Consolidated Trading

Founded in January 2002, Consolidated Trading picked arguably the worst moment to start an options business: the floor was dying and electronic markets were taking over. The firm frames its own survival as proof it adapted, trading through the disruption that ended many open-outcry careers.

What stands out is scope against size. This is a lean Chicago broker-dealer, yet it makes markets across agricultural, currency, energy, equity, fixed income, ETF, and index derivatives, a multi-asset spread most small prop shops never attempt. It trades only its own capital, takes no clients, and leans on automation to cover that breadth from a small bench. The volatility and market-structure focus reads more like a derivatives generalist than a single-product specialist.