Talk:Optiver

Request edit 17-APR-2018
Optiver is a proprietary trading firm and market-maker for various exchange-listed financial instruments. Its name derives from the Dutch optie verhandelaar, or "option trader". The company is privately owned, using its own capital, at its own risk, to trade on major financial markets around the world. Optiver trades a range of financial products, including listed derivatives, cash equities, exchange-traded funds, bonds and foreign exchange. With offices in Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney and Shanghai, the company spans four continents. Optiver employs approximately 1000 people of 45 different nationalities.

History Optiver was founded by Johann Kaemingk on April 9, 1986 as a market maker in options on the European Options Exchange (EOE), which is now Euronext. The first call option was traded that day by him. In the early 1990s, Optiver expanded to Paris, Frankfurt and London, followed by Sydney in 1996. Floor trading transitioned steadily to screen trading during those years. By the end of 1998, Optiver had expanded to the US and bought back all its stock from its external shareholders. In 2000, Optiver added a local branch in Hong Kong. In 2003, Optiver finally closed all floor trading activities to focus on screen trading.

After setting up a branch in Taipei in 2005, the firm reopened its Hong Kong office in 2007 because new regulations required a local representative office there. In 2008, Optiver opened an on-shore trading office in Japan.

The income Optiver generates outside Europe has grown by over 50% since 2012, boosted by its Asian presence through the Australian branch. Optiver opened an office in Shanghai in early 2013.

Organisation and people Optiver is owned by its current and former employees. Optiver employees join from all around the world and have a wide range of backgrounds. Traders at Optiver continuously price and trade financial products to fulfil the market making responsibilities and manage the risk of the complex portfolio of financial instruments Technology staff includes developers who work on the algorithms and tools used for trading, and network and hardware engineers who maintain the infrastructure. Researchers at Optiver use statistical data analysis and mathematical modelling to analyse, improve and create pricing models and trading algorithms. As the company takes a mathematical approach to trading, an 8-minute multiple-choice numerical test is an integral part of its selection process.

Optiver is a member of the European Principal Traders Association (FIA EPTA), FIA Principal Trading Group (PTG) in the US and FIA Japan.

Trading and technology Optiver is active on over 50 exchanges in markets located in Chicago, New York, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and several others. Even though Optiver business is mainly focussed on electronic trading, the company also participates in trading in large blocks trough physical trading floors, inter-dealer broker markets and requests for quote-based electronic trading platforms. Optiver has increasingly invested in technology as trading moved to screens.

Optiver in the media
 * 2018 Optiver was awarded Best European ETF Market Maker by ETF Express.
 * 2017 Optiver joined with Equiduct to offer a one-stop shop for best execution.
 * 2016 Optiver cemented a sponsorship agreement with Dutch chess grandmaster Anish Giri, to support him on his quest to become world champion.
 * 2016 Optiver was reported to have joined a consortium to build a faster data transmission network between Chicago and Tokyo.
 * 2015 Optiver’s Australia office retained the status of Best Small & Medium Workplaces of Asia and Best Place to Work over 100 employees Australia 2015.
 * 2013 Optiver’s Australia office was awarded Australia's top workplace by BRW magazine in its annual Best Places to Work study.
 * 2012 The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Optiver for $14 million in civil monetary penalties and disgorgement.

Stampacom (talk) 12:00, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Reply 17-APR-2018
✅ 0.82em 16:43, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest edit request
The page currently lists Johann Kaemingk as the sole founder of Optiver. This appears in the sidebar next to the Founder heading, and in Paragraph 1 under History. However, Optiver has 3 co-founders. The co-founders of Optiver are: Johann Kaemingk, Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen.
 * What I think should be changed:

As I disclose on my user page, I am an employee of Optiver and I have joined Wikipedia principally to identify inaccuracies and suggest edits to Optiver's page.

Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen are co-founders of Optiver, and they should be added to correct an inaccuracy on the page.
 * Why it should be changed:


 * References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Relevant excerpt from above article: Optiver, which was founded in Amsterdam by trader Johann Kaemingk and two others in 1986, has most of its roughly 500 Asia-Pacific staff in the city.

Relevant excerpt from above page: Ruud Vlek managed several companies and is co-founder of the trading firm Optiver.

Relevant excerpt from above page: In addition to his involvement with DSW, Chris is founder and shareholder of Optiver, a leading global stock exchange trading company based on electronic market making.

Relevant excerpt from above page: ''Oomen is good for a few bucks, he’s one of the richest men in the country. He earned his fortune with another company he founded in 1986: Optiver.''

Note that it is somewhat challenging to provide English-language sources naming Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen as co-founders because they are both Dutch individuals principally active in the Netherlands. However I have endeavored to find English-language sources for this assertion.

There are far more sources in Dutch-language publications. For example, Optiver's Dutch-language Wikipedia page lists Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen as co-founders, citing Het Financieele Dagblad, a daily financial newspaper published in the Netherlands since 1943. The relevant extract is under the heading Quote-lijst and reads: "De oprichters Johann Kaemingk, Ruud Vlek en Chris Oomen hebben een notering in de rijkenlijst van de Quote 500." Or: "The founders Johann Kaemingk, Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen are included in the Quote 500 rich list".

GordonRoad (talk) 11:59, 7 February 2024 (UTC)


 * If you make a request then implement it yourself, please close the request by setting the 'ans' parameter to 'yes'. Thank you. Encoded   Talk 💬 22:11, 3 May 2024 (UTC)