Virtu Delivers Double-Digit Growth on Back of Strong Q3 Trading
Virtu reported third-quarter 2025 revenue of $824.8 million, up 16.7% year over year, as trading income, net rose 19.2% to $529.1 million. The company’s Adjusted Net Trading Income (ANTI) climbed 20.4% to $467.0 million, reflecting healthy client volumes and continued breadth across asset classes. Management highlighted resilience across both liquidity provision and agency execution as macro conditions sustained solid electronic activity.
By segment, Market Making remained the engine, producing $521.1 million of trading income, net, while Execution Services added $7.9 million. Beyond pure trading, Virtu generated $154.5 million of commissions, net and technology services, and $127.4 million of interest and dividends income, underscoring diversified revenue drivers spanning analytics, workflow tech and balance-sheet deployment.
Headline profitability improved with net income of $149.1 million (up from $119.0 million in Q3’24) and EPS of $0.86. On a normalized, fully taxed, fully platformd basis, Adjusted EPS was $1.05, signaling underlying earnings momentum once non-cash and one-time items are stripped out.
Takeaway
How Did Margins, Costs, and Capital Returns Evolve?
Virtu posted Adjusted EBITDA of $267.8 million, up 24.7%, with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 57.3% on ANTI, improving from 55.4% a year ago. GAAP net income margin reached 18.1%. The mix of higher trading income and steady non-trading cost inflation and supported operating leverage through the quarter.
On the expense line, brokerage/platform/clearance and PFOF totaled $178.3 million, while interest and dividends expense was $165.7 million, reflecting continued funding activity to support inventory and client facilitation. Compensation was $157.7 million, consistent with scaling activity and talent retention. Depreciation and amortization combined (including purchased intangibles/acquired software) ran $27.2 million in the quarter.
Virtu returned capital via $20.9 million of purchasebacks (~0.5 million shares) and declared a $0.24 quarterly dividend payable December 15, 2025 to holders of record on December 1, 2025. Since program inception, cumulative repurchases stand at ~53.8 million shares/units for ~$1.42 billion, with ~$302.8 million of authorization remaining—providing flexibility alongside $755.4 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at quarter-end.
Takeaway
What Should Investors Watch Into Year-End?
Flow volatility and spreads will steer day-to-day P&L, but Virtu’s multi-asset Market Making plus Execution Services and technology offerings provide diversification as macro regimes shift. With interest and dividends income of $127.4 million and robust commissions/tech services, non-trading cyclicality and a lever for cross-trade.
Balance-sheet scale supports facilitation: at fair value rose to $10.94 billion, while long-term borrowings stood at $2.07 billion (principal). The company’s risk and funding discipline—reflected in sizable securities and inventory—will remain central as it navigates year-end liquidity dynamics across equities, ETFs, futures, FX and fixed income.
