Trade Surveillance Analyst

Reporting Line: Chief Compliance Officer

Location: Chicago,IL, Sub-hub area, USA (Onsite)

Salary: up to $110K + comprehensive benefits (Negotiable, based on experience)

The Trade Surveillance Analyst will be an integral member of the firm’s second line of defense, responsible for conducting daily monitoring, analysis, and investigations of customer trading activity to identify potential market abuse or manipulative behavior. Coverage includes futures, options, and cleared derivatives executed or cleared through the company, a registered Futures Commission Merchant (“FCM”). This role leverages third‑party surveillance platforms, exchange‑provided tools, and internal systems to review alerts across multiple asset classes, with a primary focus on customer activity in futures markets.

The analyst will help ensure compliance with CFTC, NFA, and applicable exchange regulations (including CME, ICE, Kalshi, and others) by proactively detecting disruptive trading behavior, operational irregularities, and emerging risk trends. Close collaboration with Compliance, Risk Management, Operations, and Technology teams is essential to identify patterns, elevate concerns, enhance controls, and strengthen the firm’s trade surveillance framework.

• Proficient experience in trade surveillance, compliance, risk management, or futures operations within an FCM, exchange, or proprietary trading firm
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, information systems, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience
• Strong knowledge of futures markets, order types, market microstructure, and exchange rulebooks (e.g., CME, ICE, Eurex)
• Working understanding of CFTC and NFA regulations, including rules addressing disruptive trading practices
• Experience using trade surveillance systems and exchange‑provided tools (e.g., CME, ICE, TT Score, Eventus)
• Strong analytical, investigative, and critical‑thinking abilities, with attention to detail and comfort working with large datasets
• Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Demonstrated interest in financial markets and electronic trading platforms
• Effective written and verbal communication skills

• Prior trade surveillance, compliance, or trading experience at a Futures Commission Merchant
• Ability to assess and articulate organizational risk arising from identified issues
• Capacity to work independently while contributing effectively in a team environment
• Strong familiarity with the products offered by the company
• Knowledge of FIX message formats and order audit trail analysis
• Proactive approach with the ability to suggest and implement process enhancements
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills and professional client interaction abilities
• Excellent organizational skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines

• Reviewing trading data from multiple front‑end trading platforms, internal systems, and third‑party vendors, and escalating suspicious or unusual activity to Compliance and Legal teams
• Evaluating existing surveillance methodologies and working with stakeholders to improve review efficiency and develop new or enhanced controls
• Participating in ongoing alert calibration and tuning to optimize risk coverage while reducing false positives
• Monitoring daily surveillance alerts and investigating potential rule violations, including spoofing/layering, wash trading, cross‑market manipulation, excessive messaging, quote stuffing, and non‑competitive or prearranged trading
• Reconciling and validating trading data to ensure completeness and accuracy across surveillance and back‑office systems
• Maintaining subject matter expertise by staying current on regulatory updates, exchange rule changes, and surveillance technology trends
• Preparing clear, well‑documented investigation reports outlining findings, root causes, relevant regulations, and recommended remediation
• Managing multiple surveillance reviews and projects while meeting established timelines
• Collaborating with Operations, Risk, and Compliance teams on account onboarding, modifications, and ongoing monitoring requirements
• Communicating with introducing brokers, proprietary trading firms, and retail clients to address surveillance‑related inquiries or escalations
• Supporting targeted reviews and investigations in response to requests from Compliance, Risk, and Legal stakeholders.

⏩Email me with your updated CV at  to learn more about the above Opportunity 🏃 ♀️⏪