Optimal Market Technologies has launched a new US listed options execution platform, backed by global market makers Optiver and Virtu Financial, alongside investors Akuna and BSC Ventures.
Brian Donnelly
The FINRA-approved broker-dealer expects the platform to become commercially available later in Q1 and will serve retail options wholesalers, institutional broker-dealers and large asset managers, with an initial rollout focused on the wholesaler community.
The launch comes as options trading volumes continue to expand, with Optimal aiming to address persistent execution challenges, including high costs, constrained competition and inconsistent execution quality across the listed options ecosystem.
Central to Optimal’s offering is its ‘competition for order flow’ (CFOF) model, which enables multiple primary market makers (PMMs) to compete for the right to trade against retail broker order flow based on execution quality performance.
Specifically, under the model, execution quality is assessed on a name-by-name basis using rolling performance metrics, with order flow reallocated monthly according to relative execution outcomes.
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The framework allows liquidity providers to concentrate on the products and strategies where they deliver the strongest performance and is expected to improve overall market quality while reducing unnecessary friction for both liquidity providers and brokers.
At launch, PMMs on the platform will include Optiver, Akuna, Belvedere Trading, and Group One Trading, with additional market makers expected to join in the coming months.
Optimal Market Technologies is being established as a standalone entity, separate from RQD Clearing, whose multi-asset clearing, custody and execution platform underpins the new venue’s infrastructure.
The company is led by founder and chief executive Brian Donnelly, previously founder of both RQD and options market maker Volant Trading, alongside a management team of experts in the US options trading industry.
Donnelly said: “Over the coming months, we plan to add additional liquidity providers so that clients can benefit from an even broader set of counterparties, all competing based on measurable execution quality.”
The platform integrates via standard API or FIX connectivity and, with RQD acting as clearing counterparty, supports clearing, post-trade processing and regulatory reporting as part of a fully integrated operational solution.
Jake Taylor, head of US single stock options at Optiver, said: “As retail participation and options volumes grow, it’s increasingly important that market structure evolves to promote choice, transparency and high-quality execution. […] We look forward to supporting Optimal as it builds a differentiated execution offering.”