Optiver Salary in 2026: The Headline Numbers
A graduate trader at Optiver typically earns $250,000 to $400,000 in total compensation in the US, or the equivalent of £100,000 to £180,000 in London, with senior traders and portfolio-level roles clearing $400,000 to $600,000 or considerably more in strong years. Pay varies meaningfully by office, with Chicago and Amsterdam graduate packages generally running ahead of Sydney and London on a nominal basis.
| Role | Graduate Total Comp | Senior Total Comp |
|---|---|---|
| Trader | $250,000 - $400,000 | $400,000 - $700,000+ |
| Quantitative Researcher | $220,000 - $380,000 | $400,000 - $700,000+ |
| Software Engineer | $180,000 - $280,000 | $320,000 - $550,000 |
Estimate caveat: Optiver does not publish compensation figures, so every number in this guide is assembled from Glassdoor, levels.fyi and candidate self-reports. Treat all ranges as illustrative rather than guaranteed. For how Optiver's pay compares with the rest of the market, see our quant trader salary guide and US quant salary guide.
Optiver at a Glance
Optiver was founded in Amsterdam in 1986 and has grown into one of the largest options and derivatives market makers in the world, trading on almost every major exchange from offices in Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney, London and Shanghai. The firm hires primarily across four technical tracks: Trader, Quantitative Researcher, Software Engineer and Hardware Engineer, with roughly 1,800 employees globally as of 2026. If you have not yet been through the process, our Optiver interview guide covers the famous mental maths test and trading simulation in detail.
Trader Salary by Office
| Office | Graduate Total Comp | Senior Total Comp |
|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | €120,000 - €180,000 | €250,000 - €500,000+ |
| Chicago | $250,000 - $400,000 | $450,000 - $800,000+ |
| London | £100,000 - £180,000 | £220,000 - £450,000+ |
| Sydney | A$150,000 - A$220,000 | A$300,000 - A$550,000+ |
Trader pay at Optiver is built from a base salary plus a bonus that reflects both the desk's trading performance and the firm's overall result, rather than a pure individual PnL share as at some smaller prop trading firms. This means a strong desk year lifts everyone on it, while an individually strong trader on a weak desk will not see the same upside they might get at a firm with more direct PnL attribution. Our quant trader salary guide covers how this compares with PnL-share structures more broadly across the industry.
Quantitative Researcher Salary
Quant researchers at Optiver design and test the pricing models and statistical signals that traders rely on, and typically hold a strong master's or PhD in mathematics, physics, statistics or a related quantitative field.
| Level | US Total Comp | UK Total Comp |
|---|---|---|
| Graduate (0-2 years) | $220,000 - $380,000 | £90,000 - £160,000 |
| Mid-Level (3-5 years) | $350,000 - $550,000 | £160,000 - £300,000 |
| Senior (6+ years) | $500,000 - $800,000+ | £280,000 - £550,000+ |
Research pay at Optiver sits close to trader pay at the graduate level but grows somewhat more slowly at the very top, since research roles are less directly tied to a single desk's PnL than trading roles are.
Software Engineer Salary
Software engineers build and maintain Optiver's trading infrastructure, including its low-latency execution systems, market data pipelines and risk tooling. C++ dominates performance-critical code, with Python used heavily for research tooling and internal platforms.
| Level | US Total Comp | UK Total Comp |
|---|---|---|
| Graduate (0-2 years) | $180,000 - $280,000 | £75,000 - £130,000 |
| Mid-Level (3-5 years) | $280,000 - $420,000 | £130,000 - £220,000 |
| Senior (6+ years) | $400,000 - $650,000 | £220,000 - £400,000 |
Software engineer pay is the lowest of Optiver's three main tracks in absolute terms, though it remains well above general software engineering pay outside quantitative finance, and hardware engineers working on FPGA-based systems typically sit at the upper end of this range given how scarce that skill set is.
Intern Pay at Optiver
Optiver's internship programmes run roughly ten weeks over the summer and pay a monthly stipend rather than a pro-rated annual salary, alongside furnished housing, flights and daily meals at most offices.
| Office | Monthly Stipend (2026) |
|---|---|
| Amsterdam | €5,000 - €6,000 |
| Chicago | $15,000 - $20,000 |
| Sydney | A$15,000 - A$18,000 |
| London | £10,000 - £14,000 |
On an annualised basis, the Amsterdam stipend works out to roughly €60,000 to €72,000; for a ten-week summer internship, the direct stipend is closer to €12,000 to €14,000, plus housing, flights and meals which push the all-in package toward €20,000 to €25,000. Our Optiver internship guide covers the application timeline and what interns actually work on across each track, and return offer rates are reported at roughly 70 to 80%.
How Optiver's Bonus Structure Works
Optiver's variable pay is closer to a desk-and-firm blended pool than to a formulaic individual PnL share, particularly at the graduate and mid-junior level. That structural choice is deliberate: as an options market maker where a single trader is rarely the sole driver of a book's PnL, Optiver spreads the bonus pool across the desk before individual differentiation kicks in.
For traders, this means the year-one bonus reflects how the specific desk you joined performed and how the firm did overall, with a smaller individual component that grows the longer you stay. For quant researchers, the mix leans more toward firm-wide performance since research output feeds several desks rather than a single book. For engineering roles the bonus is closer to a fixed percentage of base tied to firm-wide performance, which is why the engineer curve at Optiver is flatter than the trader curve at every seniority.
Sign-on and relocation are treated as separate one-off amounts on top of base and bonus, and can be substantial for candidates moving between offices - a graduate joining Amsterdam from Sydney, for example, will usually see the relocation package quoted alongside but distinct from the year-one comp figure.
Optiver vs Other Top Market Makers
| Firm | Graduate Trader Total Comp (US, approx.) | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|
| Optiver | $250,000 - $400,000 | Amsterdam |
| Jump Trading | $250,000 - $500,000 | Chicago |
| Jane Street | $400,000 - $700,000 | New York |
| Citadel Securities | $400,000 - $700,000 | Miami |
Optiver sits in the upper-middle tier of prop trading firm pay rather than at the absolute top alongside Jane Street and Citadel Securities, though its total package including training quality and international mobility across offices is consistently rated highly by candidates. Our Jump Trading salary guide covers a similarly Chicago-anchored firm for direct comparison.
Negotiating an Optiver Offer
Optiver hires new traders and engineers primarily through its graduate programme, and the standard graduate matrix by office is close to non-negotiable at the base-salary level. The two levers that do move at that level are the sign-on and the relocation package, particularly for candidates who are already based in one Optiver city and need to relocate to another - Sydney to Amsterdam, for example, or London to Chicago. Relocation for a graduate offer at Optiver is usually a real number rather than a token, and asking specifically about temporary accommodation, tax equalisation and visa support is worth doing before the offer is finalised.
For experienced hires, the more consequential negotiation is not the headline pay but which product area you join. Optiver's index options, single-name options and ETF market-making desks all pay from a broadly common structure, but the pace at which a new joiner is given independent quoting responsibility varies meaningfully across them. A senior recruiter or manager can usually give an honest read on which desks have the most headroom in a given year, and that answer often matters more for two-year total pay than the sign-on figure.
A competing offer from another top options market maker - IMC, SIG, Akuna or Maven - is the piece of leverage Optiver responds to most predictably. Bank flow-trading offers rarely move the number at Optiver, even at the same headline total-comp level, because the firm treats prop and bank offers as different reference classes.
Compensation & recruiting notes
Optiver does not publish compensation data, and the figures in this guide are illustrative estimates compiled from Glassdoor, levels.fyi, recruiter commentary and candidate self-reports. Actual offers vary by office, role, level, individual performance and the firm's overall year. Nothing in this guide guarantees any interview outcome, offer structure or compensation level.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average Optiver trader salary?
A graduate trader in the US typically earns $250,000 to $400,000 in total compensation in their first year, rising to $400,000 to $700,000 or more at the senior level. UK graduate trader pay typically runs £100,000 to £180,000 in total compensation.
Which Optiver office pays the most?
Chicago generally offers the highest nominal total compensation for trader and engineering roles, followed closely by Amsterdam. London and Sydney typically pay somewhat less in nominal terms, though relative cost of living narrows the real-terms gap in some cases.
Do Optiver traders earn more than quant researchers?
Pay is broadly similar at the graduate level, with traders having a slightly wider range at the senior end because trader bonuses are more closely tied to desk-level trading performance than research bonuses are.
How much do Optiver interns get paid?
Optiver pays a monthly stipend rather than a pro-rated salary, ranging from around €5,000 to €6,000 in Amsterdam up to $15,000 to $20,000 in Chicago, plus furnished housing, flights and daily meals. The all-in value of a ten-week Amsterdam internship is typically €60,000 to €70,000.
Does Optiver pay more than Jump Trading or Jane Street?
Optiver's graduate trader pay is broadly comparable to Jump Trading's and somewhat below Jane Street's and Citadel Securities', which sit at the very top of prop trading firm compensation. Optiver is generally considered a strong second-tier option on pure pay, with a well-regarded training programme as an additional draw.
Is a finance degree needed for a high Optiver salary?
No. Optiver hires primarily for quantitative reasoning ability across mathematics, physics, engineering and computer science backgrounds, and pay is determined by role, seniority and performance rather than degree subject. Strong mental arithmetic and probability skills matter far more for trader pay progression than a finance-specific education.
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