What's the difference between top electronic trading firms? Founder posted facetious chart

Electronic trading firms are not all the same. Each has a particular specialism. Some are more profitable than others. They need different sorts of talent as a result.

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For people wondering about the differences between Jane Street and Citadel Securities and Hudson River Trading and DRW, the following chart has been circulating on the site no longer known as Twitter. It was posted there by an alleged former quant at Tower Research.

While the table might be approximately right, it is not the whole story. Jane Street, for example, isn't just a trading firm: it also makes very lucrative venture capital style investments. Citadel Securities isn't just a high frequency trading (HFT) firm focused on equities, it also has a growing high touch equities business and has been expanding in areas like rates.

Similarly, XTX, the market making firm founded by nature-loving-tax-paying Russian mathematician Alex Gerko does a lot more than trade FX these days. 

The chart above seems to have come to the attention of Gerko, who runs an obstreperous LinkedIn account. Writing yesterday, Gerko said he asked ChatGPT to improve the chart, with the outcome below. There is no suggestion that this is correct: Citadel Securities would undoubtedly take offence at its new description; XTX Markets does not trade "your mom." 

There may be some truth to Gerko's reworked chart, though. Five Rings Capital is, indeed, a mystery - excepting its very high pay.

Some firms are absent. Virtu is not there. Nor is G-Research.

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