Quantitative Trading Analyst

BlueCrest likes hiring traders from banks. Sometimes they quickly leave again. 3 hours ago If you want to become partner in a hedge fund before the age of 30, you might want to join BlueCrest, the former hedge fund which has become the family office of macro trading legend Mike Platt. BlueCrest employs two partner level portfolio managers in London aged under 30 years old: Benjamin Turner, aged 25, who joined from Barclays in May, and Luke Ryan, aged 27, who joined from DRW in June. Other funds also hire young traders from banks. Balyasny, for example, hired 28 year-old Wajih Ahmed from Goldman Sachs last November. And 29 year-old Paulo Costa went from Goldman to Millennium in March. To our knowledge, though, Ahmed and Costa are not partners. As a rule, headhunters say it's often easiest to go from a bank to BlueCrest than to a multistrategy hedge fund. "BlueCrest stands out as the one single fund that is still very open to taking from the sell-side," says one hedge fund-focused headhunter, speaking off the record. "Other firms here have been quite vocal with us about their preference for avoiding sell-side guys. The barrier to entry to top funds is now higher than ever and there's usually a requirement for buy-side track records." The biggest multistrategy funds now want people who can manage $2bn with a Sharpe above 1.5. "A portfolio manager with a buy-side track record will always command higher interest than an untested sell-side trader," says the headhunter. "Big funds see sell-side guys as "bets", but fewer and fewer make the mark." At BlueCrest, by comparison, recent hires include Akash Garg, an emerging markets trader from JPMorgan, and Coco Hands, a former CEEMEA rates trader from BNP Paribas. It's thought that the fund is comparatively willing to hire traders from banks and to start them on smaller pools of capital. However, BlueCrest has also made a large number of recent PM recruits from the buy-side globally. Working for BlueCrest can be very lucrative. Platt is reputed to pay successful PMs there 30% of profits versus a standard 20% elsewhere. However, pay is thought to be deferred over three years. There are unconfirmed suggestions that any subsequent negative drawdowns at the fund are netted off against these deferrals. Joining BlueCrest is one thing. But as at many large hedge funds, staying there can be another. BlueCrest didn't respond to a request to comment for this article, but some people have come and swiftly gone. Earlier this year, Ankur Aneja, a top trader at Barclays, left after less than six months for reasons that are unclear, but which may have been related to the start of the war in the Middle East. Aneja didn't respond to a request to comment for this article. It's not clear whether he was involved in a drawdown or not. In February, Alex Watson, a senior natural gas trader who'd joined BlueCrest in October 2023 (from EDF, not a bank) was let go along with a team of analysts. Bloomberg reported that whipsawing gas prices had dented his profitability. Watson didn't respond to our query. Previous swift exits, include Artur Tarczynski, the ex-EMEA head of interest rate options trading at Deutsche Bank. Tarczynski briefly joined BlueCrest in November 2021 before leaving in June 2022. He is now co-head of non-linear rates trading at Bank of America. It's not clear why Tarczynski left BlueCrest so soon. Decisions to cut risk at BlueCrest are thought to be made predominantly by Platt. A recent court case based on historic working practices at BlueCrest heard that the fund was managed by a five person executive committee, but that "Essentially we have one client." - Michael Platt. Platt didn't respond to a request to comment for this article. When BlueCrest does part company with people, there are suggestions that it might shorten non-competes to help them on their way. Speaking off the record, one former trader who worked for the fund for a brief period after joining from a bank, told us he'd been able to negotiate an agreement offering him more lenient terms for his departure. Another headhunter said he's seen this happen a few times recently as people have left BlueCrest. Reduced non-competes could mitigate the risk of leaving a banking seat for BlueCrest. It's also worth noting that a lot of traders at BlueCrest do endure: there are 19 partners with over five years tenure at BlueCrest LLP in London, many of whom came from banks. For the moment, though, the swift coming and going of Aneja is fresh in people's minds. One London macro trader told us he had been considering going to BlueCrest, but is now feeling a little wary as a result. Another headhunter said BlueCrest is simply like most hedge funds. "There are no favourites on the buyside. You make money or you're gone. It's still a meritocracy, unlike banks," he reflected. Follow me on X. Follow me on LinkedIn. Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you'd like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email [email protected]. Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.

Salt Lake City-based market data platform Databento has closed a $97 million Series B round led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from DRW Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Tribe Capital. The round drew more than $300 million in total investor demand. The company provides institutional-grade market data on demand, eliminating months of procurement work for trading desks. Databento reached profitability with 24 employees and grew revenue 6.65 times year over year whilst maintaining over 97% enterprise logo retention. The raise follows a $10 million addition to its Series A in October 2024, which brought that round to $30 million total. NEA partners Rick Yang and Danielle Lay will join Databento's board. The capital will fund expansion to more than 20 data centres worldwide and add over 100 petabytes of storage capacity.

Databento raises $97 million Series B. Christina Qi, CEO July 09, 2026 Databento, Inc. is excited to announce that Databento has raised $97 million in Series B financing led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from strategic and existing partners, including DRW, Redpoint Ventures, and Tribe Capital. This investment positions Databento, Inc. to accelerate its mission of building the market data platform for modern finance. Databento was built by practitioners across quant trading and high-frequency market making. Over the course of its careers, Databento, Inc. has come to realize that many of the industry's biggest pain points aren't really about the market data itself, but rather the operational issues that emerge in production while using the data. Unlike the previous generation of market data providers, Databento, Inc. has focused relentlessly on solving those problems. Its purpose is simple: to shorten the path from idea to production. The numbers validate its thesis. Databento, Inc. has grown revenue 6.65x year-over-year while maintaining 97% enterprise retention since inception. Databento, Inc. has also reached profitability well ahead of schedule, without dipping into its last round of funding. Databento, Inc. has done so with incredible efficiency. With a team of fewer than 30 engineers, Databento, Inc. has built a bare-metal footprint serving more than 20 petabytes of raw market data, written its own feed handlers for over 70 exchanges, and now support more than 3,000 companies worldwide. This trajectory places Databento, Inc. among the fastest-growing companies in fintech history - proof that teams are ready for a modern alternative to legacy market data. Databento, Inc. wouldn't be here without the trust of its customers and the wider Databento community. Three years after launch, Databento has emerged as the market data provider of choice for many of the world's most demanding financial firms, whose combined assets under management and daily trading activity are measured in the trillions of dollars. If you've ever traded a stock or options contract on a mobile app or filled your tank at a gas station, you've almost certainly relied on a product or service powered by Databento. Today, its customers include many of the world's largest hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, broker-dealers, fintech companies, physical commodities traders, digital asset firms, and frontier AI labs. Few categories are more foundational than market data, which underpins nearly every financial decision and accounts for more than $50 billion in annual spending across the industry. Today, it's easier than ever for anyone to write software, and this shift is fundamentally changing how financial systems are built. Programmatic access to market data is becoming the industry default. Databento, Inc. anticipate that three years from now, more finance professionals will know how to use a Databento API than a traditional terminal. This round takes Databento, Inc. one step closer to realizing its vision. Databento, Inc. is expanding Databento across new asset classes and geographies while continuing to invest in the infrastructure that sets Databento, Inc. apart. Databento, Inc. has already begun building out coverage in Europe and APAC, and Databento, Inc. expect to grow to over 20 data centers worldwide within the next six months. To support this expansion, Databento, Inc. has secured more than 100 petabytes of usable storage capacity, more than doubling its previous footprint. Its next chapter is only beginning, and Databento, Inc. can't wait to keep building. Reaching profitability allowed Databento, Inc. to approach this raise selectively. The round was significantly oversubscribed, drawing more than $300 million in demand, and Databento, Inc. is grateful to be partnering with investors who share its long-term vision for the future of market data: Alumni Ventures, Blindspot Ventures, Cross Creek, DRW Venture Capital, Fifth Down Capital, Motley Fool Ventures, NEA, Operator Collective, TGVP, Tribe Capital, Trousdale Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures. As part of this round, Rick Yang (Partner and Head of Technology at NEA) joins its Board of Directors, alongside Danielle Lay (Partner at NEA), who joins as a board observer.