VOLT WIREUS MARKETSSPY 760.84 -0.23%QQQ 739.14 -0.09%DOW 50,700 -0.40%BTC -- LIVEGOLD 4,184 -0.07%WTI 91.72 +1.44%VIX 17.35 +6.18%SOX 12,644 +0.12%EQUITIES & FUTURES: THU OCT 1 CLOSEFOLLOW @VOLTDISPATCH ON XVOLT WIREUS MARKETSSPY 760.84 -0.23%QQQ 739.14 -0.09%DOW 50,700 -0.40%BTC -- LIVEGOLD 4,184 -0.07%WTI 91.72 +1.44%VIX 17.35 +6.18%SOX 12,644 +0.12%EQUITIES & FUTURES: THU OCT 1 CLOSEFOLLOW @VOLTDISPATCH ON X
Markets

Citadel Prints a Record $12 Billion and You Are Still Fighting the Spread

The house posted its best trading haul ever. The degens funded a measurable percentage of it. We checked. It was us.

Ken Griffin testifying during the 2021 GameStop hearings. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Bloomberg reports Ken Griffin's Citadel posted a record $12 billion trading haul. We would like to take a moment to acknowledge our audience's contribution to this result. Every 0DTE lotto, every market order at the open, every panic close at the low: it all adds up, and it adds up in Miami.

You are not trading against the market. You are trading against a building full of PhDs whose bonus pool you personally fund.

This is not a complaint. Market makers provide liquidity and tight spreads, and the modern retail trader gets execution quality that institutions would have killed for twenty years ago. But there is a food chain, and it is worth knowing where you are on it. When the counterparty to your impulse has a record year every year, the lesson is not that markets are rigged. The lesson is that impulses are expensive and patience is the only edge that scales down to our size.

Anyway, we will all forget this by the next CPI print. See you at the casino.

⚡ More from the desk

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Markets

VerifyMe Is Now OpenWorld. Here Is Everything in the Closing 8-K.

The merger closed at 11:00 a.m. ET on September 30. VRME becomes OPNW on October 1, OpenWorld holders own about 85% of the company, a $1.50 special dividend pays Friday, and about three quarters of the shares are locked up on a 180 day schedule.

2026-09-30 · The Desk
Markets

Everything Is Moving in Lockstep Now, and That's the Story

Oil and bonds are trading like conjoined twins. Markets can't decide if AI is an asset or a reckoning. And Michael Burry is feeling confident again.

2026-09-29 · The Desk
Markets

Nasdaq Hit an All-Time High While Oil Quietly Cracked

The Nasdaq closed at a record Monday as Treasury yields fell for the fifth straight session and Brent crude slipped below $100 on Iran diplomacy rumors.

2026-09-22 · The Desk