Anyone long the chalk into Week 1 got run over. The home book printed 5–1 with an average P&L spread of $44M per session — these weren't tight tapes, they were dislocations. But mark it to "the better book" and you miss the attribution. Run the P&L breakdown and the same three factors keep driving returns: monetization, desk coverage, and headcount on the desk. Raw execution speed? Didn't move the needle.
GidTheKid2 ran without its top book — Harry G, the No. 1 overall pick, was off the desk — and a short-staffed shop got obliterated. sumin owned the floor: a clean sweep in Equities and Commodities, plus a 3–1 edge in Derivatives, while Gid printed in a single asset class. Reeling and thin, Gid took 5 blow-ups. sumin also closed at a 64% clip. Angelina Y and Advai S ran the book. A historic mark.
Don't blame the sourcing for mingle — they swept Equities, split Commodities and Derivatives, and even ran lower latency. They couldn't close: just 22% capture (4 of 18 looks monetized). Leave that much edge on the table and you're down a session. xpoes stayed diversified — owning Credit and Rates at a 55% close — and pulled away. theenash s booked size in a losing seat.
The tightest tape of the day, and a clinic in conversion. anurag actually sourced more — winning Equities, Credit, and Systematic. But dan flipped it at the close: 60% capture to anurag's 36%, while anurag marked down 3 blow-ups. In a low-slippage regime, closing beats sourcing. Sean F led anurag; Lishan P and Dennis J carried dan.
(Stitch)² owned the cyclicals — a sweep in Equities and a Derivatives edge — but czz had the standout PM on the floor. vishnu m printed $32M on 9 winning tickets across every desk, sweeping Commodities and commanding Rates. Pair that with a 55%-to-40% capture edge and it was over. The lone consensus long to deliver.
The most counterintuitive attribution of the close: James W ran faster AND closed better (62% to 42%) — and still lost $24M. The driver was ticket volume. cryo simply put on more trades across more desks, sweeping Systematic and Derivatives and winning Credit. James W's edges (Equities, Commodities) were real but too concentrated. The preseason A+, meet variance. Edward paced cryo.
$212M printed combined with almost no unfilled looks — pure flow. Both books closed at 67%, so it came down to volume, and ChessFun ran more — an Equities sweep and the overall ticket edge, led by Eric L and his lowest-latency execution. Kian D printed $28M to keep Connor in range, but never closer.
The books opened every favorite at −5 to −7 and watched the consensus get torched. Fading the crowded long was the trade of the week: five of six shorts paid. And the Street never repriced ahead of the print — odds barely drifted toward the dogs intraday and only gapped once the P&L was locked. The wildest repricing was sumin, a double-digit underdog that closed at a 98% implied winner. The signal: this tape does not respect preseason marks.
| PM | Desk | P&L | Tickets | Blow-ups |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| vishnu m | czz | $32M | 9 | 1 |
| Kian D | Connor Chang | $28M | 7 | 0 |
| theenash s | mingle/Yunyi | $24M | 7 | 1 |
| Angelina Y | sumin | $20M | 5 | 0 |
| Sean F | anurag | $20M | 6 | 1 |
| Eric L | ChessFun | $20M | 5 | 0 |
⚡ Lowest latency: Eric L — first to the bid all session. Risk-limit trouble: William Jung and Praneel led the desk with 3 blow-ups each — William's in that short-staffed $118M loss, which tells its own story.
All 14 books marked to market after Week 1, both desks — top to bottom.
EAST
| # | Book | The Mark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | xpoes | Diversified, no weak desk — the cleanest print in the East. |
| 2 | sumin | $138M is $138M. (Yes, Gid was a PM down — but you book what the tape gives you.) |
| 3 | dan.k.memes | Out-closed a strong anurag book. Quietly 1–0 the disciplined way. |
| 4 | GidTheKid2 | Don't mark them down on the blow-up — the No. 1 PM was out. Get Harry G back and this is a top-2 book. |
| 5 | anurag | Out-sourced dan and still lost. Fix the 36% capture and the blow-ups; the talent's there. |
| 6 | mingle/Yunyi | Sourced fine, closed at 22%. Correctable, but ugly. |
| 7 | Fez_Keyreb | Dark this week — no print. We'll mark them next week. |
WEST
| # | Book | The Mark |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChessFun | $120M and a $28M win over a contender. Hottest book on the Street. |
| 2 | cryo | Beat the preseason favorite by $24M on volume, not stars. Real. |
| 3 | czz | vishnu m is a one-PM book — but while he's printing, they're dangerous. |
| 4 | Connor Chang | Lost the flow battle, but Kian D is a star PM. A bounce-back setup. |
| 5 | James W | The preseason A+ is 0–1. Time to print it, not pitch it. |
| 6 | (Stitch)² | Outclassed across the desks. Needs a response. |
| 7 | jonathan | Dark this week — total unknown. Opens next week. |
Week 2 is an all-divisional book. sumin and (Stitch)² go dark, while jonathan and Fez_Keyreb open their year after a Week-1 hold — two names with no marks on them yet. And the question into the open: does the home book hold a second session?
The marquee tape, and a star-PM showdown: Kian D ($28M) takes his book into vishnu m's shop ($32M, Top PM). Two of the most loaded desks in the league, two PMs who carried the firm alone. Connor is coming off a blown flow session and wants to prove it was noise; vishnu just showed he can print solo. Whichever bench shows up wins it — the principals will trade size all day.
Two books off Week-1 stumbles, so one resets. The swing factor is the status of the No. 1 overall pick — if Harry G is back on the desk, GidTheKid2 is a far deeper shop than the short-staffed group sumin marked down. anurag's fix is cleaner: they out-sourced dan.k.memes and still lost, undone by a weak close and risk-limit breaches. Tighten it and they're a threat.
ChessFun's high-flow book visits cryo's deep, multi-desk shop — pace against breadth. Two unbeatens collide as dan.k.memes (won on monetization) marks against xpoes (won on diversification). And the redemption tape runs everywhere: preseason A+ James W must answer an upset against debutant jonathan, while mingle/Yunyi — sunk by a 22% close — host the other opener, Fez_Keyreb. Unknown counterparties, motivated books: the exact setup that printed Week 1's chaos.
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