Now that we've reached $77,500, if each of the remaining interested participants could go the extra mile—just $520.83 each—we would at least hit the minimum goal!
We’re already 25 people in, and I’m confident we can build positive momentum, especially as more people interested in Asia join once the project gets underway! This topic has several views already. I guess it shows interest!
Dear all,
This is a follow-up on my earlier post about Jane Street and Millennium regarding options trading strategies developed by Jane Street for India.(the biggest equity options and derivatives market in Asia)
Pls see the update below from Bloomberg.
EDIT : It is a very good idea for P123 to expand coverage to Asia since most of the Asian markets are less efficient than the US and even the largest Wall Street investment houses and hedge funds are now focus on developing new equity and options trading strategies tailored for countries like Japan, India and China (mainly through SEHK).
Regards
James
December 6, 2024 at 5:48 AM GMT+8
Updated on
December 7, 2024 at 2:53 AM GMT+8
Jane Street Group and Millennium Management agreed to settle a lawsuit over the alleged theft of a secret billion-dollar India options trading strategy, effectively ending a court battle that captivated Wall Street.
In a filing Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the parties said they had agreed to dismiss Jane Street’s lawsuit against Millennium and two traders, Doug Schadewald and Daniel Spottiswood, who left the proprietary trading firm to join Izzy Englander’s hedge fund group earlier this year. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The resolution ends a case that had pitted two of Wall Street’s biggest names against each other and raised the question of whether a trading strategy could be protected as a trade secret. The court fight also spotlighted international firms’ growing interest in the Indian securities market.
Jane Street sued Millennium, Schadewald and Spottiswood in April, claiming the two traders had taken an “immensely valuable” trading strategy with them. It later emerged at a court hearing that the strategy involved India options and had generated $1 billion in 2023 profits for Jane Street.
In separate statements, a Jane Street spokesperson and a lawyer for the two traders both said Thursday that the case was “resolved on mutually agreeable terms.” Millennium, where Schadewald and Spottiswood continue to work, declined to comment.
The allegedly stolen strategy as well as many other details of the case were redacted from court filings. But Schadewald, Spottiswood and Millennium disputed from the start that Jane Street’s strategy could be considered a trade secret.
The two traders claimed credit for building the Indian options business at Jane Street but said it was based on their experience and expertise rather than any secret “algorithms or automated signals.”
Though trade-secrets suits are fairly common on Wall Street, most have been over client lists and business plans. The Jane Street-Millennium fight was perhaps the highest-profile example of a more novel breed of disputes focusing on quantitative or automated trading activity itself.
Citadel Securities last year sued a pair of ex-employees alleging they took confidential strategies from the firm while forming a high-frequency crypto startup. BTIG LLC has accused rival brokerage StoneX Group Inc. of stealing code for automated trading technology.
Ryan Baker, an intellectual property lawyer in Los Angeles, said the law “contemplates formulas, methods or processes as trade secrets,” so is broad enough to cover trading strategies. The key is to show that the secret holds “independent economic value from not being known” and is being protected by reasonable efforts, Baker said.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who oversaw the case, initially expressed skepticism about whether Jane Street had identified an actionable trade secret. He subsequently ordered Jane Street to provide a more detailed filing on its strategy and to share it with its former traders. However, the judge later threw out counterclaims by Millennium and traders, who argued Jane Street brought the suit in “bad faith.”
Jane Street recently highlighted alleged comments by Schadewald criticizing Millennium’s “dumb” strategies before he joined that firm, aiming to push back on defense arguments that the ones at issue in the case were “textbook.” If the strategies were well-known, other Millennium traders would have been using them, Jane Street said, but that hadn’t been the case.
“Indeed, before he joined Millennium, Schadewald derided Millennium’s volatility traders, saying ‘none of those guys can make money’ because ‘they all do the same dumb strategies,’” Jane Street said in its filing.
Schadewald’s alleged statements, part of a Jan. 18 text message conversation, came to light because, just before reaching a settlement, the parties were exchanging evidence in preparation for trial. The process threatened to make public more information both firms might prefer to keep to themselves.
For its part, Millennium touted Jane Street’s record profits from India trading since Schadewald and Spottiswood left to argue it suffered no economic harm from the alleged trade secrets theft. Millennium also unsuccessfully sought to force Jane Street to disclose the compensation of eight senior officers.
The lawsuit also brought attention to Wall Street’s growing focus on India, where the options market has exploded in size in the last five years. Along with Jane Street and Millennium, Citadel Securities and Jump Trading have also become active in that market.
But the revelation that Jane Street was making billions raised eyebrows in India, as many retail investors have been suffering heavy losses in options trading. The country’s securities regulator in September introduced a set of measures aimed at shielding those small investors.
The settlement comes days after Bloomberg reported that Jane Street had $14.2 billion of net trading revenue for the first three quarters of 2024, already surpassing the 12-month record it set last year.
Jane Street said in April that the suit was the first it had brought against former employees, noting that it doesn’t require staffers to sign non-competition agreements. But Schadewald and Spottiswood, who said they left Jane Street largely due to unhappiness over pay, said their former employer was using the trade secrets case to try to intimidate other workers who might be thinking about leaving.
The case is Jane Street Group LLC v. Millennium Management LLC, 24 cv 02783, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
$80,500 now!
@marco A few questions. Sorry if these have already been answered.
How much will the Asian and Emerging service cost once implemented?
How many years of data will be a available?
Will there be a trial period like there was with Euro data?
I have access to a reliable data vendor and was interested in assessing liquidity in some markets.
Let’s start with Brazil, specifically the BOVESPA exchange:
I will check more markets over the weekend. Let me know if your numbers are different.
edit: a mistake—the data I provided was based on thousands, not actual units.
I think the above questions are reasonable which is also the reason I prefer not to pledge.
In addition of the fact that I don't like the lock-up, my personal opinion is that if I like the final product after beta testing, I just pay the "tariff" to use it. (I respect other members who have pledged and may feel differently.)
Regards
James
$86500. Lets reach the goal by end of the week latest!
Pledge increased a little bit more. So close now...
We’ve hit 87K! Just three more users pledging 1K each, and we’ll reach our minimum goal—with 30 interested users already on board. Nearly half are pledging at least 5K, which really shows strong commitment. We’re getting there!
Increased my pledge by $1k. Only $2k left now.
So so close now
Closer than never! Let´s reach this goal!
I'm in. Modest pledge but want to help the effort in making this a reality.
29 voters and 89,500 USD !
the top of the mountain is very close now 
We’ve reached our minimum goal — and have 30 people on board!
@marco I know that exceeding the goal was desirable, but is this enough to move forward? BTW, I’m at your disposal to help with any clarifications regarding Brazilian data.
Yup, $90K has been reached and without Yuval's 25K pledge. That's a definite improvement.
We're getting ready for our retreat in Italy and it will be one of the first things on the agenda. I'm quite confident it will take priority over most other projects.
PS. stop by on June 12 to say hi
That’s great! It will be a great tool for all of us. I would love to go to Italy this time, but unfortunately, I can't make it.