Optiver Amsterdam

History

Look to the past to gain a view of the future

Optiver's spirit, ambition, strategic thinking and calculated risks have kept us growing for more than 20 years. Maintaining our values and culture will ensure our growth in the years to come.

80's

• 1986: CEO Johann Kaemingk is approached with the opportunity to begin a trading firm in the Netherlands.
• 1987: Black monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost almost 22% in a single day. That event marked the beginning of a global stock market decline. Interestingly enough, the cause of the massive drop cannot be attributed to any single news event because no major news event was released on the weekend preceding the crash. Optiver adjusts its strategy to the change in the market conditions and learns from it.
• 1987: The original investors have already recouped part their initial investment, and Optiver is making steadily increasing profits.
• 1987: Pierson takes a share in the company.
• 1989: Due to the company's rapid growth and success, Optiver takes on external shareholders - including Amro Bank, a majority shareholder.

90's

• 1990: Limited opportunities eventually lead us to expand to markets in Frankfurt and Paris, and then later in London.
• 1996: Optiver supports the development of operations in Sydney, Australia. The office begins with floor trading, but transitions steadily towards screen trading.
• 1998: Optiver Amsterdam begins buying its stock back from the external shareholders, and by the end of the year, Optiver has regained them all.
• 1999: A renewed focus on improving the internal workings of the company - from Risk Management to IT, from Reception to Financial - brings new success and further expansion of Optiver's capabilities.
• 1999: Optiver sends Traders to New York to open an open-outcry branch of Optiver in the United States.

00's

• 2000: Optiver continues its transition from floor trading to screen trading, in response industry trends and available opportunities.
• 2000: Operations in Hong Kong begin with a local trading office.
• 2001: Optiver moves its US operations to Chicago, Illinois - the centre of open outcry derivatives trading in the United States.
• 2002: Euronext Amsterdam closes the floor and goes to 100% screen trading.
• 2002: Hong Kong office relocates back to Sydney when the HK Futures Exchange (HKFE) allows remote membership.
• 2003: Optiver's New York and Chicago operations combine into a single office in Chicago - still seen today as the heart of American trading.
• 2003: Optiver performs its last floor trade ever in that same year.
• 2005: Taipei office officially opens.
• 2007: Hong Kong office reopens, as membership on the HK stock exchange (HKSE) requires a local representative office (for compliance and regulatory reasons).
• 2007: Optiver completes merger with Sydney office and moves forward as a single, global operation.
• 2008: We've opened an on-shore trading desk in Tokyo in July 2008.
• 2009: Optiver engages in a joint venture with Binck Bank and launches the The Order Machine.

2010

• 2010: Optiver maintains stability as a market maker, through the recession. Controlled growth, means that we now have 600 employees globally.