US-based Citadel Securities hires option traders in India after Jane Street saga: Report

As per the report, Citadel Securities has hired Prajual Maheshwari from high-frequency trading firm Aakraya Research in Mumbai.

Citadel's expansion in Indian markets comes after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) penalised Jane Street for manipulating NIFTY and NIFTY Bank contracts on expiry days. High-frequency trading firm Jane Street was allowed to re-enter Indian markets after depositing alleged unlawful gains of ₹4,844 crore in an escrow account with SEBI.

In a 96-page interim order, SEBI detailed that between January 2023 and March 2025, Jane Street’s entities earned over ₹43,289 crore in profits trading index options. The regulator alleged that on at least 15 BANKNIFTY options expiry days, the firm used what it called an “Intra-day Index Manipulation Strategy”.

The strategy involved aggressively buying large quantities of BANKNIFTY constituent stocks and futures contracts early in the session to temporarily push up the banking index, followed by aggressive selling later in the day to reverse those trades. SEBI said this pattern incurred nearly ₹200 crore in intraday losses on underlying trades but generated outsized gains in options positions linked to the index.

According to SEBI, this lacked a standalone economic rationale and was designed to artificially move index levels to benefit Jane Street’s derivatives positions, thereby distorting fair price discovery and harming other market participants.

The investigation was reportedly triggered by a lawsuit Jane Street launched last year against Millennium Management and two former traders accused of stealing a trading strategy that revolved around Indian options trading.