved in 2021 alone)
- Designated Market Maker Services: Provides principal liquidity as NYSE's leading Designated Market Maker for ~62% of all NYSE listings, supporting orderly trading of securities for corporate issuers
- Retail Broker Execution: Executes retail order flow for hundreds of broker-dealer clients, handling approximately 35% of total U.S. retail market volume
- Corporate Solutions - Valuation Metrics: Provides predictive analytics to help corporate issuers understand how institutional investors make decisions, enabling focused and effective investor targeting
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Market making services for institutional clients |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Citadel Securities product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Citadel Securities is a next-generation global market maker that provides two-way liquidity in equities, options, fixed income, and FX markets using proprietary, low-latency electronic trading technology combined with quantitative research and machine learning. The firm executes approximately $836 billion in notional volume daily across more than 50 markets and serves over 1,600 institutional clients globally, including sovereign wealth funds, central banks, hedge funds, asset managers, pensions, broker-dealers, and corporate issuers. Revenue is generated from bid-ask spreads, principal market-making activities, and corporate analytics services.
Product overview
Citadel Securities operates as a next-generation global market maker providing liquidity across equities, options, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets. The firm offers a unified platform combining proprietary trading technology, quantitative research, and market-making expertise. Core products include equities and options execution services (handling approximately 24% and 30% of U.S. market volume respectively), Fixed Income & FX trading across 50+ markets, and NYSE Designated Market Maker services covering 62% of NYSE listings. The company co-founded MEMX exchange and offers supplementary tools including Bullseye and Instant Trader electronic trading platforms, plus Valuation Metrics corporate analytics. The architecture combines institutional high-touch services with electronic algorithmic offerings, serving over 1,600 institutional clients globally.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Valuation Metrics: A Citadel Securities Corporate Solutions offering that provides predictive analytics to help corporate issuers understand and target institutional investors.
- MEMX
Products and services
- Equities Trading Comprehensive equities liquidity provision and execution services including sourcing liquidity, executing small and large orders, and serving corporate clients through exchange market-making programs. Handles approximately 24% of U.S. equity market volume for institutional and retail clients.
- Options Trading Leading liquidity provider across the options ecosystem, combining advanced technology and deep markets expertise. Serves approximately 30% of U.S. consolidated equity options volume and is the #1 retail market maker executing over 35% of U.S.-listed retail volume.
- Fixed Income & FX Market making in global fixed income and currency markets across 50+ markets, including interest rate swaps, U.S. Treasuries, European rates, and foreign exchange. Serves over 1,300 clients including central banks and sovereign wealth funds.
- NYSE Designated Market Maker (DMM) NYSE Designated Market Maker services providing principal liquidity in listed stocks, representing approximately 62% of all NYSE listings. Offers critical market intelligence and promotes orderly trading for corporate issuers during IPOs and ongoing market operations.
- MEMX (Members Exchange) An all-electronic U.S. equities exchange co-founded by Citadel Securities and other member firms, providing electronic trading with modern technology infrastructure.
- Valuation Metrics (Corporate Solutions) Corporate Solutions product providing predictive analytics to help corporate issuers identify institutional investors likely to buy or retain shares, enabling focused and effective investor targeting.
Quantifiable outcome
- Saved retail investors over $1.4 billion through price improvement in 2021
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Citadel Securities
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Citadel Securities technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability1 record
Feature7 records
Citadel Securities partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- BloombergcoreCitadel Securities partnered with Bloomberg since the inception of its ETF trading solutions including RFQe secondary market platform and Strategy Optimizer, helping shape the solution and support improved transaction costs for investors.
- Digital AssetcoreCitadel Securities participated in Digital Asset's $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto for the Canton Network blockchain platform. The partnership supports institutional blockchain adoption and on-chain capital markets infrastructure.
- Canton NetworkcoreCitadel Securities joined the Canton Network ecosystem as a participant, supporting the blockchain platform for regulated financial institutions to issue and trade tokenized real-world assets while maintaining privacy and compliance.
- HSBCcoreHSBC participated in Digital Asset's $355 million funding round and is integrating with Canton Network for tokenization, collateral mobility, settlement, and payments.
- BNP ParibascoreBNP Paribas participated in Digital Asset's $355 million funding round and is integrating with Canton Network for institutional tokenization.
- Hong Kong Talent PoolminorCitadel Securities is expanding hiring in Asia with nearly half of its 60+ Asian hires based in Hong Kong, leveraging Hong Kong as its largest regional office.
- Millennium IndiaminorCitadel Securities hired former Millennium India CEO Prakash Subramanian K V as country head of India and Singapore, supporting expansion in Asia.
- GooglecoreCitadel Securities uses Google TPUs for AI workloads, reporting up to four times faster performance and 30% lower costs compared to alternatives. The firm is an early adopter of Google's custom AI chips.
- EDX MarketscoreEDX Markets, backed by Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity Digital Assets, applied for a national trust bank charter from the OCC to provide digital asset custody and trading services for institutional clients.
- TradewebcoreCitadel Securities participated in Tradeweb's first real-time full-chain US Treasury bond financing using USDC, alongside Bank of America and Virtu Financial.
- DTCCcoreCitadel Securities is participating with major financial institutions including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America in DTCC's tokenized securities trading launch covering $114 trillion in custodied assets.
- NYSEcoreNYSE launched a 24/7 on-chain trading platform in January 2026 partnering with BNY and Citigroup, representing infrastructure modernization for capital markets.
- Bank of AmericacoreBank of America participated in Tradeweb's USDC Treasury bond financing and DTCC tokenization initiatives alongside Citadel Securities.
- MEMXcoreCitadel Securities co-founded MEMX, an all-electronic equities exchange leveraging industry-leading technology. In just over two years, MEMX reached 6.5% market share excluding TRF with average daily notional volume of $18.7 billion.
Scale indicators15 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Citadel Securities competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Virtu Financial: Virtu Financial is a leading global market maker and execution services provider competing directly with Citadel Securities across equities, options, and fixed income. Both firms are publicly/founder-controlled, technology-driven market makers serving institutional and retail broker-dealer clients.
- Jump Trading: Jump Trading is a proprietary trading and market making firm operating across global equities, futures, options, and crypto markets. Like Citadel Securities, it leverages quantitative strategies and low-latency technology to provide liquidity to institutional clients.
- Susquehanna International Group (SIG): SIG is a global quantitative trading firm with major options market making operations, competing directly with Citadel Securities in U.S. equity options. Both firms employ significant PhD-level quantitative talent and serve institutional and retail clients.
- Hudson River Trading: HRT is a quantitative trading firm and major market maker across global equities, futures, options, and ETFs. It competes with Citadel Securities using similar mathematical and computational approaches to liquidity provision across asset classes.
- IMC Financial Markets: IMC is a global proprietary trading firm and market maker operating across equities, options, fixed income, and digital assets. It directly competes with Citadel Securities in providing institutional liquidity globally, with strong technology-driven execution.
- Jane Street: Jane Street is a global market maker and liquidity provider specializing in ETFs, equities, and fixed income. It competes with Citadel Securities in U.S. ETF market making and retail broker execution services, particularly in options and ETF arbitrage.
- Two Sigma Securities: Two Sigma Securities is the market making arm of Two Sigma, providing liquidity in equities and ETFs. It competes with Citadel Securities in U.S. equity market making with similar quantitative technology-driven approaches.
- Optiver: Optiver is a global proprietary trading firm and market maker specializing in derivatives, options, and equities. It directly competes with Citadel Securities in U.S. options market making and global equity options liquidity provision.
Broad incumbents
- Goldman Sachs (Global Markets): Goldman Sachs operates one of the world's largest market making franchises as part of its Global Markets division, providing liquidity in equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities. As a broad incumbent, it competes with Citadel Securities across multiple asset classes while offering full investment banking and prime brokerage services.
Emerging players
- EDX Markets: EDX Markets is a digital asset exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity Digital Assets, applying for a national trust bank charter. It represents an emerging player in institutional crypto trading where Citadel Securities is positioning itself as both owner and liquidity provider.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Citadel Securities social profiles
Digital presenceCitadel Securities financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Citadel Securities leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles19 records
Citadel Securities funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Citadel Securities M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments19 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Citadel Securities
What does Citadel Securities do?
Citadel Securities is a next-generation global market maker that provides two-way liquidity in equities, options, fixed income, and FX markets using proprietary, low-latency electronic trading technology combined with quantitative research and machine learning. The firm executes approximately $836 billion in notional volume daily across more than 50 markets and serves over 1,600 institutional clients globally, including sovereign wealth funds, central banks, hedge funds, asset managers, pensions, broker-dealers, and corporate issuers. Revenue is generated from bid-ask spreads, principal market-making activities, and corporate analytics services.
Is Citadel Securities a public or private company?
Citadel Securities is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Citadel Securities founded?
Citadel Securities was founded in 2002. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Citadel Securities based?
Citadel Securities is headquartered in Miami, United States, in the North America region.
How does Citadel Securities make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Market Making - Bid-Ask Spread is the primary driver. The others are price Improvement for Retail Investors, designated Market Maker Services, retail Broker Execution and corporate Solutions - Valuation Metrics.
Who are Citadel Securities's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Virtu Financial, Jump Trading, Susquehanna International Group (SIG), Hudson River Trading, IMC Financial Markets, Jane Street, Two Sigma Securities and Optiver. Goldman Sachs (Global Markets) is listed as a broad incumbent. EDX Markets is listed as an emerging player.
Does Citadel Securities have an API?
No public API is recorded for Citadel Securities.
What industry is Citadel Securities in?
Citadel Securities's product category is Capital Markets / Market Making. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSACAFAB, Equity Prime Brokerage (Custody, Financing & Services), with a secondary code of FSACAIAC, Securities Borrowing & Lending (Equities/Bonds). Its NAICS code is 523150 and its SIC code is 6211.