Top 5 Brokers Raked In Over $1 Billion Payment For Order Flow During The First Quarter Of 2021

The first quarter of 2021 saw a substantial spike in retail trading activities, mainly caused by various short squeezes in stocks like GameStop GME and AMC Entertainment AMC Entertainment Holding. Google trends show the peak in search volume for terms like GameStop, Short Squeeze, and Day Trading in the last week of January.

Especially the trading apps Robinhood and Webull saw a significant increase in app installs and new accounts. As a result, the payment for order flow income for Robinhood grew from $91 million in the first quarter of 2020 to $331 million in 2021. Webull had the most substantial percentage gain with $3 million in Q1/2020 to $46 million in Q1/2021.

The payment for order flow split by broker for the first quarter of 2021 reveals that TD Ameritrade received most payments, followed by Robinhood and E*Trade.

• TD Ameritrade: $429 million
• Robinhood: $331 million
• E*Trade: $139 million
• Charles Schwab: $78 million
• Webull: $46 million

Here are the statistics from the first quarter of the previous year:

• TD Ameritrade: $202 million
• Robinhood: $91 million
• E*Trade: $80 million
• Charles Schwab: $54 million
• Webull: $3 million

The comparison between TD Ameritrades' and Robinhoods' payment for order flow revenue growth proves that Robinhood grows faster than TD Ameritrade right now. Robinhood plans to go public with a listing on Nasdaq in the first half of 2021. This could result in more customer growth, and Robinhood may become the market leader in payments received by selling order flow to venues like Citadel Securities.

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