$7 billion profit! Wall Street trader who milked crores from India turned Trump tariffs into a fortune

Jane Street Group, the Wall Street quantitative trading powerhouse that milked crores from India trading, has stunned markets with billions of dollars in profits in the second quarter of 2025. This time, it benefited from the US President Donald Trump’s tariffs even as world economies grappled with losses from higher trade taxes.

Bloomberg estimated that the trading revenues for the quant firm were around $10.1 billion, which is more than any of the biggest US banks. According to a FT report, profits at Jane Street also more than doubled to $6.9 billion. A surge in market activity triggered by tariff announcements created huge price swings across global assets. Jane Street, known for its fast, algorithm-driven trading, was among the biggest winners.

How Trump’s tariffs turned into profits
The firm’s strategy is to trade thousands of times a day across stocks, bonds, derivatives, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), making tiny profits per trade that add up to billions. Turbulence in markets, like the one sparked by Trump’s tariffs, gives them even more chances to profit.

The alteration of tariff regime roiled global trade flows, pushing up volatility across currencies, commodities, and equities. For most investors, such swings were a headache, but it presented a perfect opportunity for Jane Street.

As one of the world’s largest market makers, Jane Street earns money by constantly quoting prices to buyers and sellers. When volatility surges, bid-ask spreads widen, allowing market makers to capture more revenue per trade.

Jane Street’s algorithms and traders usually step in to absorb demand and supply across multiple markets, from US Treasuries to Asian derivatives. The result was a bumper quarter that outshone Wall Street’s biggest investment banks.

The India saga
While Jane Street’s global profits soared, its sour relationship with India continued. It filed a case against Sebi in the court of appeals for securities, accusing India's markets regulator of not providing documents and data relevant to counter-market manipulation allegations.

The quant firm came under Sebi scrutiny as the regulator accused it of manipulating the Bank Nifty index through aggressive trades between January 2023 and March 2025. According to Sebi, Jane Street made over Rs 40,000 crore trading Indian derivatives during that period, of which about Rs 4,840 crore ($567 million) were “unlawful gains.”

Buying large volumes of Bank Nifty stocks and futures early in the day to push the index higher, then selling later while holding short bets in options was a key strategy in India from Jane Street, according to a Sebi order.

Sebi dubbed these moves manipulative and barred Jane Street from Indian markets in July 2025. The firm was later allowed to resume trading, but this had a hit on its India revenue.

India accounted for about $500 million (Rs 4,320 crore) of Jane Street’s trading revenue in the first half of 2025, or just 3% of its global total. That was sharply down from 2024, when India contributed more than 10% — about $2.3 billion (Rs 19,890 crore).

Jane Street denied any wrongdoing, claiming its actions were legitimate index arbitrage strategies, not manipulation.

What’s next
For now, Jane Street is reaping the benefits of Trump’s trade war while fighting a bruising regulatory battle in India. The SAT case could drag on for months, and the outcome will set a precedent for how India handles foreign firms accused of manipulation.

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