Misha Malyshev, a Citadel Investment Group LLC trader who helped two of its hedge funds gain about 40 percent last year, resigned, according to a person familiar with the firm. Malyshev left the Chicago-based firm this week with two members of his team, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. He was head of âhigh-frequencyâ trading, a computer-dependent strategy that is used by two of the firmâs hedge funds. Katie Spring, a Citadel spokeswoman, confirmed the departures. The high-frequency unit is part of Citadelâs capital-markets group led by Rohit DâSouza, who was hired last year from Merrill Lynch & Co. The group manages about $2 billion in the two funds and includes strategies such as options trading. Citadelâs biggest funds, Kensington and Wellington, lost as much as 55 percent in 2008. Theyâve gained about 6 percent this year. The firm, run by Kenneth Griffin, said last week that it plans to allow investors to make withdrawals from the funds after freezing them last year. Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising asset prices and participate substantially in profits from money invested. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKx6_yjqdBPU&refer=home It' s beginning to be ugly for Citadel.
I wonder if their competitor Peak6, down the road, has suffered similar losses? Anyone care to confirm or deny?
with the transaction tax of .25% will put this business model of high frequency hedging etc. 1 million share per day isn't feasible. this is the kind of trading that want out of the market.
Nazz, I placed my first "high frequency" 1000 lot order in 1996 with REFCO' s German bund trading desk. My "technology" consisted of a loudspeaker directly connected with the LIFFE pit. Citadel does not impress me. RenTech would be a challenge !