Jane Street Capital, typically referred to as Jane Street, is a global proprietary trading firm.[4] Jane Street Capital employs more than 2,000 people in five offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, and Singapore. The firm trades a broad range of asset classes on more than 200 venues in 45 countries.[5]
Industry | Financial services |
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Founded | August 31, 1999[1] |
Founders |
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Headquarters | 250 Vesey Street, , U.S. |
Products | High-frequency trading, Market maker[2] |
Number of employees | 2,631[3] |
ASN |
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Website | www |
The company is one of the largest market-makers, trading more than $17 trillion worth of securities in 2020. It was considered to have helped keep bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) liquid during the market turmoil in 2020.[6]
Jane Street was co-founded by Tim Reynolds, Rob Granieri, Marc Gerstein, and Michael Jenkins.[6][7] Reynolds, Granieri, and Jenkins were formerly traders at Susquehanna International Group.[8]
Jane Street's website says the firm was founded in 2000.[4] However, Reynolds reports it to have been founded in 1999, and the date varies between sources.[1][7][9] According to Delaware state records, Jane Street Capital, LLC was incorporated in August 1999.[10]
In 2012, Tim Reynolds stepped down from his position running the firm to focus on philanthropy.[8]
By 2018, Jane Street reportedly traded an average of $13 billion in global equities every day and handled 7 percent of ETF volume worldwide.[8]
The firm ended 2020 having traded $4 trillion in global equities, $1.4 trillion in bonds, and $3.9 trillion in ETFs.[11] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm saw its revenue jump 54% to a record of $10.6 billion during the year ended in March 2021.[12]
As of 2021, Jane Street’s trading capital was about $15bn. As well as high-frequency trading, it in some cases maintained positions for hours, even days or sometimes weeks, which is essential for ETFs that track less-traded markets. On any given day, Jane Street was holding about $50bn of securities. In ETFs, it is an authorised participant[13] in 2,600 ETFs and lead market-maker on 506 ETFs, and plays an important role in maintaining ETF liquidity.[14]
In 2023, Jane Street generated $10.6bn in net trading revenue with adjusted earnings of $7.4bn. It released these numbers as part of a debt deal which aimed to expand the amount of cash on Jane Street's balance sheet from $4.3bn to $5.6bn.[15]
Jane Street writes almost all of its software in the OCaml programming language.[16][14][17][18][19]
Jane Street is informally led by a group of 30 or 40 senior executives.
The firm's culture includes a focus on the risks of improbable but catastrophic crashes. In addition to hedging at trading desk level, Jane Street at company level spends $50m-$75m a year on put options.[14]
In April 2024, the firm brought a lawsuit against Millennium Management alleging that Millennium stole its trading strategy through engaging two of its former traders, Douglas Schadewald and Daniel Spottiswood.[20] The firm claimed the strategy, which traded options in India, earned about $1 billion in 2023.[21]