Why the exploding secondaries market is hard to pin down

Secondaries are an elephant-sized black box. The market is mammoth, expanding, and—here’s the kicker—we have no clue how big it really is. The secondaries market has exploded in recent years, driven by a simple problem: companies are staying private longer, exits have dried up, and investors need inventive ways to return cash to their LPs. New PitchBook data estimates that, in 2025, somewhere between $62.5 billion and $120.9 billion were traded in U.S. direct secondaries. Now, $58 billion-plus is a hel ...