DRW

Founded in Chicago in 1992 by Don Wilson, DRW began as an options-trading firm built around quantitative modeling and technology. It remains a proprietary business, trading its own capital rather than managing outside investor money, with offices across North America, Europe and Asia.

DRW provides liquidity across futures, options, bonds, ETFs, equities, currencies, commodities, energy and digital assets. Its core strengths are market making, quantitative research, technology and risk management; it is particularly active in exchange-traded and FICC options, ETF liquidity and institutional crypto markets through Cumberland.

Beyond trading, DRW has expanded into venture capital focused on financial and enterprise technology, real estate through Convexity Properties, and other market-infrastructure and strategic technology activities. For students, the firm is most relevant to quantitative trading, software engineering, quantitative research, data and market-structure roles.