Back
Life at Optiver  · 

The internship journey to becoming a Trader

Jeremy was propelled into the world of trading when he got into the Optiver trading internship in his final year of university at the University of Queensland. With a degree in Advanced Finance and Economics, he now works as a graduate trader at Optiver Sydney. On the weekends, he enjoys trail running and football, and has recently started playing table tennis during his lunch breaks.

What made you choose a career in trading?

I have always been interested in trading – share trading games with my dad, trading player cards on FIFA and that sort of thing got me interested at a young age. It got a bit more serious in university with UQ’s student managed investment fund and my own cryptocurrency trading. I love the market making we do at Optiver as there are so many factors to consider in keeping pricing accurate and there are so many interesting directions a problem can take. I also love the new dimensions that options provide to markets, where views can be expressed on not just the direction, but also the magnitude, timing, speed and path.

How did the internship at Optiver help you in your current role as a graduate trader?

In so many ways! Everything I learnt in the internship is applicable in the graduate role. I also met people that I now work with and got used to the team dynamic and fun loving yet high-performance culture at Optiver.

Tell us a bit about the internship experience.

At times I found it very challenging, at other times I was more comfortable and familiar with the content, but I never lost interest or stopped learning. There was a great balance between classroom-style learning and practical trading simulations and projects that provided a lot of satisfaction when the theory we’d been studying came into effect.

What is a day in the life of a trader like?

In trading, truly no day is the same. My weetbix brekkie on level 7 however is my only morning guarantee. By then I would’ve already caught up on the news in preparation for the morning meeting where we discuss how we expect the market to behave at open. We then set up our screens and prepare for trading. From market open everything happens quickly but if it quiets down then we can spend some time working on visualisation, tools and research that improve our trading decisions. This may continue a bit after market close, when we also write up a reflection on the day’s trading.

What advice would you give to applicants for trading roles at Optiver?

It is best to focus on your strengths and work on that something that you may one day be THE BEST at. Love that and hone it. Be confident and convicted in your opinions when you have one, or humble and open when you don’t. Finally, a light hearted and good sense of humour can go a long way.

What skills do you need to be a trader?

No trader is the same and we each bring unique skills to the table but I’d say the following is important for all traders:

  • Ability to quickly filter lots of information to get the signal from the noise.
  • A desire for genuine understanding of difficult concepts. It’s easy to have a surface level understanding and leaving it at that but going deeper makes a world of difference.
  • Always being self-reflective and seeking constructive feedback from others.

What do you enjoy about working at Optiver?

If I have an idea, everyone wants to hear me out and ask more questions. I enjoy that I can discuss these ideas with bright people and see us all understand more together than we could’ve hoped to individually. I also enjoy the direct feedback the market provides and seeing my improvements in understanding directly translate to trading performance.

Life at OptiverMeet the team
Insights

Related Articles

  • Experienced, Life at Optiver

    Risk and reward within a dynamic trading firm: Insights from Optiver’s CRO Europe

    In business, risk management is often thought of as a of back-office support function—the department generally responsible for steering a company away from pitfalls and worse-case scenarios with cautionary, arms-length advice. Not at Optiver. In our high-stakes trading firm environment, it’s a core discipline that directly impacts the success of daily trading operations. As Optiver […]

    Learn more
    Global
  • Nicolas_Infrastructure_as_code
    Series
    Experienced, Life at Optiver

    Navigating Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in a non-cloud trading environment

    In the high-performance landscape of algorithmic trading, technological infrastructure isn't just important—it's critical. While Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is a well-established practice in cloud-based solutions, its application in non-cloud environments presents unique challenges, especially in latency-sensitive environments like ours at Optiver.

    Learn more
    Global
  • Series
    Life at Optiver

    From ideation to production: US tech intern summer projects

    Foreword by US CTO, Alex Itkin One of the most exciting parts of summer at Optiver is hosting the ever growing intern cohort. This summer in the US alone we had 35 interns working across our software, hardware and trading infrastructure teams. The goal of the internship is to give students an opportunity to spend […]

    Learn more
    Americas
  • Series
    Life at Optiver

    Tech intern projects at Optiver Amsterdam

    This summer, Optiver’s Amsterdam office hosted a group of tech interns eager to tackle the challenges of market making. Beyond just theory, they worked hands-on with our core trading technologies, directly engaging with some of the most interesting technical challenges in the financial industry.  In this blog post, four of our Software Engineering interns delve […]

    Learn more
    EMEA
  • Series
    Life at Optiver

    The Optiver summer: A transformative experience

    This summer, we proudly welcomed our largest intern season to date across our Amsterdam and US offices. They came from top schools and dove headfirst into the fast-paced world of market making, where they underwent comprehensive training, completed impactful projects, learned from industry mentors and formed lasting bonds with their peers. This wasn’t your average […]

    Learn more
    Global
  • Experienced, Life at Optiver

    Navigating performance challenges as a C# Software Engineer at Optiver

    When we think of market making, we often associate it with low-latency C++ applications. However, many other technologies and programming languages play a crucial role in establishing Optiver as a leading global trading firm, among them being C#. At Optiver, our success is largely attributed to our people. While trading is heavily automated, it is […]

    Learn more