Jane Street seeks trading data from Sebi in market manipulation case

US-based hedge fund Jane Street has asked the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) to direct the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to share the trading records behind its market manipulation allegations.At Monday's hearing, Jane Street’s lawyer said that Sebi should hand over the trading records used to accuse the firm of manipulating index prices and then profiting from options trading.“Who is the counterparty? Are they independent people? Were the counterparty orders existing at the time I placed my orders?

For example, if there was a whole slew of counterparties who had placed sale orders and I then picked them up, can I be accused of aggressively buying the push of the money?” said the firm’s lawyer during the hearing.“Say it is shown in a given case that I purchased in a certain period 15% of the purchases of that period. But there is another party in the form of a group, which, through some 10 companies, did 2% each. And actually, as a group bought 20%.

Can they tell me we will not give you that information?” he added.ChallengeThe request comes as Jane Street challenges Sebi’s July 2025 ex parte interim order, which barred the hedge fund from the Indian securities market and directed it to disgorge ₹4,843 crore in alleged unlawful gains. Sebi accused the firm of using trades in Bank Nifty constituents in the cash and futures markets to artificially support the index while building short positions in index options.Jane Street’s lawyer argued that the regulator’s allegations could not be properly tested without access to the underlying trading data, including information about counterparties, timing, quantum and prices.On 4 September, Jane Street’s lawyer sought access to correspondence between Sebi and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) relating to a study by the exchange on the firm’s trades. Two earlier reviews conducted in 2024 by NSE and Sebi’s Integrated Surveillance Department (ISD) found no evidence that its trades influenced index prices to benefit its options positions.The firm said the NSE study covered 16 months of the 27-month period examined in Sebi’s July 2025 order, while the ISD study covered 17 months. It also referred to a complaint from a UAE-based hedge fund that allegedly prompted Sebi to form an interdepartmental team in December 2024 to examine similar trades.The matter will be next heard on Tuesday.