Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have earned $52 billion in equities trading revenue this year, commanding nearly 80% of the market. Their dominance is fuelled by lending to hedge funds betting on AI stocks.
01Summary
- 01The five biggest investment banks generated roughly $67 billion in equities revenue through Sept. 30, $7 billion more than their record total for all of 2025.
- 02Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley accounted for $52 billion of that, nearly 80% of the total.
- 03Goldman Sachs’s equities financing activities surged 96% in the third quarter to a record $3.37 billion.
- 04U.S. prime brokers have benefited from the retreat of European banks like Credit Suisse from equities, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Herman Chan.
- 05The International Monetary Fund warned in September that growing hedge fund leverage could create stability risks, noting global hedge fund assets reached $13 trillion.
02Why it matters
The concentration of equity trading among these three banks means their performance increasingly hinges on the AI boom and hedge fund borrowing, exposing investors to amplified market swings if AI hype falters or leverage unwinds.
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