One of the most secretive trading firms on Wall Street has been trading bitcoin

trading desk

Jane Street, a secretive Wall Street firm which traded more than $5 trillion in 2017, has started trading bitcoin, the company told Business Insider.
It says it is open to diving further into the space as it continues to evolve.

Jane Street has jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

The secretive trading firm, which traded $5 trillion across different products in 2017, is known for its heavy focus on technology and weight in stock trading. Now, it joins a slew of other traders in the crypto market.

"Jane Street trades over 56,000 products globally across a wide variety of asset classes, including bitcoin," the company confirmed in a statement.

Jane Street has over 600 employees and facilitates $13 billion in equity trading volumes a day, according to its website.

Founded in 2000, it only entered the crypto market in the last year, people familiar with the situation told Business Insider. It follows the lead of DRW, which entered the market via its crypto trading arm Cumberland in 2014.

Other high-frequency traders and market makers to dive into the space include DV Trading, Hehmeyer Trading, Virtu Financial, and Jump Trading.

These companies, which make more money trading in volatile markets, have been attracted to the spine-tingling price moves in crypto markets, a space where 20% dips are par for the course.

Arbitrage opportunities in crypto have been particularly mouth-watering. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can trade at wildly different prices on any given exchange, giving traders the opportunity to buy low on one venue to then sell high on another.

"There is sometimes 10% exchange arbitrage," Toby Allen of trading firm Akuna Capital previously told Business Insider. "As a trader it is such an amazingly fun space to be in compared to traditional assets because of the spreads and technology gaps."

It's not clear how much Jane Street has made from crypto, but the company said it expects to stay involved in the crypto market as more products are created.

"Jane Street has always taken a considered approach to trading opportunities and will continue to do so," the firm told Business Insider. "As more cryptocurrency products emerge, we expect to be involved."

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