FINRA's 2026 Industry Snapshot report provides aggregate data about member firms, registered representatives, and market activity. The results paint a picture of a rapidly changing securities industry that is trading in increasingly new and complex ways.
Key Highlights
- The report highlights a securities industry in transition, with growth in professionals, concentration in firms, and changes in how and when investors trade.
- Firms are managing increasing numbers of registered representatives, resulting in more licenses, activities, and individual conduct to oversee.
- More than half of representatives are now dual registered, operating as both broker-dealer and investment adviser representatives.
- Trading activity has increased significantly, with higher volumes and extended hours trading expanding the number of transactions to review.
- Growth in options activity is expanding the volume and speed of transactions requiring suitability review and supervisory oversight.
According to Jonathan Sokobin, Executive Vice President, Chief Economist and Head of Regulatory Economics and Market Analysis at FINRA, "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. 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."
In December of 2025, FINRA released a comprehensive list of priorities for 2026. Read more about those priorities right here.
FINRA released a blog along with the report that outlines four of the report's key findings.
A Growing Profession Means the Ability to Scale Supervision is Critical
The report notes that the number of registered representatives climbed to 639,723 in 2025 — a 5% increase since 2021, with 40,000–45,000 new entrants joining annually. At the same time, the firms employing them are getting larger, averaging nearly 12% more affiliated reps than in 2021.
More registered reps means more licenses to track, more CE deadlines to manage, more outside business activities to review, and more individuals whose conduct needs to be monitored. As firms grow larger and more complex, keeping pace with those obligations becomes increasingly difficult to manage manually.
Compliance teams need a centralized way to manage employee data, track registrations, and surface issues before they become exam findings.
Read a case study on how an enterprise firm is using MCO for better licensing and registration management.
Dual Registration Is the New Normal — and So Is Dual Regulatory Exposure
The report states that more than half of all FINRA-registered representatives — over 331,000 individuals — now hold dual registration as both broker-dealer and investment adviser representatives.
Dual registration means a compliance program must satisfy two distinct regulatory frameworks simultaneously — FINRA rules and the Investment Advisers Act. Conflicts of interest, fiduciary obligations, best interest standards, and disclosure requirements each carry different obligations depending on the capacity in which a representative is acting. Read more about the challenges of RIA compliance.
For firms with a predominantly dual-registered workforce, compliance programs built around a single regulatory framework may not fully address all applicable obligations.
Firms need a way to manage conflicts of interest, disclosures, and personal trading oversight that reflects the reality of dual-registered professionals.
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Record Trading Volumes Make Surveillance Critical
Average daily trading dollar volume in NMS stocks hit $828 billion in 2025, up more than a third from 2022, and the number of daily trades rose nearly 60% to roughly 112 billion. Extended-hours trading now accounts for about a fifth of total activity.
Higher volumes and longer trading windows mean more transactions to review. Firms need a way to monitor high‑volume, fast‑moving trading activity alongside employee personal trading behavior to detect conflicts, identify potential misconduct, and maintain consistent supervisory oversight.
Read a white paper on taking an integrated approach to managing trading compliance
Listed Options Growth Is Bringing New Products and New Risk
The growth of retail participation in short-dated options contracts means that suitability review and supervisory oversight of options activity is covering a larger and faster-moving set of transactions than in prior years.
Firms offering options products to retail customers face ongoing obligations around account approval, suitability, and supervisory review that must keep pace with the volume and complexity of current activity.
Download the 2026 Surveillance Benchmarking Survey & Report to see how your firm stacks up against key industry stats
MyComplianceOffice Enables Firms to Effectively Meet FINRA Expectations
As trading volumes, employee activity, and regulatory expectations continue to increase, firms need a structured and consistent approach to supervision across employees, transactions, and conflicts of interest. This means connecting core compliance obligations, including trade monitoring, insider information, personal trading oversight, digital assets, and licensing and registrations, to maintain a clear, defensible view of risk and meet FINRA expectations at scale.
MCO brings together trade monitoring, employee oversight, and insider risk controls to help firms maintain consistent, defensible supervision aligned to FINRA expectations.
Trade Surveillance
Detect suspicious trading activity and identify potential abusive, manipulative and illegal trading practices.
Employee Personal Trading Compliance
Capture, report and monitor all employee personal trading activities in line with firm policies and regulatory requirements to identify potential conflicts of interest.
Insider Risk Management
Manage access to MNPI and the creation and maintenance of insider lists.
Digital Asset Personal Trading
Automate digital asset trading compliance program to uncover policy violations and mitigate risk.
Licenses & Registrations
Manage employee registrations and licenses with greater efficiency and visibility.
Outside Business Activities
Track employee outside business activities to identify potential conflicts of interest.
Ready to learn more about how MCO can help your firm keep pace with FINRA compliance obligations now and down the road?
Contact us for a demo today!
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