Yusuf Capar

My career has been split between two sides of financial markets — algorithmic trading and regulatory enforcement. I spent 15+ years running trading desks and building automated systems: co-founded Swiftcurrent Trading (Sharpe 3–8 across strategies), managed the market making group at Gelber Group, and turned around an underperforming automated trading unit at Hull/Ketchum Trading. I've built production C++ execution systems, FIX engines, and backtesting platforms from scratch. For the past six years I've been at the CFTC's Enforcement Division, where I built the data infrastructure and detection algorithms used in crypto market manipulation and fraud investigations. The tools I built are now used across CFTC divisions and have contributed to landmark digital asset enforcement actions. I hold an MBA from Harvard Business School and two degrees from MIT. I'm also a two-time Bronze Medalist in the International Olympiad in Informatics.

Notes2

• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. The subject held a sequence of actual quantitative-trading roles, not student programs: Trader at Optiver (2000-2003, a market-maker/prop-trading firm), Analyst at Deutsche Bank (2005-2008), Manager at Ketchum Trading LLC (2009-2011), Trading Manager at Gelber Group LLC (2011-2015, where the role description says he started the automated market-making group), and Manager and Co-Founder at Swiftcurrent Trading (2016-2019, described as combining high-frequency momentum trading, market making, and quantitative portfolio management). Employer classification: Optiver (market maker), Gelber Group (Chicago proprietary trading/market maker), Ketchum Trading (Chicago prop firm), Swiftcurrent Trading (systematic/algorithmic trading) all plausibly operate in quantitative trading; Deutsche Bank is a global investment bank. Identity is supported by the IOI records (two Bronze medals for Turkiye, 1995 and 1996) matching the profile's own claim of being a two-time IOI Bronze Medalist, plus a distinctive Turkish name and an MIT 1996-2000 timeline consistent with a ~1996 secondary-school finish. Caveat: the employment history comes from the subject's own self-reported LinkedIn profile (an index-only source), not from an independent primary source; no employer-side confirmation of these roles was located. No student programs (competitions, camps, insight days) were found standing in for the roles, so the employment basis is actual work.Sep 17, 2026
• Two-time Bronze Medalist for Turkiye at the International Olympiad in Informatics (1995, 1996), per the official IOI statistics: IOI 1995 (12/0/14/23 task scores) and IOI 1996 (142 points, 71.00%, ranked 62/220) - the profile's summary independently states 'a two-time Bronze Medalist in the International Olympiad in Informatics', which is what anchors the identity match.Aug 1, 1996
• Career arc spans two sides of the market: roughly 15 years across trading desks (Optiver, Deutsche Bank, Ketchum Trading, Gelber Group, Swiftcurrent Trading, 2000-2019) before moving to the CFTC Enforcement Division in 2019 - so the systematic-trading track is the bulk of his pre-2019 career, not a short detour.Sep 17, 2026
• Founded/co-founded Swiftcurrent Trading (Boulder, CO, 2016-2019), described as integrating high-frequency momentum trading, market making and quantitative portfolio management; the profile summary cites 'Sharpe 3-8 across strategies'.Jan 1, 2019
• Joined the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Enforcement Division as a Data Scientist in 2019, building detection tools for crypto market-manipulation and fraud investigations - a public-regulator role, not a trading role, and the reason his current title is not a quant-trading role.Jan 1, 2019
• As Trading Manager at Gelber Group LLC (Chicago, 2011-2015) he 'started the automated market making group', a description of building a systematic market-making desk rather than discretionary trading.Jan 1, 2015
• Managed an automated trading unit at Ketchum Trading LLC (Chicago, 2009-2011), described as a turnaround of an unprofitable unit; Ketchum is a Chicago proprietary trading firm associated with trader Blair Hull.Jan 1, 2011
• Started as a Trader at Optiver (2000-2003), a market-making firm - the earliest post-MIT role and consistent with the MIT BS (1996-2000) immediately preceding it.Jan 1, 2003
• Analyst at Deutsche Bank (2005-2008), which is a global investment bank rather than a systematic/quant fund; it is the only bank on the timeline.Jan 1, 2008
• Undergraduate at MIT 1996-2000 (BS) and MBA at Harvard Business School 2003-2005; the MIT start year directly follows his 1996 IOI appearance.Jan 1, 2005
• Catholic University of America adjunct professor from 2020 (teaching Big Data and Statistics), indicating a parallel teaching affiliation alongside the CFTC role.Jan 1, 2020