US trading firm Jane Street barred from securities mkt over ‘stock manipulation’

The investigation will expand to include other major stock indexes, including the Nifty 50 and Sensex, over the coming months,

Mumbai : Indian regulators have temporarily barred US securities trading company Jane Street from accessing the local securities market for alleged index manipulation, dealing a severe hit to the firm, which made $4.3 billion in trading gains there in less than two years.

SEBI Bhavan at BKC Bandra in Mumbai.(PTI)

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said it would seize $570 million ( ₹4,843 crore) from Jane Street, which it claimed is the total amount of “unlawful gains” made by the firm, according to a 105-page interim order by Ananth Narayan, a board member at the regulator, on its website. Jane Street said it disputes the findings.

The investigation will expand to include other major stock indexes, including the Nifty 50 and Sensex, over the coming months, a Sebi official said, without providing a timeline of when the probe will end.

Jane Street is one of the most active foreign players in India, the world’s largest derivatives market by contracts traded, and one that has become a magnet for high-frequency trading firms amid a retail investing boom sparked by the pandemic. Sebi’s order marks a rare instance of such action against a foreign firm.

Jane Street(HT)

The US-based market maker’s operations in India came under a global spotlight last year after a court battle with Millennium Management revealed it earned $1 billion trading in Indian equity derivatives.

Other details disclosed in the case helped trigger Sebi’s investigation, which continued even as the National Stock Exchange of India earlier this year closed a separate probe into irregular trades by the firm.

Jane Street made about $4.3 billion ( ₹36,671 crore, according to Sebi) in overall gain from trading in Indian derivatives and cash market during the period between January 2023 and March 2025, according to the SEBI order.

“SEBI is sending a message to global HFT giants that you are welcome to trade here but if you undertake unfair practices then we also hold a stick,” said Tejas Shah, head of derivatives at Equirus Securities. “I would expect some temporary impact on volumes as other HFTs sit back a little.”

Shares of Nuvama Wealth Management, Jane Street’s local trading partner, plunged 11% in Mumbai trading, the most in over three months.

India’s benchmark Nifty 50 index was down 0.2% while a broader gauge of Asian equities fell 0.3%.

Sebi alleged that on weekly index options expiry days, Jane Street used a large amount of funds to influence price action in the futures as well as the cash market — where volumes are relatively low. That allowed it “to put on significantly larger and profitable positions in the highly liquid index options market by misleading and enticing a large number of smaller individual traders.”

The regulator had warned Jane Street to avoid such trading practices as early as January this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The investigation found that the trading strategy continued to be used in May, the person said.

Curbs imposed

Pending detailed investigation, Jane Street Group entities are immediately “restrained from accessing the securities market and are further prohibited from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities, directly or indirectly,” SEBI said. Banks have been directed to ensure no debits are made without SEBI’s permission in respect of the accounts held individually or jointly by the entities, according to the interim order.

SEBI also said the restrictions can be lifted if Jane Street deposits the said amount in an escrow account at a designated bank in India.

Jane Street disputes the findings of the SEBI interim order and will further engage with the regulator, a representative for the US-based market maker said in a statement. SEBI said the firm can contest the regulator’s “prima facie observations” within 21 days of the receipt of the order.

“This may signal Sebi’s growing vigilance and willingness to assert control over foreign institutional activity making hefty gains in its derivatives market —particularly where such strategies blur the line between smart trading and market distortion,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets in Singapore.

Derivatives boom

Global high-frequency trading and market-making firms from Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities to Optiver have rushed to expand operations in India in recent years as the retail investor-led boom saw options premiums surge 11-fold in the five years to March 2025.

The retail frenzy has helped foreign funds and local proprietary firms that use algorithms as they pocketed $7 billion in gross profits in the 12 months ended in March 2024, according to a Sebi study. Retail investors, meanwhile, lost an equivalent of $21 billion from trading futures and options in the three years to March 2024, according to the regulator.

To protect them, SEBI has since November imposed several restrictions on trading options including higher minimum investment limits and an increase in lot sizes to protect retail traders. The measures have helped cool trading this year.

The regulator’s action “will also create a level playing field for everyone especially the local players who were losing a lot of money,” said Shah of Equirus.

Sebi also directed Jane Street entities to close out or square off any open positions they may have in exchange-traded derivative contracts within three months from the date of order or at the expiry of such contracts, whichever is earlier.

Jane Street is “committed to operating in compliance with all regulations” in the regions it operates in around the world, the firm said in its statement.

“Large, aggressive, or even dominant trading strategies are not per se unlawful unless they are deceptive or fraudulent. Sebi’s case relies on patterns and price impact rather than direct evidence of deception, which could face scrutiny. This matter could set an important precedent for how Indian law treats complex algorithmic strategies in the derivatives market,” said Sumit Agrawal, founder of Regstreet Law Advisors and a former Sebi official.