Proprietary Trading
Own capital. Quantitative discipline. Systematic execution.
The discipline, plainly.
Defam trades exclusively with its own balance sheet. No client money, no external mandates — every position is taken with internal capital, sized by a quantitative framework and executed through a combination of discretionary judgement and systematic models.
A self-funded trading desk that operates across equities, futures, FX and digital assets. Strategies are researched, backtested and deployed in-house — we are the manager, the engineer and the risk owner of every trade.
- Counterparties evaluating us as a self-funded trading entity
- Brokers and prime services assessing flow and capitalisation
- Technology and data vendors onboarding a serious trading firm
What we deliver.
Each capability is run by a practitioner, not handed to a generalist.
- 01Management of own capital across multiple asset classes
- 02Discretionary trading guided by quantitative research
- 03Systematic and algorithmic execution strategies
- 04Portfolio construction with active risk allocation
- 05Multi-broker, multi-venue execution architecture
- 06Performance and attribution analytics on every strategy
- →A capitalised, governed trading book with documented mandate
- →Per-strategy P&L, drawdown and exposure reporting
- →Counterparty-grade KYC and operational due diligence pack
How an engagement runs.
Four phases, each with a deliverable. No phase ships without the previous one closing out.
- 01
Research
Hypothesis-driven research on market microstructure, factor behaviour and execution friction. Every idea starts as a measurable question.
- 02
Backtest
Walk-forward simulation against high-fidelity historical data, with explicit assumptions about slippage, latency and capacity.
- 03
Deploy
Strategies are released in capital tranches with hard limits. Live behaviour is continuously compared to expected distributions.
- 04
Govern
Daily risk review, monthly attribution, quarterly mandate revision. Strategies that drift from their thesis are paused, not defended.
Engineered with intent.
The tools we reach for first. Stack choices are documented and defended, not inherited.
- Our trading platform
- Interactive Brokers
- Python research
- Custom OMS
- TimescaleDB
A disciplined trading book that combines institutional process with the agility of a focused, self-funded team.
Frequently asked.
- Do you accept external capital?
- No. Defam is a self-trading firm. We do not solicit, accept or manage funds from external investors and we are not a licensed financial intermediary.
- Which markets do you trade?
- Liquid global markets — major equity indices and single names, listed futures, spot and forward FX, and selected digital assets through regulated venues.
- How are strategies funded?
- From the firm's own balance sheet. Capital is allocated to strategies by an internal investment committee against documented risk budgets.
Discuss a proprietary trading engagement.
Reach the Defam AG team directly.