IMC Trading

IMC began on the floor of the Amsterdam options exchange in 1989, where two traders, Robert Defares and René Schelvis, started a partnership whose initials stood for International Marketmakers Combination. Amsterdam's long history as an options center is baked into the firm's DNA, and Defares still runs it as CEO. Ownership has stayed with the principals, never opening to outside capital.

Today IMC sits among the top handful of listed-options market makers by volume and acts as lead market maker in scores of US ETFs. Its sharpest single move into US equities came in 2014, when it bought Goldman Sachs' NYSE Designated Market Maker book, taking over the specialist role for hundreds of listed companies. The business now spans options, ETFs, futures, fixed income, and FX across markets worldwide.