Early Life
Alex Gerko was born on December 3, 1979, in Moscow, Russia. He grew up in a household that valued mathematics and demonstrated a strong aptitude for the subject from a young age. He participated in and won mathematics Olympiads during his teens. Gerko earned a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in mathematics from Moscow State University, focusing on probability theory and applied modeling. He also obtained a master's degree in economics from the New Economic School.
Rise to Success
Gerko began his career in 2004 at Deutsche Bank, where he traded equities and later transitioned to foreign exchange (FX) trading. In 2009, he joined GSA Capital, a UK-based hedge fund. In 2015, Gerko founded XTX Markets, an algorithmic trading firm based in London, along with Hans Buehler. Under Gerko's leadership as Co-CEO, XTX Markets has grown rapidly, becoming a major player in the global financial markets. The firm trades over $250 billion a day across 35 countries. Gerko renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 and is now a British citizen.
Key Business Strategies
XTX Markets is a quantitative-driven electronic market maker that uses state-of-the-art machine learning technology to produce price forecasts for over 50,000 financial instruments. The firm focuses on providing liquidity in equities, FX, fixed income, commodities, and crypto markets. XTX Markets expanded into providing liquidity in US equities and became the largest systematic internaliser for European equities. The firm has invested heavily in advanced computing infrastructure, including over 25,000 GPUs. XTX Markets is 75% owned by Gerko.
Philanthropy
Gerko is actively involved in philanthropy, particularly in mathematics education and research. Through his UK-registered charity, Axiom Mathematics, he funds programs to improve mathematical literacy and access to advanced education for underprivileged youth. XTX Markets has committed over £350 million to charities and non-profit partners since 2020. In 2022, Gerko donated £300,000 to the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve in Scotland. In 2025, XTX Markets founder Alex Gerko, through Renaissance Philanthropy, donated $10 million to Lean FRO and Mathlib focused on applying artificial intelligence to mathematics.
