Trading
isn’t a zero-sum
game

Algorithmic trading

We are making markets more efficient

Market makers make money from the difference between the bid and ask price (the spread). Narrowing the spread and taking on risk is a service that lets many of our counterparties concentrate on their core business, and it’s a service they’re happy to pay us for (a fraction of the bid-ask spread). We see high-quality, open and fair markets as the essential foundation for functioning capitalism and, by extension, our whole Euro-Atlantic civilization.

Although we aren’t a financial institution, our partnership with a major US trading firm means that our software trades on global stock markets, with us getting a significant profit share. We work with cutting-edge technologies and a vast amount of high-quality data. We’re one of the few places in Central and East Europe where people can get their hands on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) card and do something with it.

How we operate

  • We are constantly innovating.

    Analysts build price models and devise and analyze execution strategies. A compelling idea goes into production in just a few days, while others require months of research. We use advanced math to solve challenging financial market tasks and we never stop innovating.

  • We develop all tools in-house

    Our programmers convert our analysts’ ideas into a complex C++ algorithm, where every microsecond counts. A short development cycle and instant feedback. We develop the whole data analysis environment in-house, including interactive GUIs.

  • We are not after quick profits.

    We’re not looking to make a quick buck by speculating or operating in the margins of legality. Our interest in markets is scientific, because markets are a rare combination of everything we love: probability, optimization, game theory, software engineering, advanced programming, mathematical modeling, machine learning, cybernetics, econometrics and other scientific disciplines.

Our ambitions

We build prototypes and experiment

Our long-term focus is on building flexible foundations that will allow us to scale up. We made a decision to move beyond incremental upgrades on existing solutions in order to break into new areas where we see great potential. The challenges we’re working on include automation, deeper involvement of machine learning and the efficiency of our processes. We’re not looking to double our workforce every 12 months – quite the opposite, we want to preserve the spirit of a small, closely interconnected firm. To be a Prague-based team that delivers first-class results to the rest of the world.

Hiring

Interested in working for us?
Click to find out what kind of people we are looking for.

Our values

  • Prioritization and agility

    Reason trumps emotion, even if that clashes with a process we’re particularly proud of. It’s irrelevant how we did things yesterday if there’s new information that makes it clear we need to do things differently today. When we need to tear something down and start over, we have to do it before someone else gets there first and we get left behind.

  • Everyone can devote themselves to what they’re best at

    We create an environment that lets us focus on and develop our strengths. Right from the start, we put in place processes outsourcing all paperwork so we can concentrate on the nitty-gritty. We don’t waste time on presentations and pointless meetings with supervisors who need to be brought up to speed with what we’re doing.

  • Independent and decentralized decision-making

    We know where we’re going and what we want to achieve. When we launch a new project, we sit down and discuss who’s going to do what – after that, it’s up to each one of us. It’s expected that at every given moment, everyone is doing what they do best and what they consider important. All we ask for is good ideas and good code.