New Hampshire Investor Alert

Citadel Securities and New Hampshire 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 250,000 New Hampshire retail investors. Here is what New Hampshire residents need to know.

How PFOF Affects New Hampshire Investors

New Hampshire's 'Live Free or Die' ethos extends to its financial markets — but retail investors deserve transparency about how their orders are routed and monetized by Citadel Securities.

The Scale in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has an estimated 250,000 New Hampshire 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.

New Hampshire's financial hub in Manchester has sophisticated financial professionals who understand these dynamics. But most New Hampshire retail investors — those in Nashua, Concord 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 New Hampshire

Kenneth Griffin has given more than $1.1 million in New Hampshire-linked political donations. His key recipients include Governor Chris Sununu, who considered a presidential run after Griffin's support, and the NRSC. 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 New Hampshire.

Chris Sununu (R-NH Governor) — $100,000 (2022, New Hampshire Governor)
National Republican Senatorial Committee — $1,000,000 (2022, Federal Super PAC)

What New Hampshire Regulators Could Do

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and the Bureau of Securities Regulation have authority under the New Hampshire Uniform Securities Act (RSA 421-B) to investigate broker-dealer practices.

What New Hampshire Investors Can Do Now

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

File a complaint with the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation at https://www.sos.nh.gov/securities-regulation
File a complaint with the New Hampshire Attorney General at https://www.doj.nh.gov
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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