CBOE Origin Remembrances: Thomas Peterffy

By Lawrence G. McMillan

Thomas Peterffy is well-know for founding the computerized trading firm Timber Hill and also for founding Interactive Brokers. Thomas recently was the Keynote Speaker at the May 2023 SIFMA meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of listed option trading. SIFMA is the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association; it was formed from the merger of the Bond Market Association and the Securities Industry Association, in 2006. This is a copy of the speech that Thomas gave, about 50 years of listed option trading, through his personal experiences.

By the time I became a market-maker Member of the American Stock Exchange in 1977, option trading on the CBOE had been already underway for 4 years.

During the previous ten years, working as a computer programmer, I saved up $200,000 and wrote code on my Olivetti home computer to calculate the fair value of options...

Having all I needed to begin my career in options, I quit my job, bought a seat on the AMEX, opened an account at Spear Leeds and I deposited my remaining $165,000...

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