122: Virtu. Hitting singles all day long—on a global scale w/ Doug Cifu

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Doug Cifu is the co-founder and CEO of Virtu Financial, one of the largest electronic market making firms in the world. Around the clock, Virtu are trading in 12,000 instruments, across 235 markets and 36 countries, with only 140 staff.

Virtu often trade more than 4.5 million times a day, and prior to their IPO in 2015, Virtu reported the firm had made a profit 1,277 out of 1,278 days—losing money just one day between 2009 and 2014.

And in recent news, Virtu made headlines 20th April (2017), after announcing their acquisition of rival, Knight Capital Group for $1.4 billion.

Doug is also the co-owner of NHL team, Florida Panthers—with the second owner, being none other than his Virtu co-founder, Vincent Viola.

Douglas Cifu: CEO of Virtu Financial and co-owner of Florida Panthers. (Photograph: Benedict Evans for Bloomberg Markets)

Topics of discussion:

  • The backstory of how Doug went from 18 years as a corporate lawyer, to meet Vincent Viola and become top players in the space of electronic market making.
  • Creating a scale business—the method for how Virtu have been able to fuel massive growth in a short 10-year period. Do one thing, do it well, repeat!
  • A glimpse into Virtu’s trading strategies, and why they’re able to consistently make money by “hitting singles” and tapping into the law of large numbers.
  • Doug gives a few words for how others can reach high levels of entrepreneurial success, thoughts on ignoring fake limitations and leveraging great talent.

Links and resources mentioned:

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