New York-based boutique broker Rosenblatt Securities is moving into listed options.
The firm said its offering would combine “a hybrid agency execution service with customised hedging strategy and portfolio-overlay models for institutions”.
Similar to its equity services, Rosenblatt says it will provide fast access to displayed liquidity, supplemented by working closely with leading options liquidity providers who can offer larger-than-average trade sizes for institutional customers.
“We have wanted to get into the options business for a long time,” said Joe Gawronski, president and COO, Rosenblatt. “Options market structure has been taking on many of the characteristics of its cash equities cousin, and more and more institutional investors are using options as part of alpha generation and hedging strategies.”
Rosenblatt said unlike some brokers, it would not hold customer orders to avoid exchange fees or accept payment-for-order-flow from options exchanges and other counterparties.
The new team is staffed with four options sales staff and a trading and strategy desk led by Gary Wishnow, managing director of derivatives sales and trading. Wishnow has extensive options expertise, including stints as head of options sales and trading at FBN Securities and vice president of institutional sales and trading at Louis Capital Markets.
Steven Williams will serve as chief derivatives and exchange-traded products strategist, Fabian Amezaga as vice president of derivatives sales and trading and Matthew Stoeber as trading clerk.
Williams was recently at Ramius Capital Group, trading a long/short volatility book and structured hedges for other portfolio managers. Amezaga most recently served as co-head of the crude oil options book at Citigroup Derivatives Markets. Prior to joining Rosenblatt, Stoeber was with FBN Securities, working in the corporate access group.
“In Gary and his team, we have finally found a group of talented people who share our vision for how an agency options desk should work – with the customer’s interests first and foremost,” said Gawronski.