Non-bank trading firms, such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities, generated a combined $114 billion in revenue in 2025, marking a 45% increase over the previous year, according to Crisil Coalition Greenwich. This surge in revenue underscores their expanding influence on Wall Street as they increasingly compete with traditional banks. The strong performance was fueled by supportive market conditions and the electrification of financial markets, positioning trading firms as key players in both retail and institutional arenas.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's approval of perpetual futures for bitcoin trading on Kalshi has sent shockwaves through Wall Street, as investors fear this could mark the beginning of broader regulatory acceptance for these products across other asset classes. The move has heightened concerns about intensified competition for traditional exchanges such as CME Group and Cboe Global Markets.

Decentralized crypto trading platform Hyperliquid has quickly become a top destination for both traditional and crypto traders seeking around-the-clock access to perpetual futures. Founded by Jeff Yan in response to the FTX collapse, Hyperliquid emphasizes user self-custody and offers a wide range of tradable assets, including traditional stocks, commodities and pre-IPO companies.

Galaxy Digital has introduced a trading desk that offers institutional investors access to prediction markets through over-the-counter derivatives. The desk's first deal was a $10 million swap with Arca on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025.

Polymarket executed its first block trade involving a contract related to AI compute infrastructure, specifically the Ornn Compute Price Index. The six-figure trade was conducted between FalconX and Anera Labs, marking a significant milestone as Polymarket seeks to attract institutional traders to its platform. FalconX is set to become the dedicated market maker for future block trades, signaling Polymarket's intent to facilitate larger, privately negotiated transactions for institutional clients.

Interactive Brokers has integrated Anthropic's Claude AI chatbot directly into its platform, enabling clients to use AI for researching stocks, portfolio performance analysis and generating trade instructions. This integration allows users to link their brokerage accounts to Claude at no extra cost, providing a conversational interface for sophisticated investment queries. Currently, the AI is limited to stocks and ETFs, but support for additional securities and more AI chatbots is expected soon.

Trading assets held by the eight US global systemically important banks climbed to a record $3.58 trillion in the first quarter, rising 17% from the previous quarter as market volatility boosted trading activity. Trading liabilities also reached an all-time high of $1.17 trillion, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley accounting for much of the increase.

The T+1 Accelerated Settlement Taskforce will use the market average settlement rate from the three months before the October 11, 2027 transition as the target for post-implementation settlement performance. This approach is designed to ensure a smooth transition from T+2 to T+1 by providing a realistic benchmark based on actual market data, giving firms a clear goal ahead of the new settlement cycle.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig has said the agency's case against Gemini, a crypto exchange created by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, was an act of political "lawfare" conducted by the Biden administration. "To the extent the agency was used to politically target folks, we're reversing that, and we're starting fresh," Selig said.

The Trump administration is playing a more active role in regulatory decision-making across agencies, with the White House increasingly involved in matters ranging from merger reviews to communications and healthcare policy, according to The Wall Street Journal. The approach is reshaping how companies engage with regulators, with more lobbying efforts directed toward the White House as agencies coordinate more closely with the administration.