Chicago Trading Company

Chicago Trading Company runs an unusual line for an options market maker: it is a primary market maker in US Treasury options on the 5, 10, and 30 year, a rates franchise most options shops never build. Founded in 1995, CTC holds designated primary, specialist, and lead market maker status across CBOE, CBOT, NYMEX, Eurex and others, quoting two sided in index, equity, ETF, and rate derivatives.

The firm trades only its own capital and embeds quants directly on the desk rather than walling them off in research. It builds its own platform end to end and works out of a former Chicago trading floor now repurposed as a quant and technology space. One tell about where it places its bets: CTC runs a co-CEO structure in which one of the two chiefs is also the chief technology officer.