Just two months ago Flow Traders was invited for the opening bell ceremony at Euronext. Was quite a puzzle to find out who’s who at the balcony – but with linkedin and a little help from my friends it worked. This monday Sjoerd and Dennis from Flow Traders rang the bell again, after the options on Flow Traders shares started trading (well, trading..). Susquehanna committed itself to quoting options Flow Traders (code FLW).

WEBB Traders

WEBB Traders was invited the day after, so decided to have a look at this company. Usually without specific news there’s never much to report about medium sized market makers like Scrocca or WEBB.  Flow and WEBB both share the word “traders” in their company name. That’s the only thing the companies have in common. Flow is in another league. Still, the market needs smaller traders too.

WEBB is a medium sized market maker with offices in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Hong Kong. It apparently also has some presence in the US, as it was invited for the NASDAQ opening ceremony few months back. WEBB has a headcount of approximately 50. Their Amsterdam office is in the former Saen Options office. The firm was founded by Thijs Booij and Marco van den Berg, both formerly employed by Van der Moolen. Most of the staff seem to be Van der Moolen alumni, of course including the market maker Caerus which was bought by WEBB in 2013.

Hedge fund TRZ

There’s a deal with the hedge fund TRZ – which operates on the infrastructure of WEBB in the same office. The results of TRZ are nothing short of spectacular, without a single down month. A straight line upwards without any significant variation – in a market which has seen some wild movements in the pas years.

Who’s who at the opening bell

The company WEBB Traders seem to have three managing directors. The founders Thijs Booij was in charge of the bell. At the back the other founder Marco vd Berg, and just in the middle behind the bell the third managing director Frank van Dorth – formerly CFO of Flow Traders and Scrocca. On the front row, next to Thijs is Arne Kanters (business development), Rewina Tjon A Sin (office manager), an unknown guy and next to him Philip Snijder (developer).

In the middle row the bald guys are traders Jeroen van Veen and Jacco Verbruggen. The third bald guy at the back row is Dick Macrander (hr manager) and next to him a third trader, Armand Peeters. The other people on the picture are either from Euronext or wasn’t unable to trace them.

Moving images

If you really like to watch people clap their hands. Moving images, bell ceremony of Flow Traders and WEBB Traders.

• WEBB