Wall Street's Volatility Machine
How Citigroup turned market chaos into record trading profits
Q1 2026 TRADING REVENUE
$6.8B
highest since Q1 2016
BEAT ESTIMATES BY
18%
$4.7B analyst consensus
VIX AVERAGE Q1
28.4
vs. 13.2 in Q4 2025
LOAN-LOSS PROVISIONS
+$340M
reflecting geopolitical risk
Trading Revenue vs. VIX (2011–2026)
Understanding the Story
Data Sources:
Citigroup 10-Q filings, CBOE VIX data, FactSet earnings estimates