— GUIDE —
OPTIVER SALARY IN 2026
Optiver files the lowest base of any major quant firm in the US disclosure data, in both 2024 and 2025. Here is what that number is, and what it is not.
UPDATED 2026-09-21 · 9 MIN READ · BY THE VARIANCE TEAM
Optiver files the lowest base of any major firm in the US data, in two consecutive years. That is a fact about how it sets base salary, and almost nothing about what it pays.
Checked against DOL disclosure data and Optiver's own postings on 21 September 2026. Optiver publishes no compensation ranges, so there is no employer-published tier on this page. Everything here is either a government filing or clearly labelled as candidate-reported.
Optiver files a $150,000 base salary in the United States. Jane Street files $300,000. Read those two numbers without context and you would conclude Optiver pays half, which is almost certainly wrong and is the most common mistake made with this dataset.
The same number, three titles, two years
Start with what is actually in the filings, because the consistency is the interesting part.
| Year | Title as filed | Median base | Filings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Software Engineer | $150,000 | 15 |
| Quantitative Researcher | $150,000 | 15 | |
| Trader | $150,000 | 8 | |
| 2024 | Quantitative Researcher | $150,000 | 8 |
| Software Engineer | $150,000 | 6 | |
| Trader | $150,000 | 4 |
$150,000 for a researcher, $150,000 for a trader, $150,000 for a software engineer, across 49 filings in 2025 and 29 in 2024. A single year at one number could be a thin sample. Two years across three job families is a policy.
Jane Street does the same thing at exactly double: $300,000 flat across its trader, researcher and engineer filings. Two firms, two flat bands, a factor of two apart. That is a difference in how base is set, and the filings cannot tell you whether it is a difference in what anyone is paid.
Where that sits against peers
| Firm | Median base | Filings | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane Street | $300,000 | 3 filings | US DOL filing |
| Five Rings | $300,000 | 9 filings | US DOL filing |
| Citadel Securities | $250,000 | 43 filings | US DOL filing |
| Jump Trading | $250,000 | 12 filings | US DOL filing |
| Two Sigma | $235,000 | 49 filings | US DOL filing |
| Optiver | $150,000 | 15 filings | US DOL filing |
Optiver is last, by a wide margin, on a sample of 15 researcher filings that is large enough to take seriously. If filed base were a proxy for total compensation, this chart would be telling you Optiver is not a competitive employer, which is not a claim anyone familiar with the firm would make.
What the filing does not say
A Labor Condition Application states base salary. It has no field for a discretionary bonus, and at a market maker the bonus is usually the larger half of the package, with base running 30% to 50% of the total.
Apply that band to the two firms and you get the range each filed base is consistent with:
| Filed base | If base is 50% | If base is 40% | If base is 30% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane Street, Trader and Researcher$300,000 | $600,000 | $750,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Optiver, Quantitative Researcher and Trader$150,000 | $300,000 | $375,000 | $500,000 |
Read across, not down. The same base produces a wide spread of totals, which is why a base-only chart cannot rank two firms against each other.
Now the usual explanation can be tested rather than asserted. People say the low filed base is just a bonus-weighted structure. Maybe. Here is what that would require:
Checking the usual explanation
Jane Street files $300,000, which implies $600,000 to $1,000,000 in total at the usual base share. For Optiver's $150,000 to reach even the bottom of that, its base would have to be about 25% of total — below the 30% to 50% band. So either Optiver is unusually bonus-weighted, or it pays less in total. The filings cannot tell you which, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing.
What the dataset supports: Optiver guarantees less in fixed salary than its peers do, consistently, across two years and three job families. What it does not support: any claim about what an Optiver trader earns in a good year. Nobody publishes that, here or anywhere else, and the honest position is that the gap has two possible explanations and the filings cannot separate them.
Chicago, New York and Austin
| Firm | Median base | Filings | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $175,000 | 19 filings | US DOL filing |
| Chicago | $150,000 | 23 filings | US DOL filing |
| Austin | $150,000 | 8 filings | US DOL filing |
New York files $175,000 against $150,000 in Chicago and Austin. The premium is real but small, and it does not come close to covering the cost-of-living difference. Optiver's largest US presence by filing count is Chicago, which is also the cheaper city, so the nominal ranking and the take-home ranking point in opposite directions.
Internships: nothing published
Optiver states no compensation range on its intern postings. Citadel Securities posts $4,500 to $5,800 a week and Jane Street posts an annualised $300,000; Optiver posts neither, and it is under no obligation to, since its largest US office is in Illinois rather than New York State.
Candidate reports put an eight-week Optiver placement around $80,000 to $90,000 in total compensation. That figure has no employer behind it, so it belongs in the weakest tier on this site and should not be used to anchor anything. The firms that do publish are compared in the quant intern pay guide.
Amsterdam
Optiver is an Amsterdam firm, and the Dutch figures are the least documented on this site. The Netherlands has no pay-transparency requirement, so there is no equivalent of the New York postings or the US filings, and everything available is self-reported.
Headline figures look far below New York. The 30% ruling for qualifying international hires and a lower cost of living close much of the after-tax gap. The city comparison, including how much of the gap survives tax, is in the pay by city guide.
How these figures were sourced
Sources are preferred in a fixed order: what the employer publishes, then what it files with the government, then named press reporting, then candidate reports. Optiver is the one firm in this cluster with nothing in the top tier, because it publishes no ranges anywhere.
- Employer-published
- Published by the employer on its own job posting or careers site.
- US DOL filing
- Labor Condition Application disclosure data filed with the US Department of Labor ahead of an H-1B petition. Base salary only.
- Press report
- Reported by a named publication with an editorial standard.
- Candidate-reported
- Self-reported by candidates and aggregated by a third party. Unverified and prone to selection bias.
One methodological note specific to this firm. Optiver's filings sit under the legal entity Optiver Services US LLC, not under "Optiver". A search against the trading name returns nothing, which reads like a firm that does not sponsor rather than one that files 49 records a year. Salary pages reporting that Optiver has no US filings have made exactly that mistake.
Where these numbers come from
US DOL filing
US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data, via h1bdata.info
Employers file a Labor Condition Application before petitioning for an H-1B. The filings are public.
Last checked 2026-09-21
Candidate-reported
Glassdoor, 97 self-reported Optiver Amsterdam trader salaries
Last checked 2026-09-21
Candidate-reported
Reported at $80,000–$90,000 total compensation for an eight-week placement. Optiver does not publish intern compensation.
Last checked 2026-09-21
Frequently asked questions
How much does Optiver pay?
Optiver Services US LLC filed a $150,000 median base salary with the US Department of Labor across 49 records in fiscal year 2025, and the same $150,000 across 29 records in 2024. That is base only. Base typically runs 30% to 50% of total compensation at a market maker, and Optiver's filed base sits at the bottom of its peer group while its reputation on total pay does not, so the filings understate the package by more than they do at other firms.
Why is Optiver's filed salary half of Jane Street's?
Because the two firms structure base differently, not because one pays half as much. Jane Street files a flat $300,000 base; Optiver files a flat $150,000. Labor Condition Applications capture base salary only and exclude the discretionary bonus, which at a market maker is usually the larger half of the package. The filings tell you what each firm guarantees, not what it pays.
Does Optiver pay the same to traders and researchers?
On filed base, yes. In 2025 Optiver filed $150,000 as the median for Software Engineer (15 records), Quantitative Researcher (15 records) and Trader (8 records) alike. The pattern repeated in 2024 across the same three titles, which suggests a deliberate flat base policy rather than a small-sample coincidence.
Does Optiver publish intern pay?
No. Optiver does not state a compensation range on its intern postings, unlike Citadel Securities and Jane Street, both of which do. Figures circulating for Optiver internships are candidate-reported and cluster around $80,000 to $90,000 in total compensation for an eight-week placement. Treat that as unverified.
Does Optiver pay more in Chicago or New York?
New York, on filed base. Optiver's 2025 filings show a $175,000 median across 19 New York records against $150,000 across 23 in Chicago and 8 in Austin. The gap is small and the cost-of-living difference between New York and Chicago is not, so Chicago is arguably the better of the two on take-home.
What does Optiver pay in Amsterdam?
Nothing verifiable. The Netherlands has no pay-transparency requirement and Optiver publishes no ranges, so every figure is candidate-reported. Those reports cluster around a €180,000 to €200,000 equivalent for experienced traders. The 30% ruling for qualifying international hires closes much of the apparent gap with New York after tax.
Keep reading
- Optiver online assessment guide — the screen that decides most Optiver applications.
- Jane Street salary — the other flat band, at double the level.
- Citadel Securities salary — a firm that does publish its intern range.
- Quant salary guide 2026 — the full picture across firms, titles and levels.