‘Probably why they panicked when 2 guys left’: UK’s top trader says Jane Street’s India trades stink

Alexander Gerko, founder of XTX Markets, says the mystery behind Jane Street’s outsized profits in India may finally have an explanation—and not a legal one.

In a detailed LinkedIn post, Gerko reacted to SEBI’s July 3 order against Jane Street and its affiliates, which alleged market manipulation in India’s index derivatives market. “As far as I know, everyone in the industry was completely stumped by the amount of money JS were making in India,” Gerko wrote. “Based on earlier revenue leaks it felt that JS alone exceeded this cap. They certainly were making much more money there than everyone else combined.”

Jane Street’s trading behavior, according to SEBI, involved large, misleading positions on expiry days across cash and futures markets. The regulator impounded ₹4,843.5 crore and froze related bank accounts. Gerko said the allegations offer a plausible answer to what puzzled rivals for months: “It solves the mystery of ‘revenues exceeding market capacity’ in a way that doesn’t break any laws of economics (even if it breaks actual laws).”

Gerko initially assumed the firm had simply outplayed others. “My first reaction based on morning headline alone was that it’s probably the case of ‘It is not illegal to be smarter than your counterparties in a swap transaction.’ However, if you read the allegations made in the SEBI filing, the whole thing appears to stink very badly.”

He believes the alleged activity began around late August to early September 2023. “This is when our India index options trading went from Sharpe 10 to 0 overnight… completely shut down earlier in 2025, the first time in our 17 years history when we abandoned a market where we used to make money previously.”

Gerko estimated 90% of Jane Street’s revenue in India index options could be tied to similar activity, and questioned how a $20+ billion firm could tolerate this: “Either this function is intentionally stuffed with muppets while trading is done by IMO winners or the whole thing is company policy. Regulators elsewhere should pay attention.”

SEBI Chair Tuhin Kanta Pandey has said the regulator is tracking other entities closely and warned, “Market manipulation is not going to be tolerated.”