History
80's
- 1986: Current Chairman of the Board Johann Kaemingk is approached with the opportunity to start a new trading firm in the Netherlands.
- 1987: Black Monday - The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) loses almost 22% in a single day, which marked the beginning of a global stock market decline. Optiver adjusts its strategy to the change in the market conditions.
- 1987: The original investors in Optiver already recouped part of their initial investment and Optiver is making steadily increasing profits.
- 1987: Pierson decides to take a share in the company.
- 1989: Due to the company's rapid growth and success, Optiver takes on new external shareholders - including Amro Bank.
90's
- 1990: Limited opportunities lead Optiver to expand to markets in Frankfurt and Paris, and 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 to trends in the industry and available opportunities.
- 2000: Operations in Hong Kong begin with a local trading office.
- 2001: Optiver expands its US operations to Chicago - the centre of open outcry derivatives trading in the United States.
- 2002: Euronext Amsterdam closes the trading floor and goes to 100% screen trading.
- 2002: Hong Kong office relocates back to Sydney when the Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) allows remote membership.
- 2003: Optiver ceases all open outcry activities in the US. Optiver US operations now focus on screen trading from the office in Chicago - still seen today as the heart of American trading.
- 2003: Optiver performs its last floor trade ever.
- 2005: Our 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 open a trading desk in Tokyo.
- 2009: Optiver engages in a joint venture with Binck Bank and launches the The Order Machine.
10’s
- 2010: Optiver maintains stability as a market maker, through the recession. Controlled growth means that we now around 600 employees globally.
- 2010: Optiver continues to provide liquidity to the markets during the Flash Crash
- 2010: We publish a Position Paper on HFT, in which we explain our views on the industry
- 2010: Optiver develops and builds its own smart order router (SOR).
- 2011: Celebrating 25 years of trading and making market more efficient
