High-Speed Trading Interns Offered ₹12.5 Lakh Monthly

Even if stronger regulation to safeguard the interests of regular investors who lose money has helped reduce derivatives trading by more than 40% from a high last year, the recruiting frenzy and extravagant compensation packages are still in place.

Soaring Pay Despite Crackdown

In India, high-speed trading companies are quickly raising wages for entry-level positions while ignoring a regulatory crackdown on the largest equities derivatives market in the world.

According to persons acquainted with the situation, Amsterdam-based IMC Trading BV has offered interns in India up to Rs 12.5 lakh a month ($14,182) this year, a threefold increase from 2024.

Profits Fuel Hiring Frenzy

According to those who asked not to be identified because of business policy, Quadeye, one of the largest recruiters in the area, paid new hires up to Rs 7.50 lakh, which is 50% more than last year. According to Glassdoor, the typical base compensation for Indian financial professionals is around Rs 7 lakh per year.

Even if stronger regulation to safeguard the interests of regular investors who lose money has helped reduce derivatives trading by more than 40% from a high last year, the recruiting frenzy and extravagant compensation packages are still in place.

This is because to the enormous potential for profit that the world’s largest stock derivatives market by volume offers: in the year ending March 2024 alone, foreign funds and proprietary trading desks utilizing algorithms generated $7 billion in gross earnings.

Rising Demand for Talent

Daniel Vaz, co-head of quant and trading technology recruitment at Aquis Search, said that there is a greater need than ever for successful traders. Nearly every month, we get requests to open new desks, and there is fierce rivalry to draw in elite traders, quant researchers, and trading system developers from India.

Even as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) seems poised to intensify its examination of the market, especially after its conclusions about Jane Street Group LLC, multinational behemoths and domestic firms are not backing down.

Jane Street Faces Allegations

In July, the regulator accused Jane Street companies of influencing stock and derivatives market prices in India on expiration days by utilizing their trading and technical power, making significant gains in the process. In an attempt to reverse the judgment, the New York-based trading company, which SEBI temporarily barred from the market, has blocked access to important papers that it needs to combat claims of market manipulation.

Although these recent occurrences have made some prospective customers wary, brokers offering high-speed trading services like Estee Advisors and iRage Broking Services LLP claim there is still a constant pipeline of businesses eager to join this area.

Firms Expand High-Speed Trading

According to those acquainted with the situation, Optimus Prime Securities & Research, located in Bengaluru, has lately expanded its HFT activities. According to one of the sources, the Bilakhia Group, which has commercial interests in healthcare and educational technologies, intends to join Minix Holdings in these kinds of ventures.

For this report, Quadeye and IMC choose not to comment. Optimus and Minix did not reply to emails asking for their opinions.

According to Bloomberg, billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities aims to expand its workforce in order to support its operations, and last month it recruited an options trader in India. The Miami-based company hired a chief operating officer and head of trade this year, and it now employs over a dozen people in Gurugram, where it first had an office in 2022.

Internships Attract Top Talent

Citadel and Tower Research, a trading business, are also purchasing minority shares in the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. in India.

According to Sandeep Tyagi, founder of Estee Advisors, who cited client contacts, “we are still seeing really significant interest, honestly, with some of the concerns with Jane Street being resolved, the interest is just going to rise.”

In order to get the brightest brains before they have completed their studies at the premier engineering institutions, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), many companies are choosing to employ interns. According to recruiters, the pay at these high-frequency trading organizations is much higher than that of other enterprises. Following the wider crackdown on options trading, but before to the Jane Street prohibition, were this year’s intern packages.

Trading Strategies Evolve Rapidly

Businesses now need to be more agile and sophisticated in their trading methods due to increased competition and technological advancements. As of the end of March, algorithms performed around 70% of stock derivatives contracts by value.

According to iRage CEO Rajib Borah, tactics that he used to be able to execute economically for six months or more now only last for two months before he has to switch to new ones.

Now, Borah said, “one has to be lot sharper, firing all engines and adjusting much quicker.” According to him, “alpha decay,” which describes how an investing strategy gradually loses its advantage or capacity to outperform the market, will accelerate as more businesses begin to take advantage of these chances.

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