Jane Street

Market making feast

Jane Street is a New York based trading firm established in the year 2000 by a small group of traders and tech engineers. Today, it is one of the largest market makers in the US (and probably the world), dealing in a wide variety of asset classes in over 200 trading venues in 45 countries.

The reason I am writing about this firm in my blog is because it achieved great success recently and is in the news. It is reported that it has become the largest market maker in the US with more than 10% share of North American equity market trading. In 2024, its trading income crossed $20 billion, which is almost as much as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley’s annual equity trading revenues combined. It achieved this with an incredible trading turnover of about $2.7 trillion for almost every month during 2024. The other notable achievements are: it achieved more than $700 billion turnover in ETF trading per month; its market share in primary and secondary market US listed funds is 24% and 16% respectively; and its secondary market trading share in Europe is about 17%. In options, its market share is about 8% of all Options Clearing Corporations (OCCs) volumes.

But, it is not alone. The other three big market makers in the US - Citadel, Optiver and Virtu - have done well too. Citadel’s net revenue from market making in 2024 was about $10 billion, Optiver’s was about $3.8 billion and Virtu’s was about $2 billion.

With increasing volatility and volumes, market making business is booming and some firms have done very well. Goldman and Morgan Stanley’s trading revenues also increased significantly compared to previous years.

With increased volatility and volumes this year (2025), most financial firms are expected to do well, at least in the first two quarters.

Picture from Jane Street’s website. I guess it is their New York’s trading floor.