Latest news with #proprietaryTrading
Bloomberg
21-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Ex-JPMorgan Analyst Builds a 51%-a-Year Quant Powerhouse in Taiwan
In less than five years, Andre Liu has quietly built a quant powerhouse in Taiwan, drawing awe from other market participants and curiosity about his firm's inner workings. UC Capital, Liu's proprietary trading firm, shot to sudden prominence last October when it revealed itself as the buyer of the baseball that marked Shohei Ohtani's historic feat of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. The $4.39 million purchase, and the secretive company's coming out of the shadows, were both carefully calculated moves.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alpine Funded Celebrates First Anniversary with Major Milestone and Global Growth
CHAM, Switzerland, May 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- One year since launching, Alpine Funded has established itself as one of Europe's most trusted proprietary trading firms. Headquartered in Switzerland, the firm has attracted traders from around the world with its straightforward funding models, transparent rules, and commitment to building long-term relationships with serious traders. Founded by Marco Hess and Alessandro Ciccone, both traders themselves, Alpine Funded was built with one goal: to offer a more practical, trader-focused alternative to the traditional prop firm model. A Year of Firsts Alpine Funded entered the market in 2024 as the first proprietary trading firm based in Switzerland, bringing credibility and regulatory proximity to a space often dominated by offshore operators. But being first in geography wasn't enough. The firm also set a new standard by launching the industry's first "Second Chance" feature, giving traders the option to reset their challenge account, a move aimed at reducing unnecessary churn and helping committed traders stay in the game. Alpine Funded offers flexibility with two funding options for traders. They can opt for instant funding beginning at $99, or pursue a two-phase evaluation challenge with funding based on achieving performance goals. Whether a trader prefers to skip the evaluation process and start live trading immediately, or take the challenge route for higher scaling potential and profit share. These innovations have helped Alpine carve out a clear identity in a competitive industry: one focused on building long-term relationships with traders, not just selling access to capital. "The last 12 months have confirmed what we believed from day one: traders want funding partners they can trust," said Marco Hess, Co-Founder of Alpine Funded. "This anniversary is a milestone, but it's just the beginning of what we're building." Building a Reputation for Trust In an industry where trust and transparency matter more than ever, Alpine Funded has also built a strong reputation with its trader base. "This past year has been about building trust," said co-founder Alessandro Ciccone. "We started Alpine Funded with a long-term vision, to create a firm traders can rely on, with fair conditions and consistent support. We're proud of the progress we've made and committed to raising the standard even further in the years ahead." As Alpine Funded moves into year two, the team is focused on product upgrades, tech enhancements, and continued trader support, while sticking to the core values that got them here: fairness, clarity, and performance over promises. For more information about Alpine Funded and its programs, users can visit About Alpine Funded Founded on April 8, 2024, Alpine Funded GmbH is a Swiss-based proprietary trading firm headquartered in Cham, Switzerland. The company offers traders access to capital through two main funding programs — instant funding via the Base Camp model and a two-phase challenge via The Peak. Alpine is the first prop firm in Switzerland and the first in the industry to offer a Second Chance feature. The firm is privately owned and operated by active traders. Contact:Alpine Funded GmbHsupport@ Photo: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Alpine Funded Sign in to access your portfolio
Zawya
14-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
South Africa high on the list for Global HFT Firms
South Africa is quietly becoming a global magnet for high-frequency and quantitative trading firms. With cutting-edge exchange infrastructure, increased retail activity, and competitive platforms like A2X, the local market is drawing serious attention from global proprietary trading players. Why now? Merlin Rajah, Head: Equities Electronic Product, Absa CIB delves deeper into some of the key drivers: Advanced infrastructure upgrades at the JSE, including Colocation 2.0 and ultra-low-latency market data access. Increased retail investor activity via fintech platforms creating more opportunities for HFTs to interact with retail flow. Growing market competition through venues like A2X, expanding arbitrage and trading strategies. A more technologically sophisticated sell-side, with smart order routing and enhanced execution capabilities. Absa's role as a key enabler, offering deep market expertise, strong infrastructure support, a robust stock loan pool, and a pan-African presence. High-Frequency Trading Firms Eye South Africa: What's Driving the Shift? So, what exactly are High-Frequency Trading (HFT) firms, and why have they become critical to today's financial ecosystem? More commonly referred to today as proprietary trading or quantitative trading firms, these entities specialise in executing algorithmic strategies powered by advanced mathematics and cutting-edge technology. They operate at ultra-high speeds, submitting thousands of orders per second—with the aim of exploiting price movements within extremely short timeframes, often ranging from microseconds to a few seconds. The goal is to capture 'alpha' and close out most, if not all, positions before the end of the trading day. Typical strategies include statistical arbitrage, index arbitrage, dual-listed arbitrage, and market making (simultaneous bid and offer placements to profit from the spread). South Africa's highly liquid markets, unique blend of advanced market infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, competitive dynamics, and its role as a financial gateway to Africa makes it a compelling destination for high-frequency and quantitative trading firms. Infrastructure Evolution: JSE's Leap Forward For exchanges, HFT firms are a significant revenue driver—generating income through execution, clearing, settlement, colocation, and market data services. Sell-side firms benefit as well, gaining a steady revenue stream and an increased market share. A major turning point came in 2012 when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) migrated to the Millennium IT platform (owned by the London Stock Exchange Group). Two years later, the JSE introduced its colocation facility, offering traders ultra-low-latency access. The Millennium platform supports both Native and FIX protocols for order entry, post-trade processing, and drop copies, along with market data feeds via the MITCH (Millennium ITCH) and FIX/FAST protocols. Many firms prefer native binary protocols for their speed and unthrottled MITCH feeds to capture every possible microsecond advantage in market data processing. For firms trading in South Africa, opting for the unthrottled feed over the throttled version is essential. The JSE has continuously enhanced their platform to meet the needs of both institutional investors and HFT players. A key upgrade came in 2024 with the implementation of self-match prevention—designed to prevent internal teams from inadvertently trading against themselves, a costly mistake both in fees and regulatory scrutiny. On the other side of the spectrum, tools like pegged hidden orders, central order book crossing for client/prop flows, and spread-sensitive execution features have been rolled out to support institutional and sell-side players in navigating fast-paced, HFT-dominated markets. Colocation 2.0: World-Class Access at Lower Costs Though compact, the JSE's colocation facility is a Tier 3 data center meeting global standards. It's equipped with robust battery and generator backup—critical in a country where power outages remain a challenge. The 2023 launch of Colocation 2.0, in partnership with Beeks and IPC, introduced cloud-based access options. This provides a lower-barrier entry point for firms wanting to explore Africa's most sophisticated exchange. Starting at under $200 per month (excluding data costs), firms can connect to the JSE's test environment, market data, and reference data feeds from within the colocated ecosystem. These infrastructure upgrades have laid the groundwork for international quant and HFT firms to target South Africa, with a noticeable uptick in trading volume and order flow to show for it. The Rise of Retail Retail equity trading in South Africa has seen a notable uptick in recent years, driven by greater accessibility to online trading platforms, the rise of fintech, and an increasingly financially literate population. Low-cost brokers and app-based trading platforms have played a significant role in democratising access to the JSE, enabling everyday South Africans to invest in local stocks with minimal capital. This shift has been particularly pronounced among younger investors, who are more digitally savvy and inclined toward self-directed investment strategies. Although individual (retail) investors still trade less than big institutions and high-frequency traders, their increasing involvement in the market is having a real impact. As a result, brokers are responding by improving their platforms—making them easier to use, reducing trading fees, and providing more educational resources and tools to help these newer investors make informed decisions. Much more can be done in this space to provide retail with live pricing. This has also been a contributing factor as HFT firms want to trade with retail participants who trade through the spread. A2X and Market Competition: Fueling Sophistication The local trading landscape has also become more competitive, due to alternative venues like A2X. Offering advanced technology and competitive fees, A2X has carved out a decent market share by attracting both local and global trading firms. With no admit-to-trade model however, or a stance on an MTF framework, it has been a difficult journey for A2X to onboard new issuers but have done exceptionally well in terms of onboarding 180+ listings with a market capitalization of R9 trillion. This is a boon for HFT firms, who benefit from increased liquidity and more arbitrage opportunities across exchanges. The emergence of multiple trading venues has pushed sell-side firms to enhance their technological capabilities—implementing smart order routers, upgrading sell side algorithms, robust settlement solutions and offering low-latency access to enable both institutional clients and HFTs to execute efficiently. This growing sophistication reflects the broader maturation of South Africa's capital markets. A Market of Strategic Importance As these firms deepen their presence, they're contributing to the ongoing evolution of the market and the continent—driving innovation, improving efficiency, and expanding participation. Absa has positioned itself as a key enabler in this transformation, offering HFT firms ultra-low-latency access, deep market infrastructure expertise, a robust stock loan pool, and a strong balance sheet to support advanced trading strategies. As the rest of Africa opens to these possibilities, Absa remains ready to unlock these opportunities for our clients with by already having presence in several African countries.
