STUDY RECORD · last re-checked 2026-09
Citadel Securities — institutional liquidity provider
Citadel Securities LLC, founded in Chicago, operates as a designated market maker and liquidity provider in equities, options, fixed income, and FX. It holds tier 1 licenses from SEC/FINRA, with an active status in the BrokerCheck register. The firm claims significant market share and a growing institutional client base, though its age and self-measured claims should be considered.
Citadel Securities LLC · Chicago, USA · evidence score 74/100
Licence, read on the register
last checked September 2026
| Regulator | Licence number | Jurisdiction | Tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEC/FINRA | CRD 116797 (SEC 8-53574) | USA | tier-1 | open source ↗ |
| SEC/FINRA | CRD 281102 (SEC 8-69663) | USA | tier-1 | open source ↗ |
Tier classification follows the same scale as the retail register: tier-2 means real supervision and client-money segregation, without an investor compensation scheme — never misread it as tier-1 protection.
What this record teaches
Reading skills, each anchored to something the firm actually published.
- 01 — Teaching pointCitadel Securities is a tier 1 licensed market maker in the USA.
- 02 — Teaching pointThe firm serves over 1,000 institutional clients and retail brokers.
- 03 — Teaching pointKey asset classes include Equities, Options, Fixed Income, and FX.
Claims ledger
Claims specific enough to be falsified — and the ones that remain the venue's own measurement.
Testable claims
- Global headquarters: 131 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60603 USA (firm's own locations page; verified via Wayback snapshot of citadelsecurities.com)
- BrokerCheck register: Citadel Securities LLC, CRD 116797, SEC 8-53574, status ACTIVE (FINRA BrokerCheck JSON)
- Firm timeline: electronic options market making launched 2002; #1 Designated Market Maker on the NYSE in 2016; institutional client base grew to over 1,000 in 2018
- Site business lines: Equities (including Designated Market Maker), Options, Fixed Income & FX, Corporate Solutions
Claims we cannot verify from outside
- 'Becoming industry leader in 18 months' and market-share percentages are the firm's own timeline claims
- Award claims (Risk Magazine, IFR, ETF.com) reference third-party publications not independently re-verified
Perimeter and coverage
| Asset classes | Venues | Connectivity | Clients accepted | Explicitly refused |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equities, Options, Fixed Income, FX | none published | none published | Institutional clients (over 1,000 by 2018 per firm timeline), Retail brokers via equity wholesale market making (over 40% retail equity market share by 2018, per firm timeline) | none published |
A firm that publishes its own negative space — who it refuses, where it is not licensed — is materially easier to diligence than one that doesn't. The refusal list is treated here as a disclosure, not a defect.
Self-check
Answer these before you consider the record read. If you cannot, re-read the licence and the claims ledger — the answers are all in what the firm published.
- What types of clients does Citadel Securities primarily serve?
- Which asset classes are included in Citadel Securities' offerings?