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IMC Holding
IMC Holding, founded by Rob Defares and Willem Geusens in 1989, is an Amsterdam-based proprietary trading firm making markets globally with a 1,300-person...
IMC Holding
IMC Holding Ltd., known publicly as IMC Trading, was founded in Amsterdam in 1989 by options traders Rob Defares and Willem Geusens. The firm emerged from the open outcry pits of the newly formed European Options Exchange, pioneering early computer-assisted trading techniques developed at the University of Amsterdam. The founding capital was entirely the partners' own trading profits. The firm operates as a technology-driven liquidity provider across exchange-traded derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, fixed-income instruments, and digital assets. IMC does not manage external investor capital; all risk is taken via proprietary balance sheet. The trading stack covers volatility arbitrage, delta-one market-making, and latency-sensitive execution, with a geographic footprint spanning Amsterdam, Chicago, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. In digital assets, IMC has been an active market maker on centralized exchanges since 2017 and was an early liquidity provider for the first US-listed Bitcoin futures ETFs. IMC employs roughly 1,300 people globally, predominantly traders, quantitative researchers, and engineers drawn from top-tier STEM programs. The firm's Chicago office, established in 1994, is its largest trading hub and sits alongside peers such as Optiver, Susquehanna, and Citadel Securities. IMC holds trading rights on all major equities and derivatives exchanges in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. In late 2023, IMC launched a systematic fixed-income trading desk in Amsterdam, extending its market-making model into European government bond futures and cash treasuries. What structurally separates IMC from a typical asset manager is the complete absence of a fundraising cycle. The firm's capital base is entirely retained earnings, making it one of the world's largest pure proprietary trading partnerships still private. Succession remains opaque; the founders are not publicly active and no external CEO transition has been announced. IMC Holding Ltd., the ultimate parent, consolidates the trading entities under Netherlands corporate law, providing limited public disclosure relative to its competitive footprint.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1989
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Netherlands
City
Amsterdam
Corporate office
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Additional offices
Chicago, IL · Sydney, Australia · Hong Kong · Mumbai, India
Principals
Rob Defares
Co-Founder
Willem Geusens
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at IMC?
IMC does not have a traditional CIO allocating to fund managers. All trading decisions are made by teams of traders and quantitative researchers operating within risk frameworks. The co-founders, Rob Defares and Willem Geusens, oversee the firm's strategic direction, but day-to-day risk-taking is decentralized across asset-class desks in Amsterdam, Chicago, and Sydney.
Does IMC manage outside capital?
No. IMC deploys exclusively proprietary capital accumulated from the firm's own trading profits since 1989. There are no limited partners, no external fundraising rounds, and no managed accounts. This separates it structurally from both hedge funds and family offices that commingle outside assets.
Which markets and instruments does IMC trade?
IMC makes markets in cash equities, equity options, index futures, ETFs, government bonds, foreign exchange, and digital assets. The firm is an active liquidity provider on over 100 trading venues across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. In crypto, IMC has operated on centralized exchanges since 2017 and helped seed liquidity for the first US Bitcoin futures ETFs.
How does IMC's structure differ from Optiver or Citadel Securities?
All three are Dutch-descended proprietary market makers focused on technology and low-latency execution. Optiver remains Amsterdam-headquartered with a partnership structure; Citadel Securities is US-headquartered with significant external growth. IMC is privately held by its founders, operates as a single corporate group under IMC Holding Ltd., and has never taken outside investment — making it the most structurally insulated of the three.
Does IMC maintain philanthropic structures?
IMC runs the IMC Foundation, focused on education and technology access in underserved communities. The foundation operates separately from the trading business and funds school-based coding initiatives and university scholarship programs, primarily in the Netherlands and the United States. Financial contributions are not publicly disclosed.
What is IMC's posture on digital assets?
IMC is an active, long-tenured liquidity provider in digital assets. It began quoting on cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017 and later supported regulated futures products. The firm views digital assets as a natural extension of its exchange-traded market-making model, not as a discretionary directional bet on token prices.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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