Quadrature Capital：你从未听过的神秘自营交易公司

Quadrature Capital: The mysterious proprietary trading firm you’ve never heard of

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Who is Quadrature Capital? What kind of existence does it exist? Is it a hedge fund? Is it a high-frequency proprietary trading company? Or is it a special vehicle for mitigating the climate crisis by making huge profits?

In a financial world where information transparency is increasing, Quadrature is particularly mysterious and unpredictable.

They don’t respond, at least not much

Quadrature Capital has been tight-lipped about outside inquiries. We made multiple attempts to contact them but received no response. Their official website simply calls itself a "technology company" that uses statistical models to conduct neutral transactions in the market and achieve returns with its own funds. However, the company’s latest registration filing shows that they provide “investment management services” and charge fees from the assets under management.

There are endless rumors in the market: some people say that they hoard a large number of GPUs like XTX and use AI to assist trading algorithms; some people talk about their luxurious employee outings for team building and free-flowing beer in the office at all times. Some people joke that the internal atmosphere of the company is like "Ompalomba" (the mysterious villain in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" who is willing to serve the owner of the chocolate factory). Once employees join, they will never leave.

But one thing is certain: They pay well and donate huge sums to the Quadrature Climate Foundation.

Undoubted facts: high salaries and environmental donations

Official documents (reports published by Companies House) show that Quadrature Capital Limited paid an average salary of 2.46 million pounds to local employees in the UK last year. Although this is slightly lower than the peak in 2022 (3.6 million pounds), it is still quite astonishing.

The company's two billionaire founders, Greg Skinner and Suneil Setiya, did not take a salary from the company but took out loans totaling £56.7m last year through tax optimization. Meanwhile, the Quadrature Climate Foundation received £269m in donations in 2023 and paid its 14 staff an average of £293,000. Setiya frequently posts on social media calling for collective action to combat climate change. He believes that humanity is heading towards "excessive emissions" and must cut emissions immediately.

Mysterious working environment

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Quadrature's high-paying, environmentally friendly ambitions are documented in official documents, but its work environment is shrouded in mystery. Their official website praises their "green and beautiful" office atmosphere. In the London office, there is a large gym, as well as "ski lodge style", "lakeside style" and "beach style" conference rooms. The Singapore office will open in 2023, and the New York office will open in September 2024. Employees enjoy music lessons and free books, as well as annual summer and winter trips - the carbon footprint of which is said to be offset in the form of carbon offsets.

However, there are differing and unconfirmed opinions as to what exactly happened within the company:

• Some people say that the annual trip will use private jets, triggering more demand for carbon offsets; others familiar with the matter say it is just a picnic in a nearby park.
• Some claim beer is always available in offices, like WeWork. But another insider claims no one actually drinks it.
• More rumors are about how secretive and discreet the company is, with employees scrupulously adhering to non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

"Quadrature is a bit of a cult, and that's intentional," said one person familiar with the situation. "The company treats its employees incredibly well, and the benefits are great, so many people are willing to stay even if they are paid slightly less."

Small but sophisticated team

Quadrature is not a behemoth. By comparison, Jane Street has more than 2,600 employees and generated $14 billion in net trading revenue in nine months; while Quadrature Capital Limited generated revenue of £588 million in the 12 months to January 2024 and has 143 employees - a relatively small scale.

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If you're looking to join Quadrature, word is that talent acquisition is in the hands of Ada Offonry. She joined in 2021 and is responsible for talent acquisition and is an advocate for diverse recruitment. Quadrature likes to recruit interns, and this aspect is led by Hannah Ewert, who moved from Meta in 2021.

Talent flow: few leavers

Most people who join Quadrature don't seem to leave easily. However, there are exceptions: For example, there are rumors of an unconfirmed feud between the company's technology and operations departments. Former Jane Street and DeepMind researcher Laurent Mazare, who joined in June 2023, resigned four months later (September 2023). Former WorldQuant technical director Mike White joined in May 2023 and also left in October. Was he eliminated? Or is it personal discomfort? No one knows, and Quadrature has no intention of explaining.

Low profile rise

A senior quantitative person recalled: "I met them around 2011. At that time, they were just four people working in a basement somewhere in urban London. In just a few years, they moved into high-rise buildings, had a large number of employees and were quietly growing."

In this way, Quadrature thrives in an office surrounded by gardens and with an extremely low-key style to the outside world. If you are a quantitative researcher, it is rumored that this is a good choice - high salary, good treatment for employees, and clear environmental protection goals. Few people leave, and it has developed to a certain scale, but it is not widely noticed.

Maybe this is their strategy: sit quietly in the "secret garden" without saying a word to the outside world.

About TheQuantHackers

TheQuantHackers is a cutting-edge community composed of a group of people from the world's top universities and quantitative finance practitioners, dedicated to exploring the infinite possibilities in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantification (Quant). Our team members come from world-renowned universities such as the University of Cambridge, Oxford University, Harvard University, ETH Zurich, Peking University, and the University of Science and Technology of China. Our external consultants come from first-class companies such as Microsoft, HSBC, Citadel, Man Group, Citi, Jump Trading, and top domestic private equity companies.

Quadrature 的高薪、环保志向已见诸官方文件，但其工作环境却蒙上神秘面纱。他们的官网赞扬其“青葱优美”的办公氛围。在伦敦办公室内，有大型健身房，以及“滑雪小屋风格”“湖畔风格”“海滩风格”的会议室。新加坡办公室于 2023 年启用，纽约办公室则将在 2024 年9月开张。员工可享受音乐课和免费书籍，还有夏季、冬季年度旅行据称这些旅行的碳足迹会以碳补偿的方式抵消。

然而，关于公司内部到底发生什么，却众说纷纭且未经证实：

• 有人说年度旅行会动用私人飞机，引发更多碳补偿需求；另有知情者却说不过就是去附近公园野餐。
• 有人宣称办公室啤酒随时供应，像 WeWork 一样。但另一位内部人士却称没人真正喝它。
• 更多的传闻是关于公司有多神秘谨慎，员工小心翼翼遵守保密协议（NDA）。

一位知情者表示：“Quadrature 有点像个‘邪教’，这很有意为之。公司对员工好得出奇，福利超赞，很多人即使薪资略少也愿留下。”

小而精的团队

Quadrature 并非庞然大物。对比之下，Jane Street 拥有超过2600名员工，9个月创收140亿美元的净交易收入；而 Quadrature Capital Limited 在截至2024年1月的12个月内创造了5.88亿英镑营收，并有143名员工规模相对较小。

谁是 Quadrature Capital？它究竟是怎样的存在？它是对冲基金吗？是一家高频自营交易公司？还是一个靠赚取巨额利润来缓解气候危机的特殊载体？

在这条信息透明度渐增的金融世界里，Quadrature 却格外神秘，让人捉摸不透。

他们不回应，至少不多回应

Quadrature Capital 对外界的探询讳莫如深。我们多次尝试联系他们，却未收到回复。他们的官网只简要自称是一家“科技型企业”，通过统计模型在市场中进行中性化交易，以自有资金实现回报。可该公司最新注册档案则显示，他们提供“投资管理服务”，并从管理的资产中收取费用。

市面传闻不绝：有人说他们像 XTX 一样囤积大量 GPU，以 AI 助力交易算法；有人谈起他们奢华的员工外出团建、办公室啤酒随时畅饮，还有人戏称公司内部氛围有如“奥姆帕隆帕小人”（《查理与巧克力工厂》中甘心为巧克力厂主服务的神秘小人），员工一旦加入，便不再离开。

但有件事确定无疑：他们付出高额薪酬，同时为 Quadrature Climate Foundation（Quadrature 气候基金会）捐出巨额款项。

不容置疑的事实：高薪与环保捐赠

官方文件（Companies House 公布的报告）显示，Quadrature Capital Limited 去年为英国本土员工支付的平均薪资高达 246 万英镑，虽比 2022 年峰值（360 万英镑）略有下降，却仍相当惊人。

公司两位亿万富豪创始人 Greg Skinner 与 Suneil Setiya 并未从公司领取薪水，而是通过税务优化的方式在去年取得合计 5670 万英镑的贷款。同时，Quadrature 气候基金会在 2023 年接受了 2.69 亿英镑的捐赠，并为其 14 名员工平均支付 29.3 万英镑的薪酬。Setiya 经常在社交媒体上发帖，呼吁为应对气候变化采取集体行动。他认为人类正走向“过度排放”的轨迹，必须立即削减排放。

神秘的工作环境