This Ex-Quant Had to Quit Wall Street to Build a 24/7 Stock Exchange | QFEX, Annanay Kapila

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 expiry2. The "golden handcuffs" that keep Cambridge mathematicians and Math Olympiad medalists trapped in finance3. How FTX's product innovation (not its fraud) pushed him to rebuild traditional exchanges from scratch4. The disaster during YC's internal launch that made him question whether a 24/7 exchange was even possible5. Why Silicon Valley investors think about money completely differently from London and New YorkWatch 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 Intro01:07 Money is Killing the Best Talent on This Planet01:50 How HFT Really Makes Money03:14 The Golden Handcuffs of Big Paychecks04:09 But You Need Money to Chase What Matters05:10 Leaving a Top Hedge Fund Job06:10 Build Something Worth Telling Your Grandkids07:10 The Exchange Launch That Almost Broke Us08:30 Raising at a $95M Pre-Revenue Valuation09:10 Silicon Valley vs London: A Different Money Mindset09:49 What's Actually Broken in Traditional Markets10:45 Advice to Young People in High-Paying Jobs🔗 Read the full transcription of Annanay’s interview: https://www.eomag.io/article/qfex-annanay-kapila?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description#YCombinator #highfrequencytrading #quanttradingEO stands for Entrepreneur& Opportunities. As we're looking to feature more inspiring stories of entrepreneurs all over the world, don't hesitate to contact us at partner@eoeoeo.netNewsletter | https://www.eomag.io/subscribe?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=descriptionLinkedIn | @EO STUDIO X | @eostudi0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices