Non-bank liquidity providers earned a combined $25.6 billion in revenues from market making in equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities last year—a 22% increase over 2023. That growth outpaced increases in market-making revenues for global investment banks, a performance that reinforces how rapidly these firms are expanding their presence and influence in capital markets.

Starting in the 1990s as a cohort of small trading firms focused on futures and U.S. equity markets, NBLPs have grown into a new class of market participants that trade in nearly every product and region around the world. Over the past three decades, they have capitalized on opportunities that electronically traded markets present while also playing a key role in driving capital markets toward more automated methods of price and liquidity discovery.

Although NBLPs market making revenues are still dwarfed by traditional investment banks, which earned just shy of $132 billion in market making revenues in 2024, they are having a significant influence on both market pricing and market structure.

“The growing presence of NBLPs in traditional bank-dominated markets is increasing competition and improving market liquidity, which ultimately works to the benefit of end investors,” says Kevin McPartland, Head of Research at Crisil Coalition Greenwich Market Structure & Technology and co-author of Understanding Nonbank Liquidity Provider Market-Making Revenue.

NBLPs Expand into New Asset Classes
Rising NBLP revenue is driven in part by their expansion into new asset classes. In recent years, NBLPs have carved out a presence in commodities, credit markets, foreign exchange, and digital assets, with crypto revenue now rivaling that of FX. This expansion is made possible by the increasing electronification of these markets and driven by the search for new revenue streams.

“The largest NBLPs have achieved a level of scale over the past two decades that allows them to tackle new opportunities that were once unattainable,” says Raman Kalra, Head of NBLP Competitor Analytics at Crisil Coalition Greenwich and co-author of the report.

Understanding Nonbank Liquidity Provider Market-Making Revenue examines the revenue generated by NBLPs in their market making businesses. The report also examines the market position and opportunities for NBLPs in individual asset classes including equities, fixed income rates and credit, FX, commodities, and digital assets.

Source: Crisil Coalition Greenwich