Jump Trading, a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm known for high-frequency trading, is expanding its prediction markets business as institutional interest accelerates.
- The firm has doubled its prediction markets team to about 20 people this year and plans to continue hiring, Simon Johansen, Jump Trading's head of prediction markets told Bloomberg on Thursday, July 16.
- The company has been recruiting talent outside traditional quantitative finance circles, including a researcher who joined after developing expertise in sports betting before working at a Big Four accounting firm, Johansen added.
Jump Trading entered prediction markets in late 2025, trading on Kalshi and Polymarket. The firm has agreements with both companies that allow it to take small stakes in the businesses while providing liquidity to their markets.
Terraform Labs' bankruptcy administrator has sued Jump Trading, alleging the firm used undisclosed agreements to support TerraUSD's price in 2021 and helped create an artificial appearance of stability before the stablecoin collapsed in 2022.
- The administrator is seeking about $4 billion in damages from Jump Trading.
- Jump Trading hasn't been criminally convicted of market manipulation and has denied wrongdoing.
Separately, Tai Mo Shan, a Jump Trading subsidiary focused on crypto investments, agreed in December 2024 to pay $123 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle allegations that it misled investors about TerraUSD's stability.
- Tai Mo Shan didn't admit or deny the SEC's findings.
Despite the legal dispute, Jump Trading is positioning prediction markets as a growing business opportunity. Johansen said the firm wants to trade event contracts across a wide range of topics, from sports to economic data and other markets where it sees opportunities.