Best Prop Trading Firms in 2025
The leading proprietary trading firms — what they trade, their culture, how hard they interview, and what they pay. Use this guide to decide where to apply and what to expect.
What Is Prop Trading?
Proprietary trading firms trade their own capital — not client money — to generate profit. Unlike investment banks or asset managers, they have no customers to serve and no external mandate to follow. Every dollar of profit goes to the firm and its employees.
Most of the top firms today focus on quantitative market making: continuously quoting buy and sell prices across thousands of instruments, capturing the spread while managing inventory risk. They operate at extremely high speed and volume, relying on mathematical models and automated execution rather than human intuition.
This is distinct from retail “prop firms” (funded trader programs) which charge fees and split profits with retail traders. The firms listed here are institutional, employ PhD mathematicians and CS grads, and compete directly with each other for talent.
The Elite Tier
Jane Street, Citadel Securities, and Two Sigma are the most competitive — and highest-paying — destinations in quantitative finance.
What they trade: ETFs, options, equities, fixed income — global market making across nearly every liquid asset class.
Culture: Academic, collaborative, intensely intellectual. Known for hiring from math olympiad and competitive programming circuits. Poker culture is strong; probabilistic thinking is expected at all times.
What they trade: US equities, options, fixed income, crypto. One of the largest market makers globally — handles ~25% of US equity retail volume.
Culture: High performance, fast-paced, data-driven. Prestige culture similar to Jane Street but with more of a Wall Street edge.
What they trade: Systematic macro, equities, and alternatives. More research-heavy than pure market making; strong data science and ML culture.
Culture: Researcher-oriented. PhD population is high. Emphasis on intellectual curiosity and long-term signal development over short-term trading reflexes.
The Mid-Tier: Still Exceptional Destinations
These firms offer top-decile compensation and are considered highly prestigious in quantitative finance — they are only “mid-tier” relative to Jane Street and Citadel, not in absolute terms.
What they trade: Options market making globally — equities, fixed income, commodities, crypto derivatives.
Culture: Dutch-origin firm with a flat, direct culture. Strong emphasis on mental math and real-time decision making. Profit-sharing model means individual performance is highly visible.
What they trade: Diverse strategies across fixed income, commodities, crypto (through Cumberland), and equities.
Culture: Entrepreneurial. Less bureaucratic than some peers. Known for giving traders meaningful autonomy and for being selective about cultural fit.
What they trade: Options market making and proprietary trading across equities, derivatives, fixed income, and sports betting (through investments).
Culture: Famous for its poker-based trader training program. Decision-making under uncertainty — with imperfect information — is the core skill SIG tests and values.
What they trade: Options market making across equities and crypto derivatives. Growth-stage firm relative to the others; known for fast career progression.
Culture: Startup-like, collaborative, Chicago-based. Strong intern program. Good entry point for those who want market making exposure with a clear path to full trader role.
What they trade: Equities, ETFs, options, and futures market making. Technology-first culture with significant investment in proprietary execution infrastructure.
Culture: Dutch firm (like Optiver). Collaborative, technology-focused. Less well-known in the US but a top-tier destination in Europe and increasingly competitive in Chicago.
Quick Comparison Table
| Firm | Interview | Comp Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Jane Street | Extreme | Highest |
| Citadel Securities | Extreme | Highest |
| Two Sigma | Very High | Very High |
| Optiver | Very High | High |
| DRW | High | High |
| SIG | High | High |
| Akuna Capital | High | Competitive |
| IMC Trading | High | Competitive |
How to Get In
Every firm on this list hires primarily through rigorous technical interview processes. The pipeline typically looks like this:
Strong GPA from a target school helps. Math, CS, physics, statistics, or engineering backgrounds are favored. Competitive programming credentials (ICPC, USAMO, Putnam) are powerful signals at firms like Jane Street.
Usually 30–90 minutes of probability questions, mental math, and logic puzzles. Some firms (Jane Street, Optiver) include timed trading simulations or market-making exercises.
Multiple rounds with traders and researchers. Expect 4–6 hours of continuous technical questions. Problems escalate in difficulty. Interviewers will test how you think under pressure, not just whether you know the answer.
Exploding offers are common. You may have 24–72 hours to accept. Having multiple competing offers gives you leverage and forces firms to move faster.
The most effective preparation is deliberate question practice — not just reading about probability theory, but solving problems out loud, getting feedback, and iterating. Internship recruiting starts in August–September for the following summer. Full-time recruiting is year-round but peaks in fall.
Practice interview questions for all these firms
1200+ real questions from Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sigma, Optiver, DRW, SIG, Akuna, and IMC — with firm-specific filters and an AI interviewer to test you out loud.