Most of the companies that we feature have business models that are pretty easy to grasp within a few minutes. Unless they’re a startup with a lot of funding and no business model yet, it’s pretty easy to figure out how they make money. That’s not really the case with proprietary trading firms, though they certainly make money. We’ve featured a few in the past including Jump Trading, Wolverine Trading, and Belvedere Trading. Today we’re going to add another to the list, Chopper Trading, which is a Chicago, IL “technology-based proprietary trading firm that operates in a range of global markets and trades on several major exchanges.” That’s about all they’ll tell you. Proprietary trading firms are in constant competition with each other for talent, technology, and profits, so they keep the details of their businesses secret. (They did spill one secret though–Chopper Trading is named after the CEO’s dog.)
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I hear from a lot of you that you want a career that makes the world a better place, but I know that some of you just want to make money (even if you’re afraid to admit it). If one were to design a business to generate profits as efficiently as possible, it would probably look a lot like a proprietary trading firm. A prop firm is one that doesn’t have any outside investors, so it can focus entirely on generating profits for itself without the worry that investors might want to pull their money out. Belvedere Trading is one of these firms (others that we’ve featured include Wolverine Trading and Jump Trading). They’re based in Chicago, IL, and they’ve been specializing “in equity index and commodity derivatives” since 2002. Basically, they find inefficiencies in the market, and profit from them through superior strategy and technology.
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When I was a kid, I had a huge baseball card collection (actually, I still have it). I never seriously collected any other sports cards, but I did have a phase where I collected a Marvel cards. I haven’t thought about those cards for years, but when I came across the name Wolverine Trading, they instantly jumped back in mind. Unfortunately, Wolverine Trading, which is based in Chicago, IL, doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes–though they may consider themselves financial superheroes. They are a “diversified financial institution specializing in proprietary trading, asset management, order execution services, and technology solutions.” Those are all just big words for making money by combining technology with knowledge of the financial markets.
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Rarely do we feature companies that aren’t at least partially US based, but sometimes there are companies so interesting or relevant that I have to share them with you even though it would require a serious move (and probably some visa acrobatics) for you to land a job with them. Today we’re going to look at Ireland’s Intrade, a company that runs prediction markets. I originally learned about Intrade from Freakonomics
, but I became more interested yesterday with the election in Massachusetts. A prediction market falls somewhere between betting and investing—it allows you to buy contracts that either pay out or don’t based on a given outcome. For example there was a time yesterday before polls closed when you could have purchased a contract for $70 that would have paid out $100 if the Republican nominee, Scott Brown, won the Massachusetts Senate election. The price of a contract reflects the probability that a given event will happen—a $70 contract represents a 70% likelihood.
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Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is convinced that everyone in Chicago is a consultant. I know a lot of consultants here, but my take is a little different. I’m pretty sure that every guy that I’ve met here who is between the ages of 23 and 32 is a “trader.” They never tell you what they trade unless you ask—it almost seems like they’re being evasive. Maybe it’s all about creating a mystique about being a trader. Anyway, one of my “trader” friends happens to work at Jump Trading (he likes it), a high-frequency trading shop based here in Chicago. From what I can tell on their website, Jump Trading is less concerned with what they’re trading and more concerned with how they’re trading. They put a huge emphasis on technology, and they’re trying to take advantage of the fact that “the world financial markets are becoming faster, more complex, and more automated every day.”
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