Optiver
Optiver is a privately held, Amsterdam-headquartered global market maker that provides continuous liquidity across options, equities, ETFs, bonds and currencies to banks, brokers and institutional clients using proprietary low-latency technology and quantitative research across 100+ exchanges.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1986
- HeadquartersAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Optiver does
Optiver is a privately held global market maker and technology-driven trading firm, founded in Amsterdam in 1986 and operating across 11 offices worldwide with approximately 2,000 employees. The firm provides continuous liquidity to financial markets by quoting buy and sell prices across listed derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign currencies, serving banks, brokers and institutional clients as counterparties rather than end-investors. Revenue is generated from bid-ask spreads captured on proprietary capital deployed across 100+ global exchanges, with the firm executing 10M+ trades and processing petabytes of market data daily. The core business is supplemented by Optiver Execution Services (OES), a US-registered broker-dealer that provides competitive equity options pricing to institutional customers.
The firm's underlying technology stack is proprietary and built for low-latency performance: C++ and FPGA hardware for execution, with petabyte-scale data platforms and AI-augmented quantitative research covering deep learning, LLMs, statistical modeling and reinforcement learning. Researchers, engineers, mathematicians and traders operate in a single integrated performance loop, with infrastructure designed for rapid experimentation and a short path from idea to production. Optiver has formalized this approach with dedicated AI initiatives, including an AI Lab in Shanghai and the IIT Bombay-Optiver AI Innovation Lab, and has built an external ecosystem of strategic minority investments (BMLL Technologies, McKay Brothers, Eden Block, Nasdaq Private Market, Digital Asset, Optimal Market Technologies) across data, connectivity, AI and crypto infrastructure.
Optiver is owned and operator-controlled, with no identified parent or majority external investor; legal entities span the Netherlands (Optiver Holding B.V., Optiver VOF), the UK (Optiver FX Ltd), the US (Optiver US LLC, Optiver Execution Services LLC), and India (Optiver India Securities Private Limited), reflecting its regulated market-making footprint across jurisdictions. The firm has been actively expanding its US presence (New York office opened 2024 and expanded 92,000 sq ft in 2026) and APAC presence (Mumbai opened 2024), and has made senior sales and trading hires from Citadel Securities, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Flow Traders to strengthen its direct-to-buy-side distribution.
Optiver firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Optiver
- Legal name
- Optiver Holding B.V.
- Website
- https://optiver.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1986
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Optiver is a privately held, Amsterdam-headquartered global market maker that provides continuous liquidity across options, equities, ETFs, bonds and currencies to banks, brokers and institutional clients using proprietary low-latency technology and quantitative research across 100+ exchanges.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Optiver industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Institutional Market Making
- NAICS
- Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Compute & Acceleration ICs (CPU/GPU/AI/FPGA/ASIC) (HDAHABAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Inference Hardware & Edge Accelerators (HDAAAAAC), Financial Services Personalization (Banking, Investing, Insurance) (HDAAAGAH), Skills & Microlearning Marketplaces (Bite-Sized Lessons) (EDAFAIAK)
Keywords
Where Optiver is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Amsterdam
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices11 records
Markets served
Optiver business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Market Making: Optiver generates revenue by continuously quoting buy and sell prices across financial markets, using proprietary capital and technology to provide liquidity at scale. Revenue derives from bid-ask spreads across options, ETFs, equities, bonds and currencies.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Optiver product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Optiver is a global market maker that provides continuous buy and sell price quotes across options, ETFs, equities, bonds, and foreign currencies on 100+ exchanges worldwide. The firm uses proprietary low-latency technology built on C++ and FPGA hardware combined with machine learning, deep learning, LLMs, and quantitative research to execute 10M+ trades daily and price 1M+ financial instruments. Optiver also offers Optiver Execution Services (OES), a US registered broker-dealer that leverages the firm's market-leading liquidity to provide competitive equity options pricing to institutional customers.
Product overview
Optiver is a unified technology- and research-driven trading platform offering market making services across global financial markets. The core Optiver product provides liquidity across listed derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, bonds and foreign currencies, supported by teams of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and traders employing machine learning and quantitative methods. The offering is supplemented by Optiver Execution Services for institutional equity options pricing, Ready Trader Go educational competition for student recruitment, and The Optiver Foundation for CSR initiatives.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ready Trader Go: Optiver's student coding competition where students build and optimize trading algorithms for a simulated market exchange.
- Optiver Execution Services
- Optiver Foundation
- The Delta Network
- OptiBook
Products and services
- Optiver Global Market Making Core market making service providing continuous buy and sell price quotes across options, ETFs, equities, bonds, and foreign currencies on 100+ global exchanges for institutional clients including banks, brokers, asset managers, and hedge funds. Executes 10M+ trades daily using proprietary low-latency C++ and FPGA technology combined with machine learning and quantitative research.
- Optiver Execution Services (OES) Leverages Optiver's market-leading liquidity to provide competitive equity options pricing to a broad range of institutional customers. Operates as a US registered broker-dealer entity serving asset managers, hedge funds, and other institutional investors requiring best execution in equity options.
Quantifiable outcome
- 10M+ trades executed every day at volume where 1% improvement is measurable and actionable
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Optiver
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Optiver technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability6 records
Feature3 records
Optiver partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Optimal Market TechnologiescoreOptiver joined Akuna Capital, Belvedere Trading, and Virtu Financial in investing in Optimal Market Technologies, a new options intermediary competing with Citadel Securities for retail options order flow. Launched novel Competition for Order Flow (CFOF) model.
- IIT BombaycoreOptiver partnered with IIT Bombay to establish the IIT Bombay-Optiver AI Innovation Lab, a dedicated research facility supporting cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence focused on financial markets.
- Georgetown University Psaros CenterminorOptiver partnered with Georgetown University's Psaros Center focused on advancing research, convening policymakers and financial industry leaders, and raising quality of solutions-oriented discussion impacting financial markets policy.
- University of New South Wales (UNSW)coreOptiver Foundation awarded $2.7 million grant to UNSW Sydney to support Future You program getting kids aged 8-12 excited about STEM subjects and inspiring future career possibilities.
- The Ocean CleanupminorOptiver Foundation partnered with The Ocean Cleanup as anchor funder for technology-driven proof-of-concept project to stop plastic waste from reaching the ocean in Mumbai, India using Interceptor system.
- University of OxfordcoreOptiver Foundation partnered with Oxford to launch international scholarship programme supporting 30 women from low and middle-income countries to pursue postgraduate STEM degrees over five years with full funding including course fees and living costs.
- Women WincoreOptiver Foundation partnered with Women Win to create the FREE STEM Fund expanding access to STEM learning for girls and women in underserved communities across Global South. Fund supports thousands of women in 40+ countries through locally led initiatives.
- University of CambridgeminorPartnership with Cambridge University Algorithmic Trading Society where students work through market-making concepts, build trading algorithms and test strategies in simulated environment based on real trading systems.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Optiver competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Qube Research & Technologies: Quantitative-led global market maker and proprietary trading firm. Co-invested with Optiver in McKay Brothers and competes directly in providing institutional liquidity across global venues.
- Citadel Securities: Dominant global market maker in options and equities and Optiver's most direct competitor. Citadel Securities holds the largest market share in US retail options flow that Optiver is now actively challenging through targeted hires and CFOF investments.
- Flow Traders: Amsterdam-headquartered liquidity provider in ETFs and other exchange-traded products. Directly comparable European market making franchise and notable overlap in institutional sales leadership (Pierre-Antoine Jaunâtre joined Optiver from Flow Traders).
- IMC Financial Markets: Global proprietary trading firm and electronic liquidity provider across options, equities, futures, FX and other asset classes. Highly comparable market making business model, technology stack and institutional sales motion.
- Hudson River Trading: Quantitative trading firm applying ML and sophisticated engineering to global markets. Operates as a peer high-frequency liquidity provider with comparable technology-driven edge and global venue reach.
- DRW Trading: Diversified proprietary trading firm active in options, equities, fixed income, FX and crypto. Long-tenured (1986 vintage) market making peer with overlapping asset coverage and a co-investor alongside Optiver in Nasdaq Private Market.
- Wolverine Trading: Proprietary trading firm specialising in equity options market making and institutional execution. Direct peer in US options, the asset class where Optiver is most aggressively expanding.
- Jane Street: Large quantitative trading firm specialising in ETF and equity market making globally. Operates at comparable scale with strong technology and quantitative research orientation, directly competing with Optiver across ETF and equity options liquidity.
- Virtu Financial: Publicly listed global market maker and execution services provider across equities, ETFs, fixed income and currencies. Has overlapping global venues and is co-invested with Optiver in Optimal Market Technologies to compete in retail options flow.
Emerging players
- Two Sigma Securities: Quantitative technology firm with a securities arm active in equities and ETFs market making. Adjacent quantitative-trading peer with significant ML research overlap to Optiver's data-driven approach.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Optiver social profiles
Digital presenceOptiver financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Optiver leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Optiver subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries8 records
Optiver funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Optiver M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments15 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Optiver
What does Optiver do?
Optiver is a global market maker that provides continuous buy and sell price quotes across options, ETFs, equities, bonds, and foreign currencies on 100+ exchanges worldwide. The firm uses proprietary low-latency technology built on C++ and FPGA hardware combined with machine learning, deep learning, LLMs, and quantitative research to execute 10M+ trades daily and price 1M+ financial instruments. Optiver also offers Optiver Execution Services (OES), a US registered broker-dealer that leverages the firm's market-leading liquidity to provide competitive equity options pricing to institutional customers.
Is Optiver a public or private company?
Optiver is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Optiver founded?
Optiver was founded in 1986. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Optiver based?
Optiver is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Optiver make money?
One revenue line is on record: market Making.
Who are Optiver's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Qube Research & Technologies, Citadel Securities, Flow Traders, IMC Financial Markets, Hudson River Trading, DRW Trading, Wolverine Trading, Jane Street and Virtu Financial. Two Sigma Securities is listed as an emerging player.
Does Optiver have an API?
No public API is recorded for Optiver.
What industry is Optiver in?
Optiver's product category is Institutional Market Making. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAHABAC, Compute & Acceleration ICs (CPU/GPU/AI/FPGA/ASIC), with a secondary code of HDAAAAAC, AI Inference Hardware & Edge Accelerators. Its NAICS code is 541512 and its SIC code is 7373.