What Virtu Financial (VIRT) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call

Key Points

• Virtu Financial reported $704 million in adjusted net trading income for Q3 2026, alongside $438 million in adjusted EBITDA at a 62% margin and adjusted EPS of $1.77.
• Despite slower markets than in the first half, the company said trading activity across areas such as offshore equities, crypto, and AI and chip stocks helped diversify results beyond U.S. equities. Trailing-12-month adjusted net trading income reached a record $11.3 million per day.
• Virtu had $3.4 billion in invested capital at quarter-end and aims to build that to around $4 billion or more. It plans to maintain its $0.24 quarterly dividend and reported trailing debt-to-EBITDA of 1.4 times.

Virtu Financial NYSE: VIRT reported $704 million in adjusted net trading income for the third quarter of 2026, as its trading businesses navigated a slowdown in market activity from the first half of the year.

Chief Executive Officer Aaron Simons said volume and volatility moderated during the quarter but remained elevated compared with historical averages. The company generated $438 million in adjusted EBITDA, a 62% margin, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.77, Chief Financial Officer Cindy Lee said.

Virtu raised $500 million in debt in July, bringing invested capital to $3.4 billion at September 30. Lee said the company’s trailing debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.4 times and that it planned to continue growing its capital base while maintaining its quarterly dividend at $0.24 per share.

Trading results and diversification

Adjusted net trading income averaged $11 million per day in the quarter, including $9 million from Market Making and $2 million from Execution Services, Lee said. For the trailing 12 months, Virtu reported record adjusted net trading income of $11.3 million per day, adjusted EBITDA of $1.8 billion and adjusted EPS of $7.69.

Asked why Market Making results held up despite lower U.S. equity volumes and volatility, Simons pointed to activity beyond U.S. equities. He cited offshore equity perpetuals, events in cryptocurrency markets and activity involving artificial intelligence and chip stocks in multiple countries.

Simons said Virtu has sought to diversify its trading, including beyond U.S. equity wholesaling, and that its results may be less correlated with U.S. market metrics than in the past.

On trading risk, Simons declined to disclose the number of losing days over the past year. He said the range of Virtu’s daily profit and loss outcomes had widened meaningfully since its initial public offering as its businesses changed, but average results had also increased. Losing days remained rare, he said, and the distribution had not changed meaningfully since he became CEO.

Execution Services and capital plans

Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Joe Molluso declined to comment on media reports that Virtu could be exploring a sale of Execution Services. He described the unit as a strategic business with 1,400 clients and said its margins had more than doubled from those of ITG before Virtu acquired it.

Molluso said Virtu had accumulated approximately $900 million in trading capital during the year, roughly half organically and half through additional debt. He reiterated a near-term capital goal of around $4 billion or more, while saying asset sales were not needed to reach the company’s medium- to long-term goal.

Most of the July debt proceeds were deployed quickly, Molluso said, while Virtu maintained buffers for trading, usage and regulatory requirements. He said the company does not measure returns on incremental capital separately because capital is spread across businesses, entities and jurisdictions.

Hiring and technology spending

Simons said hiring remained on plan, with the company focused on trading, research and development. He said Virtu still had unmet hiring goals and did not expect a change in that effort into next year, though he cautioned that it was difficult to plan beyond roughly a year.

Molluso said the company had just under 1,100 employees and expected to move above that level in the near term. Expenses had risen, he said, but not more than the company expected. Lee said the year-to-date cash compensation ratio was 23% through September 30, while the total compensation ratio was 28%.

On technology, Simons said Virtu was incrementally investing more in computing, power, storage and other infrastructure. He characterized the increase as consistent with previously communicated plans rather than a major acceleration, and said the company did not see a need to spend beyond what it had signaled.

About Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT)

Virtu Financial, Inc is a global financial services company that provides liquidity, trading, and technology solutions to the financial markets. Through its market-making business, Virtu facilitates trading in a broad range of products, including equities, exchange-traded funds, options, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities, and certain digital assets.

The company also operates an execution services business that provides trading and workflow technology to institutional investors, asset managers, broker-dealers, and other financial institutions.

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