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Chicago Trading Company

Trades options on exchanges with its own money

Quant Trading Associate

Full-Time
$200k+ Annual discretionary bonus
Entry
Bachelor's, Master's
Chicago, IL, USA
In PersonWillingness to relocate to Chicago, Illinois is required.
Quantitative FinanceQuantitative Trading / Algorithm Development

About the job

Requirements
  • Pursue a Bachelor's or Master's degree; all majors and concentrations are welcome.
  • Graduate between December 2026 and June 2027.
  • Have a demonstrated record of success, such as in academics or awards.
  • Be willing to relocate to Chicago, Illinois.
  • Have strong quantitative and analytical abilities.
  • Have basic programming skills or a willingness to learn Python.
  • No prior finance experience is necessary; curiosity and willingness to learn are essential.
Responsibilities
  • Work as a member of a trading or quantitative team to identify trading opportunities.
  • Contribute through trade execution, strategy formulation, back-testing, data analysis, and modeling and pricing traded financial derivatives.
  • Communicate with traders, risk managers, software engineers, and quants throughout the trading day.
  • Learn all aspects of the trading and quantitative operation while working toward a role generating trading revenue or driving team strategy development.
  • Participate in formal classroom work, mock trading, and practical real-time exposure to the derivatives market.
  • Participate in data-driven research for alpha generation.
  • Complete programming courses and gain exposure to options pricing, theory, and trading philosophies.
  • Work toward making autonomous trading decisions.

About the company

C

Chicago Trading Company

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Chicago Trading Company trades options with its own money, standing ready to buy and sell contracts tied to stocks, stock indexes, commodities, and interest rates so other investors can trade when they need to. It began on Chicago's trading floors in US index options and became one of the firms that exchanges such as Cboe and CME appoint to keep prices quoted in their markets. Its traders, quantitative researchers, and engineers build pricing models and automated systems that quote prices and manage risk, and the firm earns money from the small gap between the prices at which it buys and sells. Five options traders founded it in 1995, and it is based in Chicago.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

Debt Financing

Total Funding

$300M

Headquarters

Chicago, Illinois

Founded

1995

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Pay tracks results: CTC London's 2025 trading income rose 78% and key staff bonuses nearly doubled, per August 2026 accounts.
  • Entry pay is high: CTC pays 2027 graduate traders and engineers a $200,000 base and summer interns $16,500 a month.
  • Engineers drive its plan: CTC aims to automate more trading, and 13 of 24 openings in October 2026 are engineering.

What critics are saying

  • Cuts hit London: CTC London's August 2026 filing shows office staff halved to 18 and £2 million paid in severance.
  • A bigger rival keeps growing: in March 2026, Dutch market maker Optiver reported trading income up 30% to €4.6 billion.
  • No Asia office means night shifts: CTC's Asia-hours options traders work 4pm to 1am Chicago time, Sunday through Thursday.

What makes Chicago Trading Company unique

  • Technologists sit at the top: CTO Josh Schubkegel became co-CEO in January 2026, alongside 20-year CTC veteran Lauren Rauch.
  • It backs venues needing market makers: CTC Ventures' 22 investments include stock exchange MEMX and sports-betting exchange Sporttrade.
  • Non-traders get flexibility: CTC's job posts say every team except Trading follows a hybrid workplace model.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Parental Leave
  • Wellness Program
  • Flexible Work Hours

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

7%

1 year growth

7%

2 year growth

7%
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