What Cardinal Capital Management does

IMC Trading is a global proprietary trading firm founded in 1989 on the Amsterdam Exchange (AEX) and headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The firm provides liquidity across 120+ trading venues worldwide and serves institutional clients including buy-side firms, options market participants, ETF issuers/authorized participants, and crypto market participants. Its stated ambition is to be the world's leading trading firm.

IMC's core product portfolio comprises four pillars: Institutional Sales (off-screen trading for buy-side firms; top-3 global liquidity provider by volume in listed options), Options Wholesaling (technology-enabled connectivity to all Options Clearing Corporation venues for US options), ETF Market Making (Lead Market Maker in 150+ US ETFs), and Crypto Solutions (a dedicated crypto team offering spot, perps, futures, and options on- and off-chain). Revenue is generated through transaction fees, bid-ask spread capture, and market-making activities; pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed.

The technology backbone comprises 9,000+ servers across 9 countries processing petabytes of data daily, supporting proprietary algorithms and a cross-functional quant research, technology, and trading workforce. IMC operates 10 global offices (Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney, Seoul, London, Zug, New York, Mumbai, Hong Kong) employing 1,900+ people representing 70+ nationalities, enabling 24/7 liquidity across US, European, Asia-Pacific, and Indian trading hubs. The firm is privately held with no public listing.

Name

Cardinal Capital Management

Legal name

IMC Trading

Website

https://ccmtrading.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IMC Trading is a global proprietary trading firm founded in 1989 that provides liquidity across 120+ venues in listed options, ETFs, and crypto products to institutional clients via sales desks, options wholesaling, ETF market making, and crypto solutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Proprietary Trading & Market Making

NAICS

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523), Other Financial Investment Activities (5239)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Liquidity Provisioning & Principal Trading (Bank/Dealer) (FSACANAI)

Keywords

• Proprietary trading
• Market making
• Liquidity provision
• Options wholesaling
• ETF market making

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Institutional Trading & Liquidity Provision: Provides liquidity as a top-3 liquidity provider by volume traded in listed options globally. Generates revenue through trading activities, market making services, and direct client trading facilitation.
2. Options Wholesaling: Provides technology-enabled connectivity to OCC venues for options trading, earning revenue from execution services and spread capture.
3. ETF Market Making: Acts as Lead Market Maker (LMM) in more than 150 US ETFs, generating revenue through bid-ask spreads and market making activities.
4. Crypto Trading Solutions: Provides global coverage of crypto products including spot, perps, futures, and options both on- and off-chain.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cardinal Capital Management (as described in the provided source material) is a global proprietary trading firm that delivers liquidity across more than 120 venues worldwide through institutional sales desks, options wholesaling, ETF market making, and crypto trading solutions. The firm leverages proprietary algorithms and a technology backbone of 9,000+ servers to provide best-in-class outcomes in value and risk transfer for institutional clients.

Product overview

IMC Trading operates as a global trading firm offering a unified platform of liquidity and trading services. The core product portfolio includes Institutional Sales (off-screen trading for buy-side firms), Options Wholesaling (connectivity to OCC venues), Crypto Solutions (spot, perps, futures, and options), and ETF Market Making (LMM services for 150+ ETFs). These services are powered by proprietary trading technology, algorithms, and a cutting-edge research environment, enabling 24/7 liquidity across major exchanges worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Institutional Sales Institutional sales desk service providing liquidity and execution to institutional clients across global markets and venues.
• Options Wholesaling Wholesale liquidity provision service for listed options, serving institutional options market participants with pricing and execution across global venues.
• ETF Market Making Market making service for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), providing liquidity and pricing across global ETF exchanges and venues.
• Crypto Trading Solutions Crypto trading and liquidity provision service offering institutional clients access to digital-asset markets via the firm's trading platform and infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• Top-3 liquidity provider by volume traded in listed options globally
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Jane Street: Global proprietary trading firm and one of the largest ETF market makers and options liquidity providers worldwide. Directly comparable to IMC in asset class breadth, institutional client base, and ETF market-making leadership.
• Citadel Securities: Leading global market maker across equities, options, ETFs, and fixed income. Directly comparable to IMC as a top-tier institutional liquidity provider competing for similar order flow across major exchanges.
• Susquehanna International Group (SIG): Global quantitative proprietary trading firm providing liquidity across options, ETFs, and equities. Comparable to IMC in institutional focus, options market making, and quant-driven trading approach.
• DRW Trading: Chicago-based proprietary trading firm active across multiple asset classes including crypto, equities, and fixed income. Comparable to IMC in cross-asset market making and institutional liquidity provision.
• Flow Traders: Amsterdam-headquartered global liquidity provider specializing in ETFs and ETPs. Closely comparable to IMC specifically in the ETF market making vertical, with similar European roots and institutional focus.
• Optiver: Amsterdam-headquartered global proprietary trading firm and market maker with strong options, ETF, and equities presence. Closely comparable to IMC in headquarter geography, scale, and product mix.
• Two Sigma Securities: Quantitative trading arm of Two Sigma providing institutional liquidity across equities and futures. Comparable to IMC in technology-driven market making and institutional client base.
• Jump Trading: High-frequency trading firm and global market maker across crypto, equities, futures, and options. Comparable to IMC in technology-driven liquidity provision and cross-asset coverage.
• Hudson River Trading (HRT): Quantitative trading firm providing liquidity across global equities, futures, options, and ETFs. Comparable to IMC as a technology-led institutional market maker with similar algorithmic approach.

Broad incumbents

• Virtu Financial: Publicly traded global market maker and execution services provider across equities, ETFs, options, and fixed income. Overlaps with IMC's market making activities but operates across a broader portfolio of services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cardinal Capital Management