Statistics
Algo trading statistics 2026
Automated systems accounted for 71% to 84% of CME financial futures volume in the two years to October 2018, the latest split by CFTC staff we could check. Retail results point the other way: SEBI found 87.7% of individual equity derivatives traders in India made a net loss in FY26, and a Brazilian study found 97% of persistent futures day traders lost money. Research on validation is just as blunt: 97 published return predictors earned 26% less out of sample and 58% less after publication. CME Group averaged a record 28.1 million contracts a day in 2025. All 50 figures below link to their sources.
50 figures, all checked 2026-10-31. Each one links to the original source.
Share of market volume
SEBI reported that in FY26 about 86% of foreign portfolio investors (372 of 432) and 47% of proprietary traders (323 of 693) in Indian equity derivatives traded through algorithms.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 · Checked 2026-10-31
ESMA data from 52 EU trading venues in 24 countries showed high-frequency trading made up around 60% of traded volumes in shares in Q2 2018 and Q2 2019.
ESMA, MiFID II/MiFIR review report on algorithmic trading, 2021 (copy on DirittoBancario) · Checked 2026-10-31
ESMA data showed algorithmic trading other than HFT accounted for around 80% of EU bond trading on the reporting venues at its peak in Q3 2019.
ESMA, MiFID II/MiFIR review report on algorithmic trading, 2021 (copy on DirittoBancario) · Checked 2026-10-31
ESMA reported that non-algorithmic trading accounted for around 70% of EU derivatives trades on the reporting venues in Q4 2019.
ESMA, MiFID II/MiFIR review report on algorithmic trading, 2021 (copy on DirittoBancario) · Checked 2026-10-31
A 2015 CFTC commissioner speech cited a CFTC staff concept release saying algorithmic trading first accounted for at least 50% of orders in 2009 and over 40% of total trading volume in 2010.
CFTC Commissioner Sharon Y. Bowen, Keynote Address before ISDA North America Conference, Sept 17, 2015 · Checked 2026-10-31
The same CFTC speech said trading systems using algorithms were believed to have accounted for approximately 51% of trade volume in E-mini S&P 500 futures as of 2010.
CFTC Commissioner Sharon Y. Bowen, Keynote Address before ISDA North America Conference, Sept 17, 2015 · Checked 2026-10-31
The BIS 2025 Triennial Survey found electronic trading accounted for 59% of global FX trading in April 2025, a share virtually unchanged from the previous survey.
BIS Quarterly Review, The FX trade execution landscape through the prism of the 2025 BIS Triennial Survey, Dec 2025 · Checked 2026-10-31
The BIS Triennial Survey reported that OTC FX turnover reached $9.6 trillion per day in April 2025, up 28% from $7.5 trillion in April 2022.
BIS, Triennial Central Bank Survey of FX and OTC derivatives markets, 2025 · Checked 2026-10-31
Retail traders
SEBI found that 87.7% of individual traders in Indian equity derivatives made a net loss in FY26, down from 90.9% in FY25.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 · Checked 2026-10-31
SEBI reported that aggregate net losses of individual equity derivatives traders in India were 91,685 crore rupees (916.85 billion) in FY26, down 18% from a revised 1.12 lakh crore (1.12 trillion) in FY25.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 · Checked 2026-10-31
SEBI found that options accounted for 92% of aggregate individual losses in Indian equity derivatives in FY26, and that about 23% of traders accounted for nearly 90% of total losses.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 · Checked 2026-10-31
SEBI's earlier study found individual traders lost more than 1.8 lakh crore rupees (1.8 trillion) in aggregate in Indian equity derivatives over FY22 to FY24, with about 93% of traders making losses after transaction costs.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 (summarizing its FY22-FY24 study) · Checked 2026-10-31
SEBI reported that only 15% of 8.42 million individual traders in Indian equity derivatives used algo orders in FY26, and noted that figure includes clients whose positions were auto squared off by brokers.
SEBI, Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25-FY26), 2026 · Checked 2026-10-31
A Brazilian study of everyone who began day trading equity futures in 2013 to 2015 and kept at it for at least 300 days found that 97% lost money and only 0.4% earned more than a bank teller.
Chague, De-Losso and Giovannetti, Day trading for a living?, 2019 (EconPapers / FGV working paper) · Checked 2026-10-31
A study of complete Taiwan Stock Exchange records from 1992 to 2006 found that day trading made up more than 19% of the total dollar value of trading volume.
Barber, Lee, Liu, Odean and Zhang, Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability? (working paper, Oct 2017; published as Learning, Fast or Slow, Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 2020) · Checked 2026-10-31
In the same Taiwan data, individual investors made up over 99% of day traders and 95% of day trading volume in the average month, and almost 140,000 individuals day traded in the average month.
Barber, Lee, Liu, Odean and Zhang, Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability? (working paper, Oct 2017) · Checked 2026-10-31
The authors found that more than 75% of Taiwan day traders quit within two years, and that the aggregate performance of day traders was negative over 1992 to 2006.
Barber, Lee, Liu, Odean and Zhang, Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability? (working paper, Oct 2017) · Checked 2026-10-31
In Taiwan from 1995 to 2006 the fraction of profitable day traders was consistently about 5%, and unprofitable day traders accounted for 72% of day trading volume over the whole sample.
Barber, Lee, Liu, Odean and Zhang, Do Day Traders Rationally Learn About Their Ability? (working paper, Oct 2017) · Checked 2026-10-31
Futures
CME Group reported record 2025 average daily volume of 28.1 million contracts, up 6% from 2024.
CME Group, press release CME Group Reports Record Annual ADV of 28.1 Million Contracts in 2025, Jan 5, 2026 (copy on Mondo Visione) · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group reported 2025 annual average daily volume of 1.6 million contracts for Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures (a record) and 1.2 million for Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures (up 35%).
CME Group, press release CME Group Reports Record Annual ADV of 28.1 Million Contracts in 2025, Jan 5, 2026 (copy on Mondo Visione) · Checked 2026-10-31
FIA reported global exchange-traded derivatives volume of 119.29 billion contracts in 2025, down 42.2% from 2024, with futures volume up 8.6% to 30.64 billion contracts.
FIA, ETD Volume - December 2025 · Checked 2026-10-31
FIA reported that Asia-Pacific exchange volume was 75.6 billion contracts in 2025, down 55.6% from 2024, with the fall concentrated in Indian equity index options.
FIA, Global ETD trading fell in 2025 as India crackdown hits options volume (MarketVoice) · Checked 2026-10-31
CFTC staff found that automated trading systems accounted for 84.4% of FX futures volume on CME in the two years from November 2016 to October 2018, up from 82.7% in the prior two years.
CFTC (Haynes and Roberts), Automated Trading in Futures Markets - Update #2, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
CFTC staff found that automated trading systems accounted for 73.7% of CME equity futures volume in the two years from November 2016 to October 2018, up from 71.6% in the prior two years.
CFTC (Haynes and Roberts), Automated Trading in Futures Markets - Update #2, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
CFTC staff found that automated trading systems accounted for 71.2% of CME interest rate futures volume in the two years from November 2016 to October 2018, up from 66.8% in the prior two years.
CFTC (Haynes and Roberts), Automated Trading in Futures Markets - Update #2, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
CFTC staff reported that the automated share of CME metals futures volume rose from 54.1% to 67.6% and the energy share rose from 57.5% to 66.5%, comparing the two years to October 2016 with the two years to October 2018.
CFTC (Haynes and Roberts), Automated Trading in Futures Markets - Update #2, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
CFTC staff found that automated trading systems accounted for 55.5% of CME agricultural futures volume in the two years from November 2016 to October 2018, up from 48.5% in the prior two years.
CFTC (Haynes and Roberts), Automated Trading in Futures Markets - Update #2, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
A March 2019 CFTC staff report on 30 CME futures contracts found that the share of automated orders rose in every commodity group from 2013 to 2018.
CFTC Division of Market Oversight, Impact of Automated Orders in Futures Markets, 2019 · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group announced that Micro E-mini Equity Index futures and options passed 1 billion contracts traded across all four indices on November 12, 2021, after launching in May 2019.
CME Group, press release Micro E-mini Equity Index Futures and Options Surpass 1 Billion Contracts Traded, Nov 15, 2021 · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group reported Micro E-mini Equity Index volume of more than 214 million contracts in year one (May 2019 to April 2020) and more than 527 million in year two (May 2020 to April 2021).
CME Group, press release Micro E-mini Equity Index Futures and Options Surpass 1 Billion Contracts Traded, Nov 15, 2021 · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group said Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures passed 1 billion contracts traded on August 23, 2023, the first CME Micro product to reach that level.
CME Group, press release Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures Surpass 1 Billion Contracts Traded, Aug 24, 2023 · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group said more than 3 billion Micro E-mini Equity Index futures had traded across all four indices as of November 29, 2024, with 2.5 million contracts in average daily volume in 2024 to date.
CME Group, press release Micro E-mini Equity Index Futures Surpass 3 Billion Contracts Traded, Dec 9, 2024 · Checked 2026-10-31
CME Group reported that more than 700 firms and 620,000 unique accounts traded Micro E-mini Equity Index futures in the year to late 2024, and 19% of volume occurred outside U.S. trading hours.
CME Group, press release Micro E-mini Equity Index Futures Surpass 3 Billion Contracts Traded, Dec 9, 2024 · Checked 2026-10-31
TAIFEX reported total 2025 trading volume of 381.9 million contracts and average daily volume of 1.6 million contracts.
TAIFEX, TAIFEX Newsletter No. 243, January 2026 (copy on Mondo Visione) · Checked 2026-10-31
TAIFEX reported that average daily volume of Micro TAIEX Futures rose 22% to 174 thousand contracts in 2025, with retail investors making up 63% of its trading volume.
TAIFEX, TAIFEX Newsletter No. 243, January 2026 (copy on Mondo Visione) · Checked 2026-10-31
TAIFEX's January to December 2025 participant distribution showed retail investors at 47.23% of trading, foreign investors at 32.58% and futures proprietary trading at 18.97%.
TAIFEX, TAIFEX Newsletter No. 243, January 2026 (copy on Mondo Visione) · Checked 2026-10-31
Backtesting and validation
Harvey, Liu and Zhu catalogued 316 factors from 313 articles that tried to explain the cross-section of expected returns, and argued a new factor needs a t-statistic greater than 3.0.
Harvey, Liu and Zhu, ...and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns, Review of Financial Studies, 2016 · Checked 2026-10-31
Harvey, Liu and Zhu wrote that, given the extensive data mining in factor research, most claimed research findings in financial economics are likely false.
Harvey, Liu and Zhu, ...and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns, Review of Financial Studies, 2016 · Checked 2026-10-31
McLean and Pontiff studied 97 variables shown to predict cross-sectional stock returns and found portfolio returns were 26% lower out-of-sample and 58% lower after publication.
McLean and Pontiff, Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?, Journal of Finance, 2016 (copy on gwern.net) · Checked 2026-10-31
McLean and Pontiff described the 26% out-of-sample decline as an upper bound estimate of data mining effects, and estimated a 32% lower return from publication-informed trading (58% minus 26%).
McLean and Pontiff, Does Academic Research Destroy Stock Return Predictability?, Journal of Finance, 2016 (copy on gwern.net) · Checked 2026-10-31
Bailey, Borwein, Lopez de Prado and Zhu wrote that standard overfitting controls such as hold-out tend to be unreliable and inaccurate for investment backtests, and proposed a framework to estimate the probability of backtest overfitting.
Bailey, Borwein, Lopez de Prado and Zhu, The Probability of Backtest Overfitting, 2015 (revised Feb 2015) · Checked 2026-10-31
A 2016 Bailey et al. paper states that with only five years of daily stock market data, no more than 45 variations of a strategy should be tried, or its Sharpe ratio is likely to reach 1.0 or more by chance.
Bailey, Borwein, Salehipour, Lopez de Prado and Zhu, Backtest overfitting in financial markets, 2016 · Checked 2026-10-31
Quantopian researchers studied 888 algorithmic trading strategies built on their platform and found that the backtest Sharpe ratio explained little of out-of-sample performance (R-squared below 0.025).
Wiecki, Campbell, Lent and Stauth, All that Glitters Is Not Gold, SSRN 2745220, 2016 (abstract as reproduced on the Quantopian archive) · Checked 2026-10-31
The same Quantopian study reported that the more backtesting a quant had done on a strategy, the larger the gap between its backtest and out-of-sample performance.
Wiecki, Campbell, Lent and Stauth, All that Glitters Is Not Gold, SSRN 2745220, 2016 (abstract as reproduced on the Quantopian archive) · Checked 2026-10-31
Platforms
Kraken agreed in March 2025 to acquire the NinjaTrader futures trading platform for $1.5 billion, subject to purchase price adjustments, and described NinjaTrader as serving nearly two million traders.
NinjaTrader (Kraken announcement), Kraken to Acquire NinjaTrader, 2025 · Checked 2026-10-31
MetaQuotes reported in April 2013 that MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 mobile platforms had reached one million users, double the 500,000 reported five months earlier.
MetaQuotes Software Corp., MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 Mobile Terminals Hit the One Million Users Mark!, April 18, 2013 · Checked 2026-10-31
Robinhood reported 27.0 million Funded Customers at the end of 2025, up 1.8 million or 7% year over year, and 28.4 million Investment Accounts.
Robinhood Markets, press release Robinhood Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results, Feb 2026 (copy on Seeking Alpha) · Checked 2026-10-31
Futu Holdings reported 3,365,414 funded accounts at December 31, 2025, up 39.6% year over year.
Futu Holdings, press release Futu Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Unaudited Financial Results, March 2026 (copy on Seeking Alpha) · Checked 2026-10-31
Futu Holdings reported 29.2 million total users at December 31, 2025, up 16.0% year over year.
Futu Holdings, press release Futu Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Unaudited Financial Results, March 2026 (copy on Seeking Alpha) · Checked 2026-10-31
Webull reported 5.0 million funded accounts, up 8% year over year, and 26.8 million registered users, up 15%, for 2025.
Webull Corporation, press release Webull Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results, March 2026 (copy on Seeking Alpha) · Checked 2026-10-31
How these figures were picked
Only exchanges, regulators, academic papers, public annual reports, company statements about the company itself and known surveys. Market-size reports for sale and statistics blogs were left out, and a figure found on one was traced back to where it started. Older figures stay when nothing newer exists, with their year in the sentence. If you find a number that has changed, write to info@alphaprime.trading.
Frequently asked questions
What share of trading is algorithmic?
It depends on the market and on what is counted, and we found no current global figure from a regulator. CFTC staff measured 71% to 84% of CME financial futures volume as automated in the two years to October 2018. ESMA put high-frequency trading at around 60% of traded volume in EU shares in Q2 2018 and Q2 2019.
What share of retail traders lose money?
There is no global figure. In India, SEBI found 87.7% of individual equity derivatives traders made a net loss in FY26. In Brazil, 97% of people who kept day trading equity futures for at least 300 days lost money. In Taiwan, about 5% of day traders were profitable in the period from 1995 to 2006.
Can I use these figures in my own article?
Yes. Link to this page or to the single figure, using the formats under "How to cite this page", and check the original source when the number matters to your argument, because a source can publish a newer one.
How to cite this page
Use any of these. To cite one figure, add its number to the address (each figure has its own anchor, such as #s12), and if you can, cite the original source linked beside it as well.
Tools and reading
- Backtesting speed benchmarks
- Monte Carlo simulator
- Risk of ruin calculator
- Equity curve simulator
- What is algo trading?
- Backtest overfitting research
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