Typical base, US
$165,000 to $250,000
Middle half of the base firms file
Graduate base, top firms
$300,000
Jane Street, SIG and HRT, in their US ads
First year, US
EstimateAbout $290,000 to $450,000
Base plus bonus, before tax
4 to 6 years, US
EstimateAbout $390,000 to $930,000
Base plus bonus, before tax
A quant trader in the US typically earns a base salary of $165,000 to $250,000, and the best-paying trading firms start graduate traders on $300,000. The yearly bonus is paid on top of the base, and after a few years it is often the larger part of a trader’s pay.
This page sets out base pay and total pay by years of experience, what the top firms advertise, pay in London and Amsterdam, and how traders compare with quant researchers and developers.
How much does a quant trader make?
The typical base salary for a quant trader in the US is $165,000 to $250,000, with a median of $197,000. That range is the middle half of the base pay firms file for trader positions in their US salary filings. New York pays more than Chicago: the typical base is $188,000 to $300,000 in New York and $162,000 to $203,000 in Chicago.
Typical base pay, July 2025 to June 2026
| City | Typical base | Median |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $188,000 to $300,000 | $200,000 |
| Chicago | $162,000 to $203,000 | $175,000 |
The middle half of the base firms file, across every firm and every level. Graduates at the best-paying firms start higher, and the bonus is paid on top.
The typical base sits below the $300,000 that Jane Street, SIG and HRT advertise to graduates, for two reasons. It covers every firm that hires traders, including the many that pay less, and every level from graduate to senior. And a firm that files a range of pay counts at the middle of that range, not at its top.
How much do quant traders make with the bonus?
Our estimate for a first-year quant trader in the US is $290,000 to $450,000 a year, base plus bonus, before tax. With 1 to 3 years of experience the estimate rises to $330,000 to $560,000. With 4 to 6 years it is an estimated $390,000 to $930,000, and from 7 years an estimated $590,000 to $1,380,000.
The base barely moves across those years. Almost all of the growth is bonus. The low end of each range is an ordinary year at an ordinary firm, and the top is a strong year at the best-paying firms. In New York, where the base is higher, the first-year estimate is $295,000 to $450,000.
At a $197k base, quant traders in the US make an estimated $290k to $450k in the first year and $590k to $1.38m after 7 years. The base barely moves with the years; the bonus does the growing, and in a strong year at the best-paying firms it takes total pay to about 7 times the base.
Typical range of base filed for the role: $165k to $250k.
- Trader, Year 1: base about $197k, estimated total pay $290k to $450k.
- Trader, 1 to 3 years: base about $197k, estimated total pay $330k to $560k.
- Trader, 4 to 6 years: base about $197k, estimated total pay $390k to $930k.
- Trader, 7 years or more: base about $197k, estimated total pay $590k to $1.38m.
Senior pay goes well past this chart. Jane Street paid an average of $2.68 million per employee in 2025.
A year, before tax, not counting a sign-on bonus. The low end of each column is an ordinary year at an ordinary firm; the top is a strong year at the best-paying firms. † Set by Tradermath from what senior people earn in the market, because too few of them report their pay.
How this estimate is worked out
The base is the one on the slider, within the range firms file for the role in their US salary filings. The bonus is the share of base that people in the role report at each stage, from the lower quarter of reports to the top tenth. The top of a column is at least what the best-paid tenth of employees report in total, because the best-paying firms also pay the highest base. The top firms state $300,000 for graduates. The bonus stays the same share when you move the slider, so a higher base brings a larger bonus.
Estimated total pay for a quant trader in the US, base plus bonusEstimate
| Experience | Bonus | Estimated total pay |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | 45% to 130% of base | About $290,000 to $450,000 |
| 1 to 3 years | 70% to 185% of base | About $330,000 to $560,000 |
| 4 to 6 years | 95% to 370% of base | About $390,000 to $930,000 |
| 7 years or more | 200% to 600% of base | About $590,000 to $1,380,000 |
An estimate, a year before tax, not counting a sign-on bonus. It starts from the median base filed for the role. The low end adds the bonus of an ordinary year at an ordinary firm; the top is a strong year at the best-paying firms, at least what the best-paid tenth of employees report in total. From 7 years, Tradermath sets the trader and researcher bonus from what senior people in these roles earn in the market, because too few of them report their pay.
How is a quant trader’s bonus decided?
At a proprietary or high-frequency trading firm, a trader’s pay often follows the profit they make. A recruiter’s 2024 pay guide puts total pay for a quant trader at such a firm at 30% to 50% of that profit in the US, and 10% to 40% in Europe.
Other firms pay from one firm-wide pool. Flow Traders, a listed market maker, set its 2025 pool at 32.5% of its operating result and shared it by the results of the firm, the business unit and each person, without tying an award directly to one trader’s profit. Variable pay made up 49.1% of its average pay per employee that year.
Either way, firms decide the bonus each year and call it discretionary. None of the large firms publishes a formula, so a trader’s bonus can swing a long way from one year to the next.
Which firms pay quant traders the most?
Jane Street, SIG and Hudson River Trading advertise the highest base for graduate traders in the US: $300,000. IMC advertises $250,000 for a graduate quant trader in Chicago, and Flow Traders $175,000 in New York. In Amsterdam, Da Vinci advertises €100,000 with a €20,000 sign-on bonus.
Trader base salary in live job ads, checked 24 September 2026
| Firm | Role | Base salary |
|---|---|---|
| Jane Street | Quantitative Trader, new grad, New York | $300,000 |
| SIG | Quantitative Systematic Trader, Master’s, 2027, New York | $300,000 |
| Hudson River Trading | Algorithm Developer (Quant Research and Trading), 2027 Grads | $300,000 |
| IMC | Graduate Quantitative Trader, Chicago | $250,000 |
| Flow Traders | Graduate Quantitative Trader, New York | $175,000 |
| Citadel Securities | Quantitative Trader | $175,000 to $350,000 |
| DRW | Quantitative Trader, Futures, Chicago | $150,000 to $250,000 |
| Da Vinci Derivatives | Graduate Trader, Amsterdam | €100,000 |
Ads that are not limited to graduates state wider ranges: $175,000 to $350,000 for a quant trader at Citadel Securities, and $150,000 to $250,000 for a futures quant trader at DRW, set by experience. Jane Street files every Trader position at $300,000, the same base as its graduate ad, so at the top firms the base changes little with seniority.
Filed US base salaries, July 2025 to June 2026
| Job title as filed | Base |
|---|---|
| Trader | $300,000 |
Jane Street files one base for every position of each title.
The type of firm says less about pay than the firm itself. IMC and Flow Traders are both market makers, yet one advertises a graduate base $75,000 higher than the other. What the type changes more is how the bonus is set, as the section above shows.
How much do quant trading interns earn?
Trading internships pay close to graduate rates for the weeks you work. Jump states $300,000 a year for its campus quant trader interns, about $5,770 a week, and IMC states $250,000 a year for quant trader interns in Chicago. Flow Traders pays its New York trading interns at $150,000 a year. SIG pays Master’s and PhD interns $8,600 a week.
What is a quant trader’s salary in London and Amsterdam?
In London, our estimate for a quant trader with 1 to 3 years of experience is £195,000 to £425,000 a year before tax. Recruiters put the base for mid-level quants there at £90,000 to £130,000, and a 2024 guide gives £75,000 to £175,000 for quant traders at proprietary and high-frequency firms, across all levels.
In Amsterdam, recruiters put the mid-level base at €85,000 to €120,000, and our estimate for a first-year quant trader is €150,000 to €300,000. Da Vinci’s €100,000 graduate base sits in that band.
Base pay in Europe is lower than in New York, and the bonus closes much of the gap. Tax then decides what is left, and the city comparison works out take-home pay in each city in one currency.
How does quant trader pay compare with the other quant roles?
In base pay the three quant roles sit close together. The typical US base is $165,000 to $250,000 for a trader, $180,000 to $250,000 for a quant researcher and $175,000 to $250,000 for a quant developer.
Typical base pay in the US, July 2025 to June 2026
| Role | Typical base | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Quant trader | $165,000 to $250,000 | $197,000 |
| Quant researcher | $180,000 to $250,000 | $213,000 |
| Quant developer | $175,000 to $250,000 | $200,000 |
The middle half of the base firms file, across every firm and every level. Graduates at the best-paying firms start higher, and the bonus is paid on top.
At graduate level, many firms pay all three the same. Jane Street advertises $300,000 to new traders, researchers and software engineers alike. IMC is the exception among the large firms, with $250,000 for graduate traders and researchers and $200,000 for engineers.
The gap opens with experience, in the bonus. Our estimate for a trader with 4 to 6 years is $390,000 to $930,000, against an estimated $420,000 to $930,000 for a researcher and $325,000 to $545,000 for a developer. Traders and researchers are paid for the money they help make, while a developer’s bonus grows more steadily.
Estimated total pay in the US, base plus bonusEstimate
| Experience | Quant trader | Quant researcher | Quant developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | About $290,000 to $450,000 | About $310,000 to $450,000 | About $295,000 to $510,000 |
| 1 to 3 years | About $330,000 to $560,000 | About $355,000 to $600,000 | About $310,000 to $520,000 |
| 4 to 6 years | About $390,000 to $930,000 | About $420,000 to $930,000 | About $325,000 to $545,000 |
| 7 years or more | About $590,000 to $1,380,000 | About $640,000 to $1,490,000 | About $400,000 to $900,000 |
An estimate, a year before tax, not counting a sign-on bonus. It starts from the median base filed for the role. The low end adds the bonus of an ordinary year at an ordinary firm; the top is a strong year at the best-paying firms, at least what the best-paid tenth of employees report in total. From 7 years, Tradermath sets the trader and researcher bonus from what senior people in these roles earn in the market, because too few of them report their pay.
What does a quant trader do?
A quant trader runs a trading book: pricing, managing risk and improving the strategies and algorithms that trade it. IMC describes its graduate job as managing the execution and risk of complex trading portfolios, working closely with researchers, developers and engineers. Most decisions are quick, numerical and made under uncertainty.
How do you become a quant trader?
Trading firms hire many of their traders straight from university, through graduate programmes and internships. The process usually opens with a timed online assessment of mental arithmetic and number sequences. Interviews then test probability and expected value, and market-making games where you quote a price, take trades and manage the position as new information arrives.
Each of these skills improves with practice. Tradermath’s trading practice covers all three: timed mental maths, probability questions and market-making games in the style firms use. The interview guides describe each firm’s rounds.