Trading firms in Chicago: the US capital of proprietary trading
KnowQuant research desk · Published 8 October 2026 · 1 min read
Which trading firms are in Chicago, and what roles do they hire?
Chicago is the centre of US proprietary trading and market making, built around the CME futures and options exchanges. Firms such as Jump Trading, DRW, Optiver, IMC and Susquehanna run major offices there. It is the strongest US city for low-latency engineering, FPGA, network and trader roles.
What this piece establishes
- Short answer. Chicago is the centre of US proprietary trading and market making, built around the CME futures and options exchanges.
- What people search. "Trading firms in chicago" draws about 210 monthly US searches (moderate difficulty, 38/100), "prop trading firms chicago" about 90 and "hedge fund jobs chicago" about 20.
- Who hires. Profiles: Jump Trading, DRW, Optiver, IMC, Susquehanna.
- Why engineers should look here. Closeness to the CME matching engine makes latency the core problem.
Short answer
Chicago is the centre of US proprietary trading and market making, built around the CME futures and options exchanges. Firms such as Jump Trading, DRW, Optiver, IMC and Susquehanna run major offices there. It is the strongest US city for low-latency engineering, FPGA, network and trader roles.
What people search
"Trading firms in chicago" draws about 210 monthly US searches (moderate difficulty, 38/100), "prop trading firms chicago" about 90 and "hedge fund jobs chicago" about 20. Figures are Semrush US estimates read on 8 October 2026, not measured traffic.
Who hires
Profiles: Jump Trading, DRW, Optiver, IMC, Susquehanna. Derivatives market making dominates.
Why engineers should look here
Closeness to the CME matching engine makes latency the core problem. That drives demand for C++, FPGA, Linux and network engineers. See FPGA engineer careers.
Roles beyond quant
Most hires at these firms are not quants. Software, data, site reliability, network, FPGA and security engineers, trading operations, fund accounting, risk, compliance and technical recruiting all hire here. Compare modelled pay by function: technology, infrastructure, data and AI, business and operations.
Where to go next
Key takeaways
- Chicago is the US centre of prop trading.
- Low-latency engineering is the defining skill set.
- Pay is close to New York with lower living costs.
Pay figures on KnowQuant are modelled estimates with a published method, not verified offers.
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