Markets & Trading

Great ideas, even from junior traders, are rewarded with the opportunity and resources to pursue them. Managers are responsible for setting the high-level strategy but work directly alongside traders on the desk. This means great ideas and meaningful contributions can come from anyone on the team—creating a true meritocracy. The most successful people at Citadel Securities are those who proactively identify problems and propose solutions.

We value winning as a team and are set up to do just that. We are in constant communication throughout the day and work closely with quantitative researchers and engineers – not just other traders.

We are uncompromising when it comes to being the best and delivering the most for our clients. There is no better pressure test for your strategies and solutions than the market and its real-time feedback. We know when to pivot. We don’t just think about what works today—we also think about what will create the most value for the firm in the future.

Successful traders enjoy putting their curiosity to use. It is more than being attentive to markets and current events; it’s the desire to use the information available to identify opportunities. An interest in continuous learning about the markets and managing risk is key to quickly building confidence and trading expertise.

The markets change rapidly. Being able to synthesize a lot of information and make critical decisions is important. The market provides immediate feedback, so you must have the desire to iterate in real-time.

You enjoy apprenticeship and have the confidence to watch, learn and take calculated risks. As a trader, learning opportunities come with each execution.

There are many, but good examples include exploring measures of volatility and risk as well as exploring themes across market structures. It’s rewarding to construct new models that explain performance and risk exposure. Our teams rely on various time-series techniques to analyze and provide context to the results of our trading.

The immediate feedback we receive from testing hypotheses developed with these models is really motivating – helping us continue to push harder and pursue better outcomes.