Annanay Kapila ran trading strategies that moved $10 billion a day, roughly the GDP of France. He walked away from it all to build QFEX, the 24/7 global stock exchange he always wished existed.

In this interview, Annanay opens up about:
1. Why high-frequency trading "adds no value to the world," and how firms quietly extract billions through structural flaws like scheduled futures expiry
2. The "golden handcuffs" that keep Cambridge mathematicians and Math Olympiad medalists trapped in finance
3. How FTX's product innovation (not its fraud) pushed him to rebuild traditional exchanges from scratch
4. The disaster during YC's internal launch that made him question whether a 24/7 exchange was even possible
5. Why Silicon Valley investors think about money completely differently from London and New York

Watch to see how a Cambridge mathematician left a career designed to make him rich in order to build something he can one day tell his kids about.

00:00 Intro
01:07 Money is Killing the Best Talent on This Planet
01:50 How HFT Really Makes Money
03:14 The Golden Handcuffs of Big Paychecks
04:09 But You Need Money to Chase What Matters
05:10 Leaving a Top Hedge Fund Job
06:10 Build Something Worth Telling Your Grandkids
07:10 The Exchange Launch That Almost Broke Us
08:30 Raising at a $95M Pre-Revenue Valuation
09:10 Silicon Valley vs London: A Different Money Mindset
09:49 What's Actually Broken in Traditional Markets
10:45 Advice to Young People in High-Paying Jobs

#YCombinator #highfrequencytrading #quanttrading


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Annanay Kapila, a former quant at Flow Traders and Tower Research Capital, shares why he left high-frequency trading — where he managed strategies trading $10B/day — to build QFEX, a 24/7 global stock exchange. He argues HFT exploits structural market flaws rather than adding value, trapping talented people in 'golden handcuffs.' After leaving in early 2025, he co-founded QFEX with a former Citadel engineer, got into Y Combinator, and raised at a $95M valuation pre-revenue. The startup aims to reduce trading intermediaries, offer transparent fees, and level the playing field for all investors — similar to how Stripe simplified payments.

Why This Ex-Quant Quit a $10B/Day Job to Build a 24/7 Stock Exchange | QFEX, Annanay Kapila