Prominent Data Scientist Joins Online Broker TradingBlock as Chief Innovation Officer

Michael ‘Dr. Data’ Rechenthin to lead the firm’s AI, big-data analytics and quantitative research initiatives

CHICAGO, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Online broker TradingBlock today announced that prominent data scientist Michael “Dr. Data” Rechenthin, PhD, has joined the company as Chief Innovation Officer to lead the firm’s AI, big-data analytics and quantitative research initiatives, and the advancement of its customizable online trading platform.

Rechenthin, who brings more than a decade of experience at the intersection of trading and technology, has been tapped to design and build transformative systems for idea generation and research, execution, trade, and portfolio analytics. He will develop new data science models to power TradingBlock’s internal dashboards, enhancing customer service and operational transparency.

“Michael’s reputation as one of the most forward-thinking data scientists in the trading industry speaks for itself,” said Jere Wickert, President and CEO of TradingBlock. “His deep expertise will strengthen the foundation of our technology and elevate the experience we provide to traders every day. We’re thrilled to welcome him to the team.”

Rechenthin will also serve as a conference speaker and leading contributor to TradingBlock’s weekly data-driven market research newsletter, “The Strike Zone.”

Before joining TradingBlock, which was recently named the “2025 Best Brokerage for Options Trading” by Benzinga, Rechenthin served as Managing Director of Research and Development at tastytrade, where he led research and technology strategy for options and futures trading. Over nearly 12 years, he designed and deployed real-time pricing engines, LLM-powered bots, and data research tools used by traders across the platform.

Rechenthin has helped build and grow several ventures. At the Small Exchange, he served as Chief Data Scientist, helping create new index and derivative products and building fair-value models. Before that, he co-founded the Quiet Foundation, where he developed machine learning-driven risk models and large-scale cloud-based pipelines before the company was acquired by IG Group. Rechenthin also founded Cherry Picks, a quantitative trading newsletter. Early in his career, he was a market maker on the Chicago Stock Exchange.

“TradingBlock has built an impressive, customizable platform that combines flexibility, power, and accessibility for traders,” Rechenthin said. “I’m excited to expand what’s possible to create smarter systems that ultimately help clients trade with greater confidence and precision.”

Rechenthin earned a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Iowa and a Master’s in Information Technology from Loyola University Chicago.

About TradingBlock

TradingBlock is a FINRA-member broker-dealer and comprehensive trading technology platform and brokerage solutions provider launched in 2003 and headquartered in Chicago. Made for the way you trade, TradingBlock offers highly customizable trading tools across three lines of business serving sophisticated individual traders, small institutions, hedge funds and asset managers, and independent RIA firms. When it comes to building, implementing, and supporting custom trading technology, TradingBlock provides customers with a top-tier brokerage team that can meet their unique and evolving demands through a platform that seamlessly integrates options trading. TradingBlock is a member of FINRA, SIPC and NFA. For more information, visit tradingblock.com.

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SOURCE TradingBlock