Industry History
In 1997 the SEC passed regulation that paved the way for new Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) such as Island and Archipelago to compete with traditional market centers. The ATSs operated on technology far superior to anything being offered by exchanges. Specifically, they offered faster data feeds, lower latency, and increased order capacity. Most importantly, their systems were completely automated and provided ideal venues for quantitative, high frequency trading strategies to thrive while making markets more efficient for all participants.
HRT History
Hudson River Trading LLC was started in February of 2002, with the founding partners working tirelessly to build the trading platform and analysis tools that would become the bedrock of the firm’s strategies. Profitable since inception, HRT began hiring employees, seeking out highly intelligent and extremely capable individuals who shared their passion for solving problems. Over the next few years, the rapid growth of electronic trading led to many structural changes in the equity markets, highlighted by several mergers of electronic trading venues and rule-changes governing how certain securities were traded. HRT flourished by rapidly adapting to the continuously changing environment and developing improved algorithms that could take advantage of new opportunities.
In 2004, the firm participated in the industry-wide comment period on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed Regulation NMS, a broad proposal that addressed numerous market structure issues. HRT submitted a comment letter and consulted with an SEC Commissioner, as well as several SEC officials in Washington, to offer suggestions for optimizing the nation’s regulatory system to make stock trading more efficient for investors.
Presently the firm is focused on expanding its operations to additional markets. While US products have been the cornerstone of HRT’s trading, international markets now are opening up to electronic trading as well, creating opportunities around the world. As of summer 2008, HRT employs 30 people and is actively seeking more bright minds to join the team.