Compensation & Market Data

HFT’S

• The top 1% frequently receive 4–5 competing offers, often securing sign-on bonuses, guaranteed first-year compensation, and meaningful base salary increases. Examples are included in the attached document.
• Over the past year, leading HFT firms such as Jane Street, Jump Trading, and Hudson River Trading increased headcount by roughly 100–300 employees (~8–11%).
• Hiring has been concentrated in Quant research and machine learning (reinforcement learning and market microstructure), low-latency engineering (FPGA, kernel-bypass networking, high-performance C++), GPU infrastructure for large-scale simulation, expansion across Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore, and India’s derivatives markets.

Multi Strat Hedge Funds

• At the start of 2025, many hires were driven by attrition and post-bonus departures; these were not unusually high but still notable. Many multi-strategy funds trimmed and reallocated teams, with a focus on commodities and broader macro areas.
• Moving into late 2025 and early 2026, hiring has shifted toward AI, LLMs, and advanced ML for new projects, with many joining new pods rather than replacing staff.
• Over the year, leading multi-strategy funds such as Citadel, Millennium Management, and Point72 grew headcount by roughly 150–400 employees (~6–9%), with expansion in Asia and Europe, particularly London, Singapore, and the East Coast.

Commodities Trading

• We have seen significant metals hiring across commodities trading, particularly among major trading houses such as Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, and Mercuria.
• Firms are expanding base and precious metals desks, with strong investment in technology and quantitative talent to support predictive pricing, automation, and real-time analytics.
• Hiring activity has increased roughly 10–12% across the business, with growth concentrated across trading, and tech-driven functions in key hubs including London, Houston, Geneva, Singapore, Hong Kong, and wider Asia.