Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Hudson River Trading
The New York automated trading firm founded in 2002 by a small group of Harvard and MIT computer scientists and mathematicians, which built its business on fully automated US equity market making written as software rather than run by traders, grew to handle a share of US stock volume reported at more than 15% (2021), and by 2025 had become — on reported figures — one of the three largest market makers in the world, with ~$12.3bn of 2025 net trading revenue (reported). HRT's story turns on engineering as the edge, scale through acquisition and new asset classes, and a late-2020s pivot from pure speed toward slower, AI-driven strategies and retail wholesaling — financed in part with rated term-loan debt whose disclosures, alongside press leaks, are the main public window into a private firm.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2002, New York (HRT website: "founded in 2002 by partners who graduated from Harvard and MIT with degrees in computer science and mathematics")
- Headquarters
- New York City (Tribeca/Lower Manhattan — verify address); 14 offices: New York, Chicago, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Seattle, Miami, London, Dublin, Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, Seoul, Hong Kong (HRT website, 2026)
- Ownership / structure
- Private; Wikipedia lists Jason Carroll and Prashant Lal as owners (verify); broker-dealer HRT Financial LP (formed 2009, FINRA BrokerCheck)
- Leadership (2026)
- Jason Carroll (co-founder, reported); Oaz Nir described as CEO in a Dec 2025 article (secondary — verify title); Iain Dunning, head of AI since 2018 (reported)
- Business lines
- Automated market making and proprietary trading in equities, futures, options, FX, fixed income (US Treasuries) and crypto on 200+ markets (HRT website, Wikipedia); retail equity wholesaling (growing since 2023); client market making — Single Dealer Platform (US) and Systematic Internaliser (Europe) from 2018, Client Market Making from 2022; "Prism", a unit for slower, AI/ML-driven strategies (reported)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- 2025 net trading revenue ~$12.3bn (Reuters, Apr 2026, from documents and anonymous sources — firm did not confirm; Shared facts; Bloomberg reported the same figure as an initial estimate on 13 Jan 2026); ~$8bn in 2024 (Business Insider, people familiar); record ~$6.4bn in Q1 2026 with profit ~$4.2bn (Bloomberg, May 2026, reported); >1,000 staff (HRT website); >15% of US equity trading volume (2021, Wikipedia, verify)
- Regulators
- SEC and FINRA (HRT Financial LP); CFTC/NFA and CME for futures (verify registrations); exchanges' rulebooks; FCA and Central Bank of Ireland for European units (verify); SEBI for India (Mumbai office)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding as an automated equity market maker (2002); HFT scrutiny and the Modern Markets Initiative (2014); buying Sun Trading (2018); client market making, Treasuries and crypto (2018–22); retail and options wholesaling (2023–); the rated term loan (2024); Prism, mid-frequency and AI (2024–25); the 2025–26 revenue surge
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2002
Founding Automated Equity Market Making
Founding; technology bet (fully automated trading)
2014
HFT Scrutiny and Modern Markets Initiative
Regulatory and political response (co-founding an industry lobby while under inquiry)
2018
Sun Trading Acquisition
Acquisition
2022
Client Market Making Treasuries and Crypto
New markets and products (direct client liquidity; US Treasuries; spot crypto)
2023
Retail and Options Wholesaling
Market-structure bet (retail order flow internalisation and payment for order flow), extended to options
2024
Prism Mid Frequency and AI
Strategy pivot (from pure speed toward slower, prediction-based strategies) and technology bet (AI/ML research at scale)
2024
Term Loan B and Credit Ratings
Capital raise (senior secured leveraged loan)
2025
Record Revenue and the Volatility Windfall
Outcome of strategy in a high-volatility regime (scaling risk-taking into record volume)