Being based in the Netherlands, Optiver must file a financial report annually to the Dutch chamber of commerce. Its 2009 report reveals that the group, which employs 600 people globally, made just â¬6.3m. Industry insiders say that Optiver made over â¬200m the previous year. On Thursday, Optiver said that its chief financial officer, Edwin van de Ven, had resigned. It said this had nothing to do with the financial performance of the company. .... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e149220a-bc3d-11df-8c02-00144feab49a.html
Once the public leaves its all over. None of this should be any surprise. I cant wait to see in RT medallion has made money this year. I bet anyone a 100 this is the first year they are down.
In addition to significant profit drops in Goldman's equity unit and Timber Hill (IB's market making division, which used to make most of IB's profit), it seems that the HFT space has become much more competitive and less profitable. Compounding the issue, volume is down; and since by far most HFT trades provide rather than remove liquidity, this means less business. I'd be curious to see how the other HFT's are doing (ATD, Wolverine, Tradeworx, Tradebot, GETCO, Citadel's HFT's, etc.). In contrast to a lot of ET posters, I think HFT is very subject to competitive forces (perhaps more than almost any other area of finance). I won't be surprised to see consolidation or people/groups exiting the business within a year or so -- the short-term market is simply becoming a lot more efficient. But that's from the equities/equity options perspective. FX could still be the Wild West for all I know.