Hudson River Trading

Hudson River Trading (HRT) is a multi-asset class quantitative trading firm, and more specifically a high-frequency trading (HFT) firm, based in New York City and founded in 2002.[2][3] According to the Wall Street Journal, it is responsible for about 5% of all stock trading in the United States.[4]

Hudson River Trading LLC
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial services
FoundedJuly 2018
May 2018 
Headquarters
New York City
,
U.S.
ProductsHigh-frequency trading[1]
Websitewww.hudson-trading.com

Trading

According to a Wall Street Journal article, although HRT is often classified as engaging in high-frequency trading, it claims to differ from stereotypical HFT firms in several important ways: it holds about 25% of its trading capital overnight (unlike most HFT firms that hold almost nothing overnight), its average holding time is about five minutes as opposed to the sub-second times observed for some HFT firms, and it does less than 1% of its trading in dark pools, the lightly regulated private trading venues under scrutiny from regulators.[4]

HRT head of business development Adam Nunes has defended the company's (and other HFT firms') practice of buying fast access to raw feeds of market data from stock exchanges at a price of $180,000 a year, noting that before HFT firms started doing it, the option was also available to, and exercised by, many Wall Street traders.[5]

People

The company hires programmers, software engineers, and mathematicians to develop and improve its proprietary trading strategies. HRT head of business development Adam Nunes has been cited in a Wall Street Journal article on HFT firms' efforts to recruit programming talent away from Silicon Valley, and his reasons for optimism about their ability to do so.[6]

Political scrutiny and lobbying

High-frequency trading practices have repeatedly come under regulatory scrutiny. In January 2014, HRT along with three other quantitative trading firms (Quantlab Financial, Global Trading Systems LLC, and Tower Research Capital LLC), formed a trade lobbying group called the Modern Markets Initiative to advocate for their business point-of-view to regulators and lawmakers.[7][8] In August 2014, Bart Chilton, former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and critic of high-frequency trading, was added as an advisor to the group.[9][10]

In March 2014, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a probe into high-frequency traders such as Hudson River Trading getting early access to raw stock market feeds at an annual price of $180,000.[11] HRT head of business development Adam Nunes defended the company's business practices in statements made to NewsWeek, noting that Wall Street traders also had access to the feeds at the same price and many of them already made use of them.[5]

In July 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States launched a probe into ten top high-frequency trading firms, including HRT.[12]

According to the opensecrets.org website run by the Center for Responsive Politics, HRT has made $120,000 in political contributions since 2009 and spent $2.4 million on political lobbying since 2009.[13]

Media coverage

Hudson River Trading has been covered in the Wall Street Journal,[4][14][3][6] Financial Times,[15] and NewsWeek.[5]

See also

References
  1. Patterson, Scott; Rogow, Geoffrey (August 1, 2009). "What's Behind High-Frequency Trading". The Wall Street Journal.
  2. "Hudson River Trading". Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  3. Cave, Tim (November 20, 2013). "A Cheat Sheet on European High Frequency Trading Firms". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  4. Hope, Bradley (October 15, 2014). "Inside Hudson River, the Firm That Does 5% of All Stock Trading". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  5. Leah McGrath Goldman (May 30, 2014). "Is Wall Street Pulling a Fast One?". NewsWeek. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  6. Peterson, Kristina (January 18, 2011). "Battle for Tech Geeks: Street vs. Silicon Valley". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  7. Hope, Bradley; Patterson, Scott (January 5, 2014). "High-Speed Traders Form Trade Group to Press Case". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  8. "Modern Markets Initiative". MarketsWiki. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  9. Hope, Bradley (August 21, 2014). "Former Foe of Speed Traders Now a Consultant". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  10. "HFT 'cheetahs' get Chilton as an adviser". Financial Times. August 21, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  11. Johnson, Andrew R. (March 18, 2014). "N.Y. Probes Alleged Advantages Given to High-Speed Traders. Probe Centers on High-Speed Traders Getting Early Access to Data Feed". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  12. McCrank, John (July 17, 2014). "Exclusive: SEC targets 10 firms in high frequency trading probe - SEC document". Reuters and Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  13. "Hudson River Trading". opensecrets.org. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  14. Hope, Bradley (October 15, 2014). "A High-Speed Trader Looks to Slow Down Critics. Hudson River Trading Chief Says HFT Business Is Misunderstood". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  15. Stafford, Phillip; Massoudi, Arash (June 17, 2012). "High speed traders look to restructure". Financial Times. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
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