Options Trader

About Wintermute

Wintermute is a leading algorithmic trading company specializing in digital assets. They offer liquidity algorithmically across various major cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms, along with a wide range of OTC trading solutions. Moreover, Wintermute supports high-profile blockchain projects and assists traditional financial institutions transitioning into cryptocurrencies.

Wintermute plays a crucial role in the digital asset markets as a prominent and influential entity. The company collaborates with major industry players in various capacities and actively contributes to the blockchain ecosystem through investments, partnerships, and support for new projects.

Job Responsibilities

The ideal candidate for this role will be an experienced options trader with a successful track record at a top-tier trading firm. The primary responsibility at Wintermute will involve initiating and expanding the option trading business.

This role offers the opportunity to work without the constraints of legacy systems or corporate bureaucracy. Individuals in this position are empowered to make a significant impact and are expected to act as owners, ensuring alignment with the company's objectives.

Coding proficiency or the ability to quickly acquire coding skills is a prerequisite for this role.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor and analyze crypto market flows including spot, perpetuals, futures, and options to identify volatility and skew dislocations.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of exchange-level positioning, funding dynamics, open interest, and on/off-exchange flows to discover trading opportunities.
• Research and backtest various dynamics like volatility surface, term structure, skew behavior, relative value, and dispersion trades across major digital assets.
• Develop and refine alpha signals by integrating market microstructure insights with quantitative research tools.
• Engage in trading activities and manage risk for a multi-exchange crypto options portfolio, encompassing delta, vega, gamma, and cross-venue risk.
• Contribute to expanding systematic and semi-systematic volatility strategies for the desk.
• Oversee the entire investment lifecycle from initial intuition and thesis development to modeling, execution, and post-trade analysis.
• Collaborate with engineering and infrastructure teams to optimize electronic execution, improve latency-sensitive routing, and enhance automation across exchanges.
• Monitor exchange counterparty risk, liquidity fragmentation, and unique structural inefficiencies in crypto derivatives markets.

Technical Proficiencies Required

• 3-5+ years of experience in option market making at top tier trading firms, preferably with a significant portion devoted to systematic and algorithmic trading.
• Profound understanding of option pricing and risk frameworks, with the ability to construct these frameworks from scratch based on prior expertise.
• Excellent quantitative and analytical skills, subject to testing.
• Python or coding skills are preferable; alternatively, readiness and capability to learn Python independently within a few months.

Other Requirements

• Demonstrate an owner mentality with a focus on driving company profits and strategic business growth.
• Possess a passion for problem-solving and take pride in successful product outcomes, being versatile in trading techniques, coding, and data analysis.
• Exhibit determination, ambition, humility, readiness to work diligently and learn continuously.
• Embrace a meritocratic environment where performance determines evaluation.
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset rather than a 9-to-5 approach, being prepared to work non-standard hours given the continuous nature of the crypto markets.
• Enjoy collaborating in a team-oriented work environment.