Simplex Trading LLC

Please say hello to a valued member of the Simplex team - software engineer Andrew Vallette. Andrew has been with the team since August 2023 and is responsible for working on a variety of interesting projects at Simplex and producing high-quality code for our #marketdata operations. Learn more about Andrew:   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅?   I am a Software Engineer on the Market Data team at Simplex. My focus is on improving the performance and efficiency of the software responsible for handling the exchange data feeds. I also implement new features to expand the functionality of our software, and develop tools to help us monitor and maintain the reliability of Market Data services.   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅? I have worked on many projects in the past where strong knowledge of writing high-performance software was crucial -- vehicle safety systems, video game engines, language parsing libraries, and a CPU emulator, to name a few. I was able to apply the same skills needed for those roles to my work here at Simplex, and this has made my transition from tech to trading go very smoothly.   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯? 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅? It's tough to pick just one thing! I really enjoy the wide variety of projects I am able to work on, and the high degree of ownership I have over them. Also, the people at Simplex are some of the brightest I've ever worked with, and were equally helpful in getting me up to speed on all of the new things I needed to learn in order to be successful here. There's no red tape, so you can just get things done and keep improving continuously.   𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂? When I'm not wearing my software engineer hat, I'm an artist. I have created graphics used in hundreds of websites, applications, and games. Oh, and I also used to have long blue and green hair!   𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 (𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱). Starting my own software company when I was 18. Though it was filled with ups and downs, it was the best decision I ever made and certainly put me on the path to success.   #MeetSimplex #LifeAtSimplex

From all of us at Simplex, we wish you a happy and safe #FourthofJuly!

Please say hello to another member of the Simplex team - trader Marcus Duquette. Marcus has been with the team since August 2020, and is responsible for working on a variety of projects at Simplex within electronic #marketmaking. Learn more about Marcus below: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅?  I'm a trader on the electronic market making desk at Simplex. My key responsibilities are designing, improving and parameterizing our algorithmic trading algorithms and improving our option pricing. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅? I started at Simplex straight out of undergrad, but I'd spent a few summers working in different parts of the market, including in a couple of trading pits. This work showed me market structure from a variety of angles and taught me the mindset of different market participants. The work in trading pits also let me literally see orders working their way through the market, from customers to brokers to market makers, which gave me a good mental model to build on top of when learning about the electronic options market. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯? 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘅? Working in financial markets is fun because there's a lot of complexity to understand, and it's constantly changing. Working as an electronic trader at Simplex is fun because once you've addressed a piece of that complexity you can handle that in the trading algorithms and then move on to the next problem. Because of this there's very little repetitive work. Simplex specifically has been a great place to work because they allow people to work on their own projects very quickly, and are willing to put them in production. New employees can tackle big projects very soon after starting. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂? I ran a marathon last fall, and decided to do that around mile 12. 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 (𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱). I rewrote our trading algorithm that responds to price improvement auctions. This pulled together a lot of what I've learned here about options pricing and market microstructure. #MeetSimplex #LifeAtSimplex

It was a pleasure to sponsor the sixth annual Connor Hunt Memorial Foundation Golf Outing on June 10. Through the event’s fundraising efforts, the foundation is able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to support pediatric cancer clinical research efforts.    Special thanks to the Connor Hunt Memorial Foundation for inviting us to sponsor such an important cause. We had a great time! #SimplexInAction

Our team had a great time at this year’s Urban Initiatives Traders Poker Tournament! Simplex joined over 200 poker players from Chicago's trading community, with three of our Simplex team members making it to the final table. Gustavo Camacho won the grand prize of the evening and will be attending the World Series of Poker in July! Urban Initiatives proudly provides youth programs and community development across Chicago. Thank you to Urban Initiatives for another incredible event! #SimplexInAction

We are happy to introduce Benjamin Londergan, Managing Director of Strategic Business Development! In his role, Ben is responsible for expanding our partnerships and current core business into new products and geographies.   Under his leadership, Simplex Trading is excited to continue growing as a leading, technology-driven, proprietary #trading firm and a top market maker.   Welcome aboard, Ben! #newhire #LifeAtSimplex #fintech

Please join us in welcoming Simplex’s newest trading class! 👏 Among the brightest in their field, this group brings a range of expertise across data and quantitative analytics, financial engineering, and more. Over the next few weeks they will explore options theory and pricing, market dynamics, and risk management while working alongside the trading team to optimize trading strategies and capitalize on market opportunity.   Welcome aboard! #LifeAtSimplex

Please say hello to another member of the Simplex team - software engineer, Sam Bove. Sam, who has been with us since fall 2022, is responsible for working on a variety of interesting projects at Simplex and producing high-quality code for our #marketmaking operations. Learn more about Sam below:   What does your role at Simplex entail? Much of my time here has been spent working on new code for trading futures contracts. At a high level, that entails writing software to quickly execute trades/manage orders in response to market data and software to run the same trading logic on historical market data in a simulated environment for research/backtesting purposes. I've also worked on an options trading app, frontend apps for monitoring our positions and interacting with automated trading apps, and various services that produce data for our trading apps.   What skills from your previous roles have helped you succeed with Simplex? Previous jobs have grown my skills in problem solving, communication, and writing maintainable code, all of which have helped me to succeed at Simplex.   What do you love most about your job? About Simplex? I love how much freedom I get to work on interesting problems free from bureaucracy. Being in trading forces us to move quickly as an organization to adapt to the markets and fully capitalize on opportunities. So there's no risk of being stuck on unimpactful work at Simplex. I also appreciate the ability to gain full context into the problems I'm solving.    For one thing, as someone without a finance background, it's fascinating getting to learn about trading and market microstructures from very smart coworkers. Additionally, I'm able to meaningfully contribute ideas and designs to best address problems. I've never once felt forced to build something I thought would be a poor solution/design. Lastly, the latency/performance of our software is generally much more important than in other industries, which presents added technical challenges that I enjoy.   What is one thing your colleagues would be surprised to know about you? I enjoy some really unconventional types of music, or at least an unconventional combination. That includes everything from Portuguese Reggae, Punk Rock, the Blues, and Zulu music.   Tell us about your proudest accomplishment (can be non-work related). One of my proudest accomplishments is designing and building a 3D printer from scratch. It was a super fun side project, and the final result was something I'm really proud of. #MeetSimplex #LifeAtSimplex

Make sure to #SavetheDate for another outstanding Canadian Security Trader's Association, Inc (CSTA) Annual Conference! We are a proud returning sponsor of this year’s #CSTA Conference, which will be held in Quebec City.    We’re looking forward to connecting with our Canadian peers in trading. #marketmaking #Canadiansta #SimplexinAction

We were pleased to sponsor the 2024 Carolina Security Traders Association’s Annual Conference once again in Charleston, South Carolina. Special thanks to CSTA President Gina King of LPL Financial, and Vice President Dave Pilla of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. for an outstanding event, great content and opportunity to connect with our industry friends and peers. #SimplexInAction