Tower Research Capital

Tower Research Capital LLC (also known as Tower or Tower Research) is a high-frequency trading, algorithmic trading, and financial services firm.

Tower Research Capital LLC
IndustryFinancial services
FoundedFebruary 1998 (1998-02)
Founders
HeadquartersNew York City, U.S.
Number of locations
11
Key people
  • Albert An (CEO)
  • Mark Gorton (chairman)
Number of employees
c. 1,000 (2020)
SubsidiariesLatour Trading
Websitetower-research.com

About Tower

Tower Research Capital is one of the oldest automated trading firms.[1] It was started by Mark Gorton and Alistair Brown in February 1998.[2][3]

Tower's internal trading teams are independent from one another, enjoying autonomy while accessing shared technology resources such as hardware, software, and connectivity as well as resources such as business management, legal, compliance, and risk management.

At the heart of operations is the core engineering team, which owns the architecture, implementation and optimization of the trading platform itself. This includes developing systems and tools to access market data, perform trend analysis, run trading simulations, order entry and management, real-time trade support, risk management and post-trade services.

Working together, Tower builds technology and deploys diverse automated and quantitative strategies across a broad range of asset classes in global markets around the clock.

Tower is staffed by employees proficient in diverse backgrounds such as mathematics, computer programming, physics, law, economics, engineering, finance, and more. As of 2022, Tower has over 1,000 employees in its global staff.[3]

Albert An has served as the CEO of the firm since 2019.[1]

In 2014 Tower Research's wholly-owned subsidiary Latour Trading, which sometimes accounted for 9% of U.S. stock trading, was fined a record $16 million for violating the net capital rule. Latour deliberately mis-estimated its exposure to risk and traded despite not holding enough capital.[4]

In 2019 Tower Research was fined $67.4 million for manipulating the markets in E-mini financial futures contracts by spoofing. Tower traders placed thousands of orders for futures contracts that it never intended to execute.[5] Three traders were criminally charged and two pled guilty in the case.[6][7] Tower subsequently settled a class-action lawsuit for $15 million.[8]

In 2021 a suit alleging spoofing by Tower Research brought by Korean investors was decided in favor of Tower when the court ruled that trading on the Korean exchange was not subject to the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act.[9]

Locations

Tower is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in Chicago, South Charleston, Montreal, London, Amsterdam, Gurgaon, GIFT City, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

References
  1. Abelson, Max; Leising, Matthew (August 1, 2019). "Mark Gorton Steps Down as CEO of HFT Firm Tower Research Capital". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  2. Patterson, Scott (September 13, 2010). "Man Vs. Machine: Seven Major Players in High-Frequency Trading". CNBC.
  3. "Here's how much top market makers are paying their traders, engineers, researchers, and others". Business Insider. March 31, 2022. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022.
  4. Patterson, Scott (September 17, 2014). "High-Frequency Trading Firm Latour to Pay $16 Million SEC Penalty". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. "Tower Research Capital LLC Agrees to Pay $67 Million in Connection With Commodities Fraud Scheme" (Press release). U.S. Dept. of Justice. November 11, 2019. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  6. "Three Traders Charged, and Two Agree to Plead Guilty, in Connection with over $60 Million Commodities Fraud and Spoofing Conspiracy" (Press release). U.S. Dept of Justice. October 12, 2018. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  7. Scharf, Rachel (July 9, 2021). "Ex-Tower Research Trader Ducks Jail Time In Spoofing Case". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  8. Sax-McCleod, Andrew (February 3, 2021). "American firm's spoofing saga continues; results in $15 million settlement to traders". Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  9. Godoy, Jody (June 22, 2021). "2nd Circuit upholds Tower Research win in Korean futures case". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
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