The U.S. securities industry ended 2025 with its largest registered workforce on record, even as the number of broker-dealer firms under FINRA oversight continued a multiyear decline, according to the regulator's annual industry snapshot released Monday.
FINRA-registered representatives totaled 639,723 at year-end 2025, up from 634,498 in 2024 and extending a streak of annual gains since 2021, when the count stood at 612,392. The increase reflects roughly 40,000 to 45,000 new entrants each year, FINRA said.
Dual registration—holding both broker-dealer and investment adviser credentials—has become the dominant professional model. At year-end 2025, 331,802 individuals, or more than half of all FINRA-registered representatives, carried both designations, up from a broker-dealer-only majority just a few years prior.
“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, FINRA's executive vice president and chief economist. “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.”
On the firm side, consolidation accelerated. 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 left FINRA membership against just 98 new entrants. Small firms—those with one to 150 registered representatives—bore the brunt, with their ranks dropping to 2,832 from 3,048 in 2021. The median years in business for surviving firms rose to 20.2, up from 15.4 in 2015, signaling an industry increasingly dominated by established operators.
Market activity surged 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 accounted for roughly a fifth of total 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 represented about 30% of all options trades, underscoring how short-duration speculative activity has become a structural market feature.
The financial picture improved markedly. Aggregate revenues across FINRA-registered firms reached $776.8 billion in 2025, up from $722.3 billion in 2024 and nearly double the $398.5 billion recorded in 2021. Pre-tax net income rose to $115 billion, the highest in the five-year series covered by the snapshot, as expenses grew more slowly than revenues, widening margins.
For advisors, the data underscores the growing importance of dual registration and the need to adapt to a consolidating landscape. As RIAs cite self-governance as key to fiduciary freedom, the trend toward hybrid models may accelerate. Meanwhile, EY's report on AI and wealth transfer suggests these shifts will reshape the industry by 2030.
