The US securities industry closed 2025 with its largest registered workforce on record, even as the number of broker-dealer firms operating under FINRA oversight continued a years-long contraction, according to the regulator's annual data release published Monday.
FINRA-registered representatives reached 639,723 at year-end 2025, up from 634,498 the prior year and extending a streak of consecutive annual gains that dates to 2021, when the count stood at 612,392. The growth reflects roughly 40,000 to 45,000 people entering the industry each year, FINRA said.
"This year's report reflects a securities industry in transition, growing in professionals, a concentration in firms, and evolving in how and when investors trade,” said Jonathan Sokobin, Executive Vice President, Chief Economist and Head of Regulatory Economics and Market Analysis at FINRA. “These developments, as the industry continues to post strong results, present both opportunities and challenges that merit dialogue among investors, member firms, and market participants."
Dual registration has become the dominant professional model, with more than half of all FINRA-registered representatives (331,802 individuals) carrying both broker-dealer and investment adviser credentials at year-end 2025, up from a broker-dealer-only majority just a few years prior.
On the firm side, the stats reflect growing consolidation.
The total number of FINRA-registered broker-dealers fell to 3,184 at the end of 2025, compared with 3,249 a year earlier and down from 3,394 in 2021. During 2025, 163 firms departed FINRA membership against just 98 new entrants.
Small firms, defined as those with between one and 150 registered representatives, bore the brunt of that attrition, with their ranks falling to 2,832 from 3,048 in 2021. The median number of years in business for surviving firms reached 20.2, up from 15.4 in 2015, pointing to an industry population increasingly dominated by established operators rather than new market entrants.
Market activity data showed substantial increases across most asset classes. Average daily dollar volume for NMS-listed stocks hit $828 billion in 2025, up more than a third from 2022. Extended-hours trading continued to expand as well, accounting for roughly a fifth of total trading activity.
Options markets saw particularly sharp gains.
Average daily transactions climbed to 8.4 million in 2025, up 50% from 5.6 million in 2023. Zero days-to-expiration contracts accounted for approximately 30% of all options transactions during the year, underlining how short-duration speculative activity has become a structural feature of the market rather than a fringe phenomenon.
The financial picture for the industry improved materially. Aggregate revenues across FINRA-registered firms reached $776.8 billion in 2025, up from $722.3 billion the prior year and nearly double the $398.5 billion recorded in 2021.
Pre-tax net income climbed to $115 billion, the highest in the five-year series covered by the snapshot, with expenses rising more slowly than revenues and allowing margins to widen.
The full dataset underlying the snapshot is available through FINRA's data portal.
New research exposes a wide gap in how affluent parents and their adult children understand and prepare for the transfer of family wealth.
A new AIC report finds a 13.2% median annualized return over 10 years, outpacing public equities, real estate, and fixed income.
Most Americans entering retirement lack a realistic picture of what health care will actually cost them and advisors may be their last line of defense.
New H&W data reveals $102.4 trillion in household investable assets, with taxable accounts outpacing retirement savings growth.
Betterment’s Devon Klumb built and sold an RIA - now he’s telling advisors what he wished he’d known sooner.
Knighthead Life entered the market with a competitive MYGA. A strong launch earned advisor confidence and paved the way for FIAs.
As AI makes financial information more accessible than ever, Lana Hock explains why human judgment, trust, and empathy remain the qualities clients value most in a financial advisor
