In Q2 2026, U.S. retail brokers collected $1.004 billion in payment for order flow tied to options, up 23.6% from Q1, based on a Best Execution aggregation of public SEC Rule 606 filings published by Global Trading. At the same quarterly pace, that implies market makers would pay brokers just over $4 billion a year for options orders alone. Event contracts contributed another $156 million. Robinhood and other zero-commission brokers continue to benefit from the model, while Webull’s options revenue rose about 57% from a year earlier.

Ark Invest increased its Block stake on Monday with purchases totaling about $37.4 million, even as the stock closed down 1.85%. The firm bought 456,059 shares across three of its ETFs. Block expects full-year gross profit of $12.51 billion, up about 21%. Ark’s internal risk controls generally cap any single holding at no more than 10% of a fund, so further buying can also depend on share-price moves and shifts in other portfolio weights.