“Marketmaking is dead”

The view on market making is the only result of a chaotic news story on All Options. The firm would submit a press release on a completely different strategy, because “market making is dead” – according to the official spokesman. Market making this year isn’t what it used to be, margins are thin and volumes are low. But declaring market making “dead” is a hell of a statement for a market maker.

The rest of the news is a mystery. Allard Jakobs would explain a brand new vision for the future of All Options last monday. However, he cancelled it. Bad luck for the journalist who’s left with puzzled questions. Why would a privately held firm share their strategy with the press? And what made Allard cancel his speech? Wouldn’t really feel comfortable working for All Options.

update:

We have light. Scroll down in the comments for both internal memo’s. The core point comes down to cutting costs and staff. Centralize all Amsterdam offices, trading platforms and software. Shut down Hong Kong office, quit losing products altogether and scale down broker flow. Halt grassroots efforts like algo and energy trading. The PMM licenses in difficult classes? Euronext can keep ‘m.