Two Stars Leave Jump

Two senior quants, Yiming Zhang and Darko Kirovski, have left Jump Trading’s Core Strategies group, one of the firm’s biggest trading units. (businessinsider.com) Business Insider reported the departures on April 18, and Jump confirmed that Zhang and Kirovski resigned that week. Zhang joined the Chicago-based firm in 2009, and Kirovski joined in 2011. (businessinsider.com) Jump cofounder Paul Gurinas said the two men were “instrumental” to the firm’s growth over the last 17 years. Business Insider described them as foundational leaders inside Jump Core Strategies, a group known for high-frequency trading across global markets. (businessinsider.com) High-frequency trading is a business of speed and prediction: firms use algorithms and custom hardware to buy and sell in tiny fractions of a second. Jump says its trading business relies on advanced research, custom infrastructure, and expertise across asset classes. (jumptrading.com) That makes personnel changes unusually important. In quantitative trading, researchers build models, signals, and systems that often sit inside a small team rather than on a public balance sheet. (jumptrading.com) The timing stands out because the exits followed a strong start to 2026 for Jump. Business Insider reported that the firm posted a record first quarter, with Core Strategies playing a major role in those profits. (businessinsider.com) Jump has also been navigating fallout from its crypto business. In December 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tai Mo Shan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jump Crypto Holdings, agreed to pay about $123 million to settle allegations tied to TerraUSD and Luna. (sec.gov) Business Insider said it could not immediately confirm where Zhang and Kirovski are headed next. For now, the clearest fact is that two long-serving researchers are no longer inside the group that helped drive Jump’s recent gains. (businessinsider.com)