Wall Street banks are having their best trading year since 2009. Does that mean a crash is coming?

Wall Street banks are on track for their best trading year since 2009, with the five biggest banks seeing markets revenue rise about 38 percent year-on-year and combined trading revenue potentially reaching around 180 billion dollars if the current pace continues. JPMorgan posted a record quarterly profit of 21.2 billion dollars with equities trading revenue up 86 percent, while Goldman Sachs and Bank of America also posted strong gains driven by AI-linked activity, options, ETFs and recovering dealmaking. However, JPMorgan has warned that the second half of 2026 could be more difficult due to inflation, higher bond yields, elevated volatility and crowded positioning, with AI valuations flagged as the key systemic risk.