Jake Nelson

Experience

• Elequin Capital, LP

  Portfolio Manager

  Jan 2025 - Aug 2025

  Elequin Capital, LP is a small, privately held financial services firm (asset/prop trading and investment) focused on technology‑driven market strategies. The firm maintains a compact, research‑and‑trading oriented team and recruits technologists for its trading operations.

  • Managed multi‑asset trading portfolios and assumed P&L and execution responsibility across assigned strategies.
  • Developed and implemented systematic strategy ideas from research through execution, collaborating closely with quant researchers and engineers.
  • Built and enforced trade‑level and portfolio‑level risk limits, including intraday controls and post‑trade reconciliation processes.
  • Worked with trading technology to refine execution algorithms and reduce slippage; authored SQL/Python tools to validate fills and monitor performance.
  • Coordinated with counterparties, brokers and clearing partners to optimize connectivity, minimize costs and improve execution quality.
  • Prepared regular strategy and performance reports for partners and prospective investors, translating research insights into portfolio actions.
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  J2 Summit

  Co-Founder

  Jan 2024 - Jan 2025

  J2 Summit is an operator-led advisory firm that designs and implements infrastructure for trading firms, hedge funds, exchanges, and high-growth fintechs. The firm focuses on practical risk frameworks, exposure controls, trading desk structure, analytics systems and operational controls so organizations can scale without breaking.

  • Co‑founded and positioned J2 Summit as a practitioner-led advisory for capital markets and fintech clients, defining service offering and go‑to‑market messaging.
  • Designed and implemented risk frameworks and exposure controls tailored to client trading workflows, reducing unstructured capital exposure and operational ambiguity.
  • Built trading desk operating models and governance (roles, decision paths, escalation), enabling clearer intra‑desk responsibilities and faster incident response.
  • Delivered analytics and monitoring systems (requirements, vendor selection, implementation oversight) that turned desk-level data into actionable risk and performance signals.
  • Led client engagements end‑to‑end — scoping, implementation, and handoff — translating trader needs into durable systems and processes.
  • Created training and run‑book material so trading teams could adopt and sustain new controls and analytics post‑engagement.
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  AlphaGrep

  Quantitative Trader

  Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

  AlphaGrep is a global quantitative trading and investment firm that researches and deploys algorithmic trading strategies across asset classes and exchanges. The firm emphasizes coding, mathematics and statistics, ultra‑low latency execution, large‑scale data analysis and robust risk management.

  • Researched and developed systematic/alpha strategies using statistical and machine‑learning techniques applied to large market data sets.
  • Implemented and optimized execution paths for ultra‑low latency and mid‑frequency strategies across multiple exchanges and venues.
  • Built backtests, live P&L monitoring and attribution pipelines to validate strategy behaviour and identify regime shifts.
  • Worked with engineering teams to productionize models: feature pipelines, model scheduling, and automated retraining/validation cycles.
  • Designed and enforced strategy risk controls (position limits, stop logic, exposure caps) and operational runbooks for live deployments.
  • Contributed to market‑making and liquidity provision activities, coordinating hedging and inventory management across products and geographies.
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  PEAK6

  Senior Equity Options Trader

  Aug 2020 - Feb 2022

  PEAK6 is a technology‑enabled investment and holding company that began in proprietary trading and has expanded into fintech, insurtech, and other businesses. The firm leverages technology, trading expertise and operational design to build and scale differentiated businesses.

  • Traded equity options as part of a four‑trader pod, managing intraday risk, hedges and inventory across assigned symbols.
  • Established and managed relationships with external customers and brokers to expand execution counterparties and increase traded flow and liquidity.
  • Worked cross‑functionally with capital, clearing and operations teams to ensure trade settlement, margining and P&L reconciliation were accurate and timely.
  • Adapted and executed option strategies (spreads, delta hedges, volatility trades) under changing market conditions, maintaining disciplined risk controls.
  • Provided market color and post‑trade analysis to partners to inform strategy refinement and capacity decisions.
  • Supported ad‑hoc projects to improve execution quality and reduce operational friction with external brokers.
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  PEAK6

  Senior Risk Management Analyst

  Aug 2016 - Aug 2020

  • Partnered with CEO, CRO and COO to define and maintain a disciplined, firm‑wide approach to market and balance‑sheet risk.
  • Designed and implemented new risk metrics and analytic frameworks to quantify portfolio exposures and identify concentration and liquidity risk.
  • Collaborated with Finance leadership to develop and implement a strategy to limit balance‑sheet and clearing‑related exposures with the clearing firm.
  • Automated reporting and visualization using Python and SQL to deliver real‑time dashboards and exception alerts for risk owners and senior leadership.
  • Produced stress‑testing scenarios and runbooks to assess resilience under stressed market conditions and to drive control improvements.
  • Established governance and reporting cadence to ensure leadership received timely, actionable risk information.
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  PEAK6

  Equity Options Trader

  Aug 2007 - Aug 2016

  • Managed onboarding and development of junior traders — from initial training through independent book trading.
  • Designed and tracked KPIs to measure trainee progression, desk productivity and trading performance; reported results to firm partners.
  • Conducted bi‑weekly 1:1 coaching sessions and owned performance review processes for junior traders.
  • Delivered lectures and internal training on option theory, pricing models and trading strategy to elevate desk knowledge and consistency.
  • Operated a personal trading account with firm capital, executing option strategies and managing P&L and risk.
  • Instituted structured feedback loops between junior traders and senior leadership to accelerate skill development and reduce operational errors.
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  PEAK6

  Trading Associate

  Feb 2006 - Aug 2007

  • Supported senior traders with trade execution, market monitoring and intraday position management.
  • Learned and applied core options trading fundamentals, including greeks, delta hedging and volatility assessments.
  • Built automated Excel reporting tools and templates to streamline daily P&L, risk and trade reconciliation processes.
  • Prepared pre‑market and post‑trade reports that improved visibility into order flow and helped senior traders make informed decisions.
  • Implemented small automation projects to remove manual steps and reduce time spent on repetitive reporting tasks.
  • Collaborated with operations and technology teams to identify improvements in trade capture and reporting accuracy.