Prop trading firm adds new managing partner as hiring ramps up

Chicago-based high-frequency trading firm 3Red Partners has hired a new managing partner as it seeks to grow out its quant-focused business. George Monogyios began this month as 3Red’s new head of trading.

Launched in 2011, 3Red Partners is one of several high-frequency trading firms in Chicago to come to prominence over the last decade. Firms like 3Red, Jump Trading and Virtu Financial, focus of Michael Lewis’s Flash Boys, have made the Windy City a growing home to engineers who passed on careers in Silicon Valley for high-paying jobs in electronic trading. Jump employs nearly 30 former Google and Facebook alumni while many of 3Red’s hires come from top post-grad engineering schools like Johns Hopkins, Cal Tech and the University of Chicago. One current Google employee said many of his university friends have flocked to Chicago's algo trading scene, calling it "one of the more sought-after destinations" for engineers who want to work in finance without losing the startup culture. (3Red is said to have a ping pong table and hosts after-hours trivia and poker events). 

Monogyios will work alongside partner David Frohardt-Lane and the firm’s core technical team that trades commodities, fixed income and equity futures, the company confirmed. Monogyios joins from Tower Research Capital, where he was a senior algorithmic trader. 3Red Partners is said to be actively hiring, though the firm declined to comment on its specific growth plans. A careers site powered by Greenhouse shows general openings for traders, quants, quant developers and other tech positions. The company also engages in campus recruiting, which includes a robust four-interview process.

The rather opaque trading firm made headlines late last year when a federal judge dismissed claims from its co-founder, Edwin Johnson, who accused his former business partner and current 3Red CEO Igor Oystacher of illegally ousting him and engaging in corrupt practices, according to Bloomberg. While the suit was thrown out last October, Oystacher agreed in 2016 to pay $2.5 million to settle claims that he manipulated prices through spoofing. Oystacher denied any wrongdoing.

The story behind 3Red’s name is one of the most – or least – interesting you’ll hear, depending on your point of view. When Oystacher decided to launch the firm, he looked around the room for inspiration and saw three red chairs. He cut the word “chairs” and 3Red was born. “He didn't sit down with a business plan and think for hours on the perfect name; he cares about the talent that makes up 3Red," according to the company website. Fair enough…

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