Quoted traders in the Quote 500

The title of the article is somewhat misleading. Oomen, van den Berg and Vlek invested money in Optiver from the very start. Good for them, but it does not make them “traders”. In fact, they aren’t. Wiet Pot probably shouldn’t be called a trader either, he comes from investment banking and bought a stake in IMC (after one too many slaps on the wrist by the AFM). At least I’m glad you didn’t include dinosaurs like Kluft and Strating.

Very true!

Very much doubt that anyone from Optiver Australia apart from Rob K is worth 80m. Name names please, and back it up with some numbers.

Keldoulis is worth more than Kaemingk ? how did he pull that trade off ?

9:12 pm

‘to grace the old floor’ … that reeks of nostalgia which is common to old people.

Maybe the first poster should be forgiven for not being an old fart like yourself who was around in 1986 when Optiver was founded. What’s your excuse for spending time on this blog a quarter of a century later? You should be in the Quote 500 list given the length of your career!

Guys I think some of you are taking the numbers being tossed around a little bit too seriously. The second post was clearly making fun of a similar discussion last week. For crying out loud, he even suggested that many All Options *juniors* are worth more than 80 million (that company is losing money hand over fist and hasn’t paid a bonus in ages). Just goes to show how easy it is to start a rumor that becomes fact.

haha hilarious, jesus if u can’t figure out wat is a joke and wat is somewhat serious, how on earth do u trade for a living?

@9:12

That’s what “old farts” do: have a look on this blog every once in a while and laugh about all those silly youngsters who wonder why they are not millionaire yet.

After a couple of years in the game you should put your money where your mouth is and start trading with your own money. Start with your couple of hundred grant bonuses (if you don’t have that yet, find another job). If you’re half as good as you think you are you, you should be a millionaire in a few years!

Otherwise, just keep posting silly messages with silly figures! Espacially in this time of the year when it is to cold for old farts to go out boating, play golf or go to the beach.

Dowson is heading towards bankruptcy. He was not a major shareholder. Though he recieved million dollar bonuses, he has squandered most of this on fast cars and fast boats. Now there is a big fine coming his way from the cftc.

Ab vd Brink got run over by All Options in the Altana dividend. His company, Abacus, lost 30 million euros.

450MM in what currency? Optiver made 600 EUR MM in total in 2008, so even if you mean Aussie that number is probably not realistic.

Finally, one of the GODS who runs a company speaks out again and sets the scum (a.k.a. employees) straight for missing the bigger picture. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and for being a true enterprenerd. If only there were more people like you in this industry. Or in general. The world would be a better place. VDM and All Options, to give but two examples, were killed by vicious rumours, not because of a lack of competence on a management level.

PS there is no such thing as “over-exaggerated”.

I agree with 4.22. The owner of this blog should only allow HIGHER MANAGEMENT to post messages.

helemaal mee eens!

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Try walking a mile in my shoes for a change.

of course there are always two sides to a story, but many times I see people posting nonsense about topics I happen to know the details about. And that pisses me off sometimes, and I couldn’t resist writing down some frustration. I am sure many ‘higher managers’ know they make mistakes just as traders do, but if you don’t try you will never get anywere.

[...] All Options has never been a cash cow, except for the Altana year. Losing millions ever since. As predicted tumbled on the list, but not far [...]