Average revenues across Europe’s largest high-frequency trading firms jumped by nearly a fifth last year, according to research by Financial News, as the controversial practice approaches a crucial phase that will determine how it is governed by European regulators.

In a sign of the firms' ability to generate above-average profits, the research showed average revenues per employee were $2.7m in 2010. The same ratio would give Goldman Sachs annual revenues of about $96bn, compared with its actual revenues of $39bn last year.