Clear Street Just Hit a $12B Valuation (Wall Street’s “New Money” Broker Is Eating)

Wall Street's grift goes brrrr…

In case you haven’t heard, Wall Street is so back it’s honestly starting to get annoying. Clear Street… the securities + derivatives broker that’s been quietly printing while everyone else argued about rate cuts and AI… just closed a pre-IPO round at a $12 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the deal. Translation: institutions continue to drink retail investors’ milkshake 24/7. 

(Source: Giphy) 

As for the round receipts: the equity side of the round was led by Baillie Gifford and SBI Holdings. The debt side included BlackRock buying senior notes. Meaning, the long-term “we like founders” crowd is in… and the “we like interest payments” crowd is in too. That’s how you know it’s real. Even better, Goldman and Morgan Stanley are advising on the IPO, with UBS also involved. But why the pre-IPO now? Simple, trading has been an absolute bonanza. 

Market revenues for Wall Street’s five largest banks are up 15% to $134 billion. Everybody’s eating. Spreads, volume, derivatives, volatility… whatever you want to call it, it’s been a buffet. Citadel is breaking records, Goldman Sachs is having DJ-Sol raves off its trading revenue… and yet, while Clear Street is basically a smaller shark swimming next to the great whites it’s still taking bites the size of brinks trucks. 

(Source: Bloomberg) 

For more context, confidential docs seen by Bloomberg show Clear Street had about $940 million in net revenue in the 12 months ending Sept. 30. They also posted $89 million in net income in 2024, after losing $18 million in 2023. Bigly. Basically Clear Street ha gone from “we may have a problem” to “we might be a monster” in one year. Even their capital base is juicing up. Adjusted net capital at the broker-dealer arm rose 67% to $946 million in October vs. the year before. Which is exactly what you want to see right before you ring the bell and let public markets judge your sins.

That said, Clear Street is kind of the financial industry’s version of a “new build”. It’s more modern and tech infused… not like the old banks… all while still doing the same thing every broker has done since the beginning of time: Move trades. Clip fees. Don’t blow up. And when markets are ripping and volumes are hot, that business prints like a counterfeit operation. This is precisely why Clear Street is suddenly worth $12B, not necessarily because it invented anything magical. But because the market has been a casino, and Clear Street sells chips at the front desk.

(Source: Giphy) 

The real question tho, is what happens when trading cools off. Because every broker looks like a genius during a trading boom. The hard part is not getting humbled when the music stops. But hey, this is Wall Street we’re talking about. Those fears are a tomorrow problem. All that matters right now is that Clear Street just got blessed by institutional money… all while lining up the biggest leeches underwriters on earth. Let the games begin. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.