Optiver Holding B.V. is a

proprietary trading Proprietary trading (also known as prop trading) occurs when a trader trades stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, their derivatives, or other financial instruments with the firm's own money (instead of using customer funds) to make a profit ...

firm and

market maker A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or an individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the difference, which is called the ''bid–ask spread'' or ''turn.'' Thi ...

for various exchange-listed

financial instruments Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership, interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form ...

. Its name derives from the Dutch , or " option trader". The company is privately owned. Optiver trades listed derivatives, cash equities,

exchange-traded funds An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and ...

, bonds, and foreign exchange.

History

Optiver was founded by Johann Kaemingk, Ruud Vlek and Chris Oomen on April 9, 1986, as a market maker in options on the European Options Exchange (EOE), which is now

Euronext Euronext N.V. (short for European New Exchange Technology) is a European bourse that provides trading and post-trade services for a range of financial instruments. Traded assets include regulated equities, exchange-traded funds (ETF), warrant ...

. Optiver is a member of the European Principal Traders Association (FIA EPTA), FIA Principal Trading Group (PTG) in the US and FIA Japan. In 2023, Optiver became the first market maker to join the Plato Partnership as a full member. In November 2016, Optiver was reported to have joined a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

to build a faster data transmission network between

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. In December 2017, Optiver joined with Equiduct to offer a one-stop shop for best execution. In November 2018,

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

and Optiver partnered to create an Algorithms in Finance course. In June 2019, Optiver joined its US-based rival, Virtu, in funding Equiduct, a competitor to national stock exchanges and trading venues. In April 2021, Optiver expanded further into the Asia-Pacific region with an office in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, with a planned focus on commodity and equity products. It joined many other major financial services firms in doing so. The firm first made its presence in the region in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1996, then

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

in 2005, then

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 2007, and then

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 2012. In 2022, Optiver opened a new London office which can house as many as 200 employees. A year later, Optiver moved into new offices in downtown Chicago, with room for as many as 600 people. The firm has also joined other quant funds in expanding to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In June 2022, Optiver joined Aquis Exchange. In September 2022, the firm became the latest trading member on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Activities

Optiver trades on more than 50 exchanges and trading platforms globally. In Europe, it is one of the three most active on-screen market makers in single-stock and equity-index derivatives at

Eurex Eurex Exchange is a German derivatives exchange which primarily offers trading in European based derivatives. The products traded on this exchange vary from German and Swiss debt instruments to European stocks and various stock indexes. All tran ...

. Optiver was ranked as the third-biggest off-exchange market maker in European exchange-traded products. In the U.S., Optiver is a leading market maker for the Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000 and E-mini S&P 500 options contracts. It is one of the biggest market makers for Treasury options on the CME. The firm started making markets in FX options in 2017. Optiver is sponsor to chess GM Anish Giri.

Fines

For 11 days in March 2007, Optiver engaged in 19 instances of an illegal manipulation scheme known as "banging the close", with a minimum of 5 being noted as successful. It involves executing trades of large

volumes Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The ...

near the close, with the intention of manipulating closing prices. The scheme was executed on 3

New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. ...

listed

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item tr ...

, including

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

Heating Oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; it is a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...

, New York Harbor Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Light Sweet Crude Oil. Optiver factored in $19.3 million into its 2010 annual report towards this case. The case was settled in 2012, where Optiver was fined $14 million, of which $1 million was part of profit disgorgement. With effect for 2 years, Optiver was barred from trading any US oil futures in the last 3 minutes before close. Several traders were also handed out bans for trading commodities, ranging from 2 to 8 years in length.

References

{{reflist Financial services companies established in 1986 Financial services companies of the Netherlands Companies based in Amsterdam Privately held companies of the Netherlands 1986 establishments in the Netherlands

History

Activities

Fines

See also

References