Virtu Financial NYSE: VIRT said its second-quarter 2026 performance reflected favorable market conditions, continued growth in its trading-capital base and investments in technology and talent, with management pointing to all-time highs in several trailing 12-month profitability measures.
Chief Executive Officer Aaron Simons said the company has made progress on a growth plan announced a year earlier, which included investments in infrastructure, talent and capital. He said Virtu has invested in power and computing capacity, begun establishing select partnerships through investments, and continued recruiting in key technical and trading roles.
“We are reestablishing our reputation as a firm run by technologists and traders,” Simons said, adding that attrition has declined to multiyear lows.
Quarterly profitability and segment performance
Chief Financial Officer Cindy Lee said Virtu generated adjusted net trading income, or ANTI, of $11.6 million per day during the second quarter, with a quarterly total of $718 million. Market Making contributed $9.4 million of ANTI per day, while Execution Services generated $2.2 million per day.
The company reported adjusted EBITDA of $437 million, representing a 61% margin, and adjusted earnings per share of $1.82. Over the past 12 months, Virtu recorded ANTI per day of $10.4 million, adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 billion and adjusted EPS of $6.96, all of which Lee described as company records on a trailing 12-month basis.
Management said both operating segments benefited from market conditions and execution by Virtu’s teams. Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer Joseph Molluso cited continued growth in crypto, options and block exchange-traded fund markets. He also identified global equities, retail and proprietary trading activity as standouts during the quarter.
Molluso said the Execution Services business, or VES, has generated more than $2 million in daily ANTI for three consecutive quarters. He described the consistency of that performance as a meaningful contributor to results.
Capital build supported by debt issuance and retained earnings
Virtu’s total trading capital reached $3.4 billion, up from $2 billion a year earlier, Simons said. The increase followed 12 months of retained earnings and an opportunistic increase in the company’s term loan.
Lee said invested capital stood at $2.9 billion as of June 30 and produced an average return of 106% over the past year. In early July, the company increased its term loan by $500 million. Its trailing debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.5 times, which Lee characterized as modest leverage.
Molluso said the debt financing was completed because market conditions provided an attractive opportunity, rather than because the company needed to raise funds immediately. He said the offering was oversubscribed and was executed at what management viewed as an attractive price and tight spread levels.
“You raise money when you can, not when you have to,” Molluso said of conditions in the debt and leveraged-loan markets.
Management said the additional capital is already deployed and that it had previously used some short-term liquidity to capture market opportunities. Molluso said Virtu considers its current debt level sustainable in the near to medium term, and expects further capital accumulation to come primarily through free cash flow generation. The company said it intends to maintain its quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share.
Hiring investment and compensation
Virtu said it is continuing to hire aggressively in areas including quantitative research, trading, engineering and software development. Simons said the company does not have a specific headcount target and expects to continue hiring at a strong pace for at least the next several years.
He said the company’s hiring efforts are part of a broader cultural shift that has been recognized by current employees and prospective candidates, contributing to lower attrition and increased interest from the talent pool.
Through June 30, Virtu’s cash compensation ratio was 23% and its total compensation ratio was 28%, according to Lee. Molluso said management’s guidance remains for a low-to-mid-20% cash compensation ratio, noting that the company has been willing to tolerate an investment period as it recruits talent.
He said the company takes a top-down approach to compensation early in the year and refines accruals as it approaches year-end. Management advised investors to focus on the year-to-date compensation ratio rather than a single quarter.
Broad-based deployment and evolving products
Simons said Virtu is directing incremental capital and personnel broadly across the business rather than toward one specific asset class, product or geography. He noted that allocations can shift quickly as opportunities change because of the company’s relatively flat structure and ability to move capital opportunistically.
On the potential development of regulated perpetual futures in the United States, Simons said Virtu does not seek to predict where trading volumes will ultimately settle. He said new trading methods and market fragmentation have historically contributed to higher volumes, at least in the short term.
Molluso said Virtu does not view perpetual futures as an entirely new asset class, but rather as an evolution of existing asset classes. He said Virtu Execution Services is not currently seeing significant institutional demand for the products, while Virtu itself does not have direct retail customers. Still, management said it intends to provide pricing, liquidity and trading services as products become liquid and tradable.
About Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT)
Virtu Financial, Inc is a technology-driven electronic trading firm and market maker that provides liquidity and price discovery across a wide range of financial instruments. Leveraging advanced analytics, high-performance computing and proprietary algorithms, Virtu operates in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and derivative products. Its technology platform is designed to capture bid-ask spreads in real time, manage risk through automated controls and adapt to changing market conditions.
The company offers a suite of execution services and market-making solutions to institutional clients such as asset managers, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds.
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