New IMC commercials

45 comments / February 13, 2014

The folks at IMC Financial Markets created a brand new videos, demonstrating how exciting it is to work for them. It’s no secret my most loyal readers belong to the ranks of the IMC management – it usually take them only a few minutes to spot IMC related comments here. ZwarteKip and me made close friends last year with Bingham, Allen & Overy and DLA Piper.

But hey, let’s not spoil the party, the commercials are pretty professional. Including puzzles on a whiteboard. It’s also fresh : noticed I was the very first viewer for some of them. They need a bigger audience, glad to help out.

Ah, not only impossible to react on Youtube but also not allowed to embed the videos here. Here’s the full list of new youtube gems. The owner of the channel is working for HR in IMC Chicago. More on IMC Chicago soon, as the developers bonus list has been leaked

You have to click here for the general video.
This one is about IMC Amsterdam
This one explains what market making actually is. I was the first viewer. Learned a lot.
Here’s one from Sydney.

“Tibra stole source code Getco”

250 comments / February 2, 2014

The ink is barely dry on the settlement agreement with Optiver, and new trouble looms for Tibra. Rumor has it Tibra has got a problem with Getco, or KCG as it is called after the take over of Knight. It’s a listed company nowadays, KCG.

Game changing hire

In november 2012 two former executives from Getco emerged at the London office of market maker / HFT shop Tibra. A head of algo trading and a software developer joined the Australians. At the time, heralded as a game changing hire (login). On contrary, one could say if the stories are true ; it would be a game we’ve heard before.

Tibra settles with Optiver

43 comments / January 30, 2014

Rumor has it Tibra Trading finally settles the conflict with Optiver. Eight years ago Tibra was founded by rebel Optiver traders in Australia. They allegedly took with them a serious chunk of source code of the proprietary trading software, called F1.

The case has been dragging on for almost a decade, and included trips to California – demanding Google to hand over some evidence (gmail, gtalk). Denied by the court, by the way. In the meantime, the former lightning fast trading software of 2006 is currently slow and old fashioned material.

Millions of fees for lawyers over the years, so time to settle. Word is Tibra will pay $ 10 million.

This may be the end for the former never ending story of “Optiver versus Tibra”. At least Tibra has learned how to deal with this kind of issues. One can never foresee when such expertise would come in handy.

Update January 31

With a short statement on their website, Optiver confirms the settlement.

The proceedings have now been settled on the basis of an undisclosed payment to Optiver but otherwise on confidential terms and without admission by either party. In accordance with the terms of the settlement, this is the only public statement we can make on the matter.

More ghost towns at Euronext Liffe

8 comments / January 27, 2014

A new year brings new rounds of innovation at Euronext Liffe. The weekly options in the single stocks will be expanded to half a dozen other stocks. Currently this market segment of weekly equity options is more or less a ghost town. Not much volume going on – the high transaction costs block serious trading opportunities in here.

Currently we have weekly stock options in ING, KPN, Royal Dutch, Aegon, Mittal and Philips. These aren't just different maturities, it's an own option class. So you can't set up a time spread between the weekly and monthly options – other than trading the legs separately. Makes everything cumbersome for market makers too.

Starting January the 31 – this friday – this unsuccessful line will be expanded to the following seven stocks.

Ahold (code AH)
Akzo Nobel (code AK)
ASML (code AS)
DSM (code DS)
Heineken (code HE)
SBM Offshore (code SB)
Unilever (code UN)

Market maker have a few days to sign up. Don't expect any queues here. It's also safe to wait a few weeks to check if it's worth the effort (uhm, don't think so).

Capacity issues solved

The exchange has silently adjusted their business model for market makers. In the good old days, only a very few primary market maker spots were available. Always good for some play offs, with market makers competing for the tightest quotes with the largest size to win the battle. I even remember a now bankrupt trading firm valuing these market maker licenses for millions in their books.

As of 2014, any market maker can sign up for PMM. All capacity constraints are apparently gone, these quoting licenses come with unlimited supply.

Source : Notice from Euronext Liffe (pdf)

Den Hartog new MD at Deep Blue

99 comments / January 16, 2014

Deep Blue Capital hired Wim den Hartog as new Managing Director. Den Hartog previously worked for Goldman Sachs Clearing and was briefly co-head of IMC Chicago. In his last job he was replaced by Osi Lilian, who returned after a sabbatical. Den Hartog’s move to Deep Blue is an horizontal career change at best. But then again, the trading business has seen better days.

Robin de Vilder

The founder of Deep Blue is the well known mathematician Robin de Vilder. He’s also being associate professor at the University of Amsterdam, but he’s quite notorious in the Netherlands for some other issues. In short, in 1987 at the age of 26 he swindled ten million guilders from investors. He was convicted to two years in prison, which he finally served in 1995 after doing his phd in mathematics. Given the status and wealth of De Vilder’s family, his father as chairman of the chamber of commerce in Amsterdam and the involvement of media tycoons (the victims) – the matter stirred a lot of attention.

Quantitative Approach

Deep Blue hires mostly mathematicians and has a very quantitive approach to trading. With their own models they are said to be finally earning a good profit last year. Company is located in the same building als Flow Traders, and Flow used to have a stake in the company. When Summit Capital bought their stake in Flow, the ties between Deep Blue and Flow were cut.

Head of HR department is Fiona de Vilder, and they are hiring new chess players. She’s also famous herself, for having been a candidate for state secretary in the government, in 2002 for the LPF.

Update

Small correction. Den Hartog wasn’t replaced by Osi Lilian in IMC Chicago. Mr Lillian has already been working there since October 2012, as Global head of Business Planning & Analysis – to be more specific.

Second, while some people in the comments joke about mr Lilian’s past incident with the Dutch tax authorities – IMC wishes to say they are complying with all tax rules including those by the IRS. That is good.

Amsterdamtrader