Alex Gerko takes home almost £1bn as trading firm cashes in on volatility

Alex Gerko takes home almost £1bn as trading firm cashes in on volatility

Eleanor Harmsworth

Sat, August 29, 2026 at 7:16 PM GMT+3 2 min read

Alex Gerko, a Russian-born trader, paid himself a record £895m in 2025 after his trading firm made record profits boosted by turbulent markets.

XTX Markets made £1.7bn in 2025, which was shared between Mr Gerko and his team, Companies House filings showed. The remaining £833m was split between 23 other people, an average of more than £36m each.

Mr Gerko's pay in 2025 represented a 31pc increase from last year's results which saw the trader, who owns 75pc of the business, pay himself £682m.

Boosted by turbulent markets, XTX's revenue soared 44pc over the year from £2.7bn to £3.9bn.

The bumper pay day will probably attract the attention of His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which extracted £331.4m in taxes from Mr Gerko last year.

This contribution made him the UK's second-biggest taxpayer behind the owners of the gambling giant Betfred, according to The Sunday Times.

Earlier this year, the British national accused HMRC of gloating over the high levels of tax in Britain.

HMRC said following the decision that it was "committed to pursuing those who avoid paying their fair share of tax".

In response, Mr Gerko wrote on LinkedIn: "Pretty astonishing from HMRC to get 70pc effective tax rate and also gloat about it."

The comments came after Mr Gerko lost a long-running battle in the Supreme Court over the tax treatment of profits from a currency-trading fund he operates.

XTX Markets is an algorithmic market maker which uses machine-learning models to predict millisecond price movements across a range of markets including stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and crypto.

The firm's performance last year was fed by market turbulence as violent price swings and wider spreads significantly increased transaction volumes and profit margins.

Mr Gerko started his own trading firm in 2015, having moved to London from Moscow to become a currency trader at Deutsche Bank. He renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

His firm has since grown exponentially to become one of Britain's most profitable companies, making its founder one of the richest people in the world.

The so-called "king of the geeks" has committed more than £350m to charities and good causes since 2020, establishing XTX as one of the UK's largest donors.

XTX Markets declined to comment.

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