Salary guide · source review dates beside each figure
Optiver salary and compensation
The Chicago systematic-options trader/researcher and SVT researcher disclosures in this guide each list $200,000 base. These are experienced roles; the SVT posting requests four to five or more years, so they are not a benchmark for every Optiver graduate offer.
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Optiver pay by role
2 employer disclosures · USD · base pay, not total compensation
| Firm / role | Location / scope | Published base pay | Bonus / source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optiver Quantitative Trader/Researcher — Systematic Options Trading | Chicago Experienced · Experienced | $200,000 / year | Discretionary bonus; amount not disclosed. Employer postingDisclosure reviewed 2026-09-28 |
| Optiver Quantitative Researcher — SVT | Chicago Experienced · Experienced; 4–5+ years requested | $200,000 / year | Discretionary bonus; amount not disclosed. Employer postingDisclosure reviewed 2026-09-28 |
Base, bonus and the offer you should compare
Ask about asset class, research versus trading responsibilities, training, and the variable-pay framework. Match the location before comparing Chicago with Amsterdam, London or Sydney.
First-year cash
Add base salary, signing money and a written guaranteed bonus. Keep a discretionary target separate and check whether signing or relocation money must be repaid if you leave.
Recurring compensation
Remove one-time payments, check whether guarantees expire, and ask how performance pay is assessed. Compare the same office, currency, seniority and job responsibilities.
Preparing for a role at Optiver
Trading candidates should build mental arithmetic, probability and risk intuition. Research candidates should add coding, statistics and a clear account of how research improves a trading decision.
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Compare Optiver with other firms
Use these guides to compare role-level pay, responsibilities and preparation.
Compare published salaries side by sideSalary questions, answered
How much does Optiver pay?
The Chicago systematic-options trader/researcher and SVT researcher disclosures in this guide each list $200,000 base. These are experienced roles; the SVT posting requests four to five or more years, so they are not a benchmark for every Optiver graduate offer.
What is Optiver’s new-grad salary?
The figures above are not a universal graduate-pay band. Match the exact intake, office and role in your offer. Ask about asset class, research versus trading responsibilities, training, and the variable-pay framework. Match the location before comparing Chicago with Amsterdam, London or Sydney.
Does Optiver salary include bonus?
Ask about asset class, research versus trading responsibilities, training, and the variable-pay framework. Match the location before comparing Chicago with Amsterdam, London or Sydney. Treat base, signing payments, guaranteed bonus and discretionary bonus as separate items when comparing first-year and recurring compensation.
How should I prepare for Optiver?
Trading candidates should build mental arithmetic, probability and risk intuition. Research candidates should add coding, statistics and a clear account of how research improves a trading decision.
How to read these salary figures
A posting is one observation
Each row links to an employer disclosure and identifies the role, location, pay period and review date. A posted range is not a measured average of employee earnings, an accepted offer, or a hiring guarantee.
Keep base and bonus separate
Base pay excludes discretionary bonuses unless the source explicitly says otherwise. We do not estimate an undisclosed bonus or turn a base range into a total-compensation claim.
Match the role and pay period
Compare the same location, experience requirements and work period. Internship rates remain in their original units. An annualized rate is not the summer paycheck: use the paid duration to estimate program earnings. See the internship pay examples.
Check the original source
Each disclosure has its own review date. When a later check finds a role is no longer listed, we keep its historical pay with that status beside it and exclude it from the summary ranges and charts. A review date is not a promise the job remains open. This is a selected set of postings, not a representative salary survey.