Citadel vs Citadel Securities: Differences, Pay and Hiring

On 11 January 2022 Citadel Securities announced a $1.15 billion investment from Sequoia and Paradigm, valuing the market maker at about $22 billion. Bloomberg called it the firm's first outside investment in its 20-year history. None of that money went into Citadel, the hedge fund.

The two firms share a founder, a name and a Miami headquarters. In their own words, they are "two separate and distinct financial firms".

Here is the short version. Citadel is a multi-strategy investment manager that runs money for outside institutions; it reported $69 billion of investment capital on 1 June 2026. Citadel Securities is a market maker: it quotes prices and trades with brokers, banks and asset managers, and says it executes more than 23% of US equity volume. Ken Griffin founded both and controls both. He is CEO of Citadel and non-executive chairman of Citadel Securities, whose CEO is Peng Zhao.

For candidates, three things matter. Quant research and engineering recruiting is joint, so you interview with both firms at once. Trading at Citadel Securities and investing at Citadel are separate tracks with very different interviews. And the posted base pay for US graduates is the same at both.

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The Two Firms Side by Side

The market share figures are Citadel Securities' own: the equity volume figure is a trailing 12-month average compiled in April 2026, and the retail figure comes from its first-half 2026 market structure report.

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Ownership and Control

The two firms have separate general partners, and Griffin controls both. A 2026 SEC filing made jointly by the Citadel and Citadel Securities entities says Griffin "owns a controlling interest" in Citadel GP LLC and in Citadel Securities GP LLC. Neither firm publishes his exact stake. The New Yorker reported in June 2026 that he owns "at least seventy-five per cent" of Citadel Securities and "doesn't directly run" it.

The outside investors are the other difference. Sequoia and Paradigm bought a minority stake in Citadel Securities in 2022, and Sequoia's Alfred Lin joined its board; the percentage was never disclosed. That deal did not involve the hedge fund.

In practice the firms sit close together. They announced their move from Chicago to Miami jointly on 23 June 2022, share an address at 830 Brickell Plaza, and signed a joint lease for a new London building at 2 Finsbury Avenue, due to be completed in 2028. But the leadership teams are separate, and each firm has its own careers site. For Griffin's own story, see our Ken Griffin career profile.

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What Citadel Does

Citadel invests capital across five strategies: Commodities, Credit & Convertibles, Equities, Fixed Income & Macro, and Global Quantitative Strategies. Within equities there are several separate businesses, including Citadel Global Equities, Surveyor and Ashler. The Wall Street Journal described the structure in August 2024 as "scores of teams that semiautonomously manage their own portfolios", which is the pod model our quant hedge fund guide explains.

Its investment capital moves month to month, so always use a dated figure: $66 billion on 1 February 2026 and $69 billion on 1 June 2026, according to Citadel. Its flagship Wellington fund returned 10.2% in 2025, according to Bloomberg, CNBC and Reuters.

A much larger figure, about $570 billion, appears in Citadel's regulatory filings. That is gross regulatory assets under management, including leverage, and it is not the same thing as the money investors have given the firm.

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What Citadel Securities Does

Citadel Securities makes markets. It stands ready to buy and sell equities, options, US Treasuries, interest rate swaps and foreign exchange, earning the spread between the prices it quotes, and says it trades across more than 50 markets. It describes itself as the leading designated market maker on the New York Stock Exchange and says it handles more than 30% of US equity options volume.

Many retail investors trade with it without knowing it. When a US broker routes your order for execution, it often goes to a wholesaler, and Citadel Securities puts its share of US-listed retail volume at about 35%.

The business has grown fast. Bloomberg reported in March 2026 that Citadel Securities made a record $12.2 billion of trading revenue in 2025, up 25% on 2024. That figure comes from people familiar with the results, not from the firm. Our market making guide explains how the business model works.

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Recruiting: Which One Hires You

Quant Research and Engineering: Both at Once

This is the part most candidates get wrong. Citadel's and Citadel Securities' interview guides for quant research and engineering both say: "Interviewing with us means having the opportunity to talk with two firms at once: Citadel and Citadel Securities."

The engineering guide explains how that works. "You will know which firm they represent. The interview process is the same for both firms. Your preference is taken into account, but placement depends on your skills, experience and business needs." After the second round, hiring managers "across teams within Citadel and Citadel Securities" review your feedback.

So if you apply for a quant research or software engineering role, you are not choosing a firm at the application stage in the way you might think. You are entering one process and being matched.

Trading and Investing: Separate Tracks

The joint process is officially stated only for quant research and engineering. The two firms' most distinctive programmes sit outside it:

• Citadel Securities Quantitative Trading. The US internship is "a single application for our summer trading and quantitative research program", with a learning series on markets, mock trading and game theory.
• The Citadel Associate Program. A fundamental equities programme at Citadel, with an 11-week summer internship for rising seniors and a full-time programme aimed at developing future portfolio managers.

The trading role at Citadel Securities and the investing role at Citadel ask for very different skills, and you should apply to the one that fits your background.

Applying to Both

Citadel's then head of graduate recruitment told eFinancialCareers in 2022 that candidates could apply to both firms. We found no official rule limiting you to one application per cycle, and no official reapplication period, although several third-party sites claim one.

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How the Interviews Differ

For quant research, the official process has four steps over about four to five weeks: a 45 to 60 minute remote first round on CoderPad covering programming, research ability, data structures and problem-solving, then an onsite of "three to five 60-minute interviews". For engineering, it takes about eight weeks: a 45-minute CoderPad round, then three 45-minute interviews, then a leadership interview and a final review. The same process serves both firms.

For Citadel Securities quantitative trading, there is no official guide. Candidates describe a probability-heavy online test (one 2023 thread reports 15 questions in 30 minutes; a 2025 report mentions coding as well), a 45-minute first round of market making on Fermi estimates and dice or coin problems, and a superday with more market making. One 2026 reply summed it up: "It's not standardized."

For the Citadel Associate Program, candidates on Wall Street Oasis describe a financial modelling test and a Wonderlic-style cognitive test, then interviews with investment professionals built around stock pitches and valuation. Reports disagree on how long the modelling test is.

Our Citadel interview guide covers each process in more depth.

Worked Questions

Both are our own examples, one in the style of each track.

1. Market making (Citadel Securities style). Make me a market on the number of heads in 10 fair coin flips.

The expected value is 5 and the standard deviation is √(10 × 0.5 × 0.5) ≈ 1.58. A sensible opening market is 4 at 6. Then listen: if the interviewer buys at 6 and asks for a new price, they may know something, so move up and widen until you understand why. The number is the easy part. How you update is what is being tested, and our market making interview questions have more in this style.

2. Valuation (Citadel Associate Program style). A stock trades at 20 times earnings. Next year earnings grow 10%, but the multiple falls to 18 times. What is your return, ignoring dividends?

The price is earnings times the multiple, so the new price relative to the old is 1.10 × 18 / 20 = 0.99. You lose about 1%, even though earnings grew by 10%. This is the kind of arithmetic a stock pitch interview expects you to do on the spot.

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Pay

These are the base salaries in the firms' US job postings for the 2026 to 2027 cycle, checked in September 2026. Some were read through job-board copies of the postings. Bonuses are discretionary and not published.

The posted base bands are the same at both firms. Claims that one firm pays graduates more are about bonuses, which neither firm publishes, so treat them as estimates. The bands have also risen: Citadel's earlier posting for 2025 software engineering graduates listed $200,000 to $250,000. Our Citadel salary guide collects the wider estimates.

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Culture and Contracts

Griffin brought staff back to the office full time in June 2021, according to Bloomberg and Fortune. At the hedge fund, the pod structure means your experience depends heavily on which team you join.

Non-competes are the other difference people ask about. Bloomberg reported in August 2026 that Citadel was imposing non-competes of up to two years on investing staff, including some analysts, with the length tied to pay. Those reports concern the hedge fund's investing teams. We found no reliable reporting on non-competes for Citadel Securities staff or for graduate quant and engineering hires at either firm, so check your own offer rather than assuming either way.

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Which Should You Apply For?

If you want to be a quant researcher or a software engineer, the choice matters less than you think: you enter a joint process, state a preference and get matched. Say what kind of problem interests you, not which logo.

If you want to trade, meaning to quote prices, manage risk in real time and be judged on it daily, apply to Citadel Securities. If you want to invest, meaning to build a view on a company or a market over weeks and months, look at Citadel's investing programmes. These are different jobs, and the interviews are designed to find out which one you are suited to. Our hedge fund vs prop trading firm guide sets out the difference in more detail.

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Where This Comparison Goes Wrong

Both firms' websites block automated access, so the official wording here comes from copies of their pages found through search engines. The recruiting descriptions are official only for quant research and engineering; everything about the trading and investing interviews is candidate-reported and varies by team. Scale figures change monthly, and Griffin's exact ownership of each firm is not public. And "separate firms" is a legal and management statement: the shared founder, brand and buildings mean the two are closer than most competitors.

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Recruiting Notes

Posted base salaries are taken from the firms' US postings as of September 2026; total pay depends on discretionary bonuses and any figures beyond base are estimates, varying by role, office, year and performance. Nothing here guarantees an interview or an offer, and recruiting processes change between cycles.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are Citadel and Citadel Securities the same company?

No. Both describe themselves as "two separate and distinct financial firms". Citadel is a multi-strategy hedge fund and Citadel Securities is a market maker. Ken Griffin founded both and holds a controlling interest in each, but they have separate management teams.

Who owns Citadel Securities?

Ken Griffin holds a controlling interest, according to SEC filings, and the New Yorker reported in June 2026 that he owns at least 75%. Sequoia and Paradigm bought a minority stake in January 2022 in a $1.15 billion investment that valued the firm at about $22 billion.

Is Citadel Securities a hedge fund?

No. Citadel Securities is a market maker: it quotes buy and sell prices and trades with brokers and institutions. Citadel is the hedge fund.

Is the interview process the same for Citadel and Citadel Securities?

For quant research and engineering, yes. Both firms say you interview with "two firms at once", and the engineering guide says "the interview process is the same for both firms". Trading roles at Citadel Securities and investing roles at Citadel have their own processes.

Does Citadel Securities pay more than Citadel?

Not on posted base salary. Both firms' US postings for graduate quantitative researchers and software engineers list $235,000 to $300,000, and Citadel Securities lists the same for graduate quantitative traders. Bonuses are not published, so claims about differences in total pay are estimates.

Who is the CEO of Citadel Securities?

Peng Zhao, who joined the firm as a quantitative researcher in 2006 and has been CEO since 2017. Jim Esposito became President in 2024. Ken Griffin is non-executive chairman.