HFT firm lowered headcount, bumped up bonuses 47%

In the age of rapid expansion among algorithmic trading firms, Flow Traders is being more conservative with its growth. The Dutch prop trader and market maker posted record fourth quarter revenues, and its staff were well rewarded for them.

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Flow Traders reported €467.8m ($490m) in net trading income for the entirety of 2024, up 56% year-on-year. Full-time employee headcount, meanwhile, was down marginally from 613 to 609 in that period. Revenues per head were €768k last year.

Compensation is up, but not quite to that degree. 'Employee expenses,' comprised of both a fixed and variable component, were €274k per full-time employee in 2024, up 25% year-on-year. This was driven by a 47% increase in variable compensation. Bonuses rose from €94.5k in 2023 to €140k per full-time employee in 2024.

CEO Mike Keuhnel said in the firm's Q4 earnings call yesterday that Flow is "focused on integrating new talent," rather than hiring more people, after a "few years of rapid expansion." Nonetheless, he says the firm is pursuing the "targeted addition of subject-matter experts in growth areas." Part of this is presumably AI; we saw Flow Traders hiring for a new team late last year focused on deep learning research.

Hiring may now be picking up; Flow Traders has 48 open roles, predominantly in technology. Senior hires in 2025 have been focused on the firm's London office in Finsbury Square; this month, it hired Adam McCarthy, EMEA head of technology for machine learning research and healthcare at AWS, to work on quantitative research engineering.

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