The Hong Kong prop trading firm that quietly grew last year
Proprietary trading firms often operate under the radar compared to better known buy-side firms and market making rivals. In Hong Kong, one such firm spent much of 2022 growing and brought in staff from a number of hedge funds, among others.
XY Capital, founded in 2018, brought in several technologists across its Hong Kong and London offices. In London, its most notable acquisition was Man AHL's co-head of volatility, Drake Siard, who became their head of quantitative research in April last year.
A month later, XY quietly brought in hedge fund Schonfeld's former director of UK operations, Arjola Trumci, who joined as global head of operations. They hired from banks too, bringing in London-based UBS quant Tikshananshu Kumar in the latter half of the year.
XY's hires in Hong Kong have not been as flashy, but include a few notable people. For example, there's Arkady Shagal, a product manager who spent eight years at trading solutions firm Itiviti before joining XY as a solutions architect last October.
Reviews of XY's culture on Glassdoor are mixed overall, but generally positive in 2023. One summer quant analyst calls the office a "meme-friendly environment" while a Hong Kong trader praises the "Flat structure within trading & research team"
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