Chicago Trading Company

Chicago Trading Company (CTC) is a proprietary trading and market-making firm focused on options markets. The company describes its business as providing liquidity across products, markets, and time horizons, with options volatility at its core. CTC says its work helps support markets by making liquidity available to participants across derivatives venues.

CTC’s trading approach brings together quantitative research, systematic strategies, proprietary technology, and experienced human judgment. Its teams work across trading, quantitative research, and technology, combining analysis and market experience with tools intended to support timely, precise decisions. The firm characterizes its model as pairing systematic research with human judgment rather than relying on either alone.

The firm was founded in 1995 by five options traders and began in U.S. index options. Since then, it has expanded across products, asset classes, trading venues, and geographies. CTC describes its evolution as a progression from trading-floor roots to a global business supported by research, systematic strategies, and proprietary technology, while retaining its focus on options and disciplined decision-making.

CTC is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in New York, Austin, London, and Amsterdam. Its official materials describe these locations as connecting teams with markets, talent, and business opportunities in the United States and Europe. The company presents itself as one connected firm, sharing knowledge and solutions across teams.

The company’s stated mission centers on strengthening options markets through liquidity and expertise. CTC says it aims to make better decisions and provide liquidity with conviction, and its public description frames its broader goal as supporting markets that are fairer, more transparent, and more efficient. Its current website emphasizes its options expertise and continuing development of its trading and research capabilities.

CTC describes its working environment as collaborative and oriented toward ownership of meaningful work. It says its values guide how colleagues collaborate, challenge ideas, and grow, and presents career opportunities for both early-career professionals and experienced candidates. The firm characterizes itself as large enough to pursue ambitious problems while small enough for individual contributions to be visible in results.