Indiana Investor Alert

Citadel Securities and Indiana Investors: What You Need to Know

Payment for order flow — the practice by which Citadel Securities pays discount brokers for exclusive access to retail order flow — affects an estimated 1.2 million Indiana retail investors. Here is what Indiana residents need to know.

How PFOF Affects Indiana Investors

Indiana's industrial heartland has a large working-class retail investor base with significant exposure to 401(k) investments routed through PFOF-dependent brokers.

The Scale in Indiana

Indiana has an estimated 1.2 million Indiana retail investors. Each of these investors who uses a PFOF-dependent discount broker — Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, E*Trade, Charles Schwab, or Webull — is routing their orders to Citadel Securities without their knowledge or consent. Citadel captures a spread on each of these trades, generating revenue that flows back to Kenneth Griffin while providing retail investors with marginally inferior execution prices compared to what competitive exchange routing would provide.

Indiana's financial hub in Indianapolis has sophisticated financial professionals who understand these dynamics. But most Indiana retail investors — those in Fort Wayne, Evansville and throughout the state — are unaware that their "free" trades are funded by a practice that systematically extracts value from them.

Kenneth Griffin's Political Investment in Indiana

Kenneth Griffin has given millions through national Republican organizations, including contributions tied to Indiana's leadership. His key recipients include then-Governor Mike Pence and national Republican committees. This political investment creates a documented relationship between the CEO of America's dominant retail market maker and the political figures responsible for overseeing financial regulation in Indiana.

Mike Pence reelection fund — $100,000 (2016, Indiana Governor)
Republican Governors Association — $500,000 (2022, Federal Super PAC)

What Indiana Regulators Could Do

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and the Indiana Securities Division have jurisdiction under the Indiana Uniform Securities Act (I.C. 23-19-1-1 et seq.) to investigate market maker conflicts affecting Indiana residents.

What Indiana Investors Can Do Now

Indiana retail investors who believe they have been harmed by PFOF-driven execution quality degradation can take several steps:

File a complaint with the Indiana Secretary of State, Securities Division at https://www.in.gov/sos/securities
File a complaint with the Indiana Attorney General at https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral
File a complaint with the SEC at sec.gov/tcr
File a complaint with FINRA at finra.org
Consider switching to a broker that does not use PFOF, such as Fidelity or Interactive Brokers direct routing

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