TradeLink

TradeLink predates the quant era it helped invent. Walt Weissman founded the Chicago firm in 1979, when options market making and computer models were still fringe, making it one of the oldest surviving systematic prop trading operations in the country. Pioneer is the word its own materials use, and the timeline backs it.

Built as a holding company, TradeLink spread across a Chicago trading entity, an FCA-registered London arm, a Warsaw outfit, plus separate registered advisory and broker-dealer units, running quantitative models in futures, options, and equities on low-latency infrastructure. In March 2026 it combined with DV Group, bringing its proprietary trading business and more than 80 of its people into DV Trading, with Weissman joining the merged firm. DV called it a natural fit on technology, research, and risk culture, uniting two Chicago lineages that had traded the same disciplines for decades.