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Belvedere Trading
Belvedere Trading launched at the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 2002 as the markets were shifting from open-outcry to electronic execution.
Belvedere Trading
Belvedere Trading launched at the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 2002 as the markets were shifting from open-outcry to electronic execution. Co-founders Tom Hutchinson and Tom Bielski combined trading acumen with a systems-building ethos — Bielski, who serves as CTO, architected a custom technology stack that underpins the firm's ability to price, manage, and execute derivatives at scale across increasingly fragmented exchanges. The firm's wealth does not derive from a single-family fortune; it is a privately held, employee-owned trading operation. The firm deploys capital exclusively as a proprietary market maker, concentrating on exchange-listed equity options, index options, and options on futures. Its strategies are volatility-arbitrage-driven, relying on quantitative models, real-time risk systems, and automated quoting infrastructure. Belvedere is a registered market maker on multiple US options exchanges and has historically maintained material share in electronically traded options volume. The firm has expanded its geographic reach to include trading on European venues from its London office and Asian markets from Singapore, with additional presences in New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and a St Helier, Jersey entity that faces European regulatory and operational requirements. Headcount is not publicly disclosed, though the firm has historically recruited aggressively from top-tier quantitative finance and computer science programs, particularly in the Midwest. Belvedere operates a charitable arm, Belvedere Trading Cares, which directs volunteer and grantmaking efforts toward education and community causes in the Chicago area. In March 2023, the firm further expanded its proprietary technology and trading talent pipeline by acquiring Chicago-based software consultancy DevMynd (per Crain's Chicago Business, 2023), signaling a commitment to in-house engineering as a competitive moat. Belvedere's structural differentiator is the co-founders' enduring operational pairing: a trading-focused president and a CTO who remains deeply embedded in systems design. That dual-leadership model — rare among modern market makers, where trading and technology leadership often cycle — gives Belvedere a legacy of platform control that matches its principal risk appetite to its execution capability. The firm's expansion from a floor-trading heritage to a multi-venue, multi-asset electronic specialist without external capital partners sets it apart from bank-backed or private-equity-owned competitors.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2002
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Additional offices
New York, NY · London, UK · Singapore · San Francisco, CA · Amsterdam, Netherlands · St Helier, Jersey
Principals
Tom Hutchinson
Co-Founder & President
Tom Bielski
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Belvedere Trading?
Co-founder Tom Hutchinson serves as President and is the lead executive overseeing trading operations. Strategy, position limits, and risk parameters are governed through a centralized risk committee that combines quantitative research with real-time portfolio monitoring. No single individual holds unchecked risk authority, which reflects the firm's systematic market-making design.
How does Belvedere Trading source its edge in competitive options markets?
The firm's edge rests on a proprietary technology platform custom-built by co-founder and CTO Tom Bielski. That infrastructure supports low-latency quoting, automated volatility-surface modeling, and cross-venue risk aggregation. Belvedere's 2023 acquisition of Chicago-based software consultancy DevMynd deepened its engineering team, underscoring a commitment to in-house technology over third-party systems (per Crain's Chicago Business, 2023).
Is Belvedere Trading a family office or a proprietary trading firm?
Belvedere Trading is a proprietary trading firm and registered market maker, not a family office. The firm trades its own capital and does not manage outside investor money. It is privately held by its employee partners and co-founders, with no disclosed external shareholders.
Does Belvedere Trading manage external capital or accept outside investors?
No. Belvedere trades proprietary capital exclusively and does not operate as a fund or asset manager for external limited partners. The firm's balance sheet directly supports its market-making and volatility-arbitrage strategies across equity, index, and futures options.
What asset classes and instruments does Belvedere Trading focus on?
Belvedere's principal focus is exchange-listed derivatives — primarily equity options, equity-index options, and options on futures. It operates as a market maker on multiple US options exchanges and trades European and Asian derivative contracts from its London and Singapore offices. The firm's activity is concentrated in high-volume, electronically traded options products.
How is Belvedere Trading's technology operation structured?
Co-founder Tom Bielski, who holds the CTO title, has led technology development since the firm's founding in 2002. Belvedere maintains a substantial in-house engineering team that handles quantitative research, trading-systems architecture, and connectivity to global exchanges. The 2023 acquisition of DevMynd added agile-development resources to that group, signaling a build-over-buy philosophy core to the firm's identity.
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