Alex Gerko, the Russian-born mathematician who founded XTX Markets in 2015, received a record £895 million personal payout from the London-based trading firm's 2025 profits. That figure works out to roughly £2.5 million per day, every day, for an entire year.

The previous record also belonged to Gerko: £682 million in 2024. He surpassed his own mark by more than £200 million.

The numbers behind the windfall

XTX Markets' UK entity posted revenues of £3.93 billion for 2025, a 44% jump from £2.7 billion the prior year. Profits after tax reached £1.71 billion, up 33% from £1.28 billion in 2024.

The firm employs roughly 250 people, which works out to approximately £6.84 million in profit per employee — an efficiency level few companies of any industry approach, and one reason such a large payout can flow to a small ownership group.

Gerko holds approximately 75% ownership of XTX, which explains how the firm's record year translated so directly into a single person's record payday. The company paid out £1.8 billion in dividends during 2025, followed by additional distributions of £331 million in January 2026 and £261 million in March 2026.

XTX also paid roughly £580 million in corporation tax to the UK government for the year, making it one of the country's largest corporate taxpayers — a notable position for a privately held trading firm, and one that has made XTX a significant contributor to UK public finances.

What XTX actually does

XTX Markets is an algorithmic trading firm that uses machine learning models and GPU-powered computing to execute trades at speeds and volumes human traders cannot match. The firm handles approximately $250 billion in daily trading volumes across equities, foreign exchange, fixed income, and commodities, placing it among the larger electronic market makers globally.

2025 provided a volatile environment, with global markets whipsawed by tariff escalations, geopolitical tensions, and shifting central bank policies. For market-making firms, elevated volatility typically brings wider spreads and heavier trading activity, conditions under which algorithmic traders executed heavily throughout the year.

A growing bet on AI beyond trading

XTX has built a substantial portfolio of investments in AI and technology companies, valued at £262.3 million by the end of 2024 — an 80% increase year-over-year.

Gerko's personal wealth is now estimated at between $13 billion and $17 billion. Since 2020, he has committed more than £350 million to educational initiatives, including the Axiom Maths program, which aims to improve math outcomes for students across the country.