Nate Houk

Trading Operations Engineer

2020 - Current

Founder

2015

Discover more on our website at epsilonrecords.nl

Series 24 Principal FICC CME/ICE EMEA TZ Derivatives Trading Desk at IMC Americas Aux. NL Office

2011 - 2015

Senior Options Trader and Series 24, 7, 56 Licensed Principal responsible for overseeing IMC Americas' auxiliary office in the Netherlands and Heading the EMEA CET timezone CME/ICE FICC Options Trading Desk. ▪ Lead Trader of EMEA CET timezone CME/ICE FICC Options Trading Desk overseeing risk management, reporting direct to IMC Americas Head of Trading. ▪ As a Series 24 Principal and Senior Options Trader, I managed automated market-making strategies w/ ultra-low latency, contributing €15+ million in annual profits. My trading primarily in CL (Oil), GC (Gold), and FX options, exhibited stable, linear profit and loss patterns with exceptional risk management, reaching up to €250k in daily profits during high volatility and volume periods, and maintaining a record of minimal negative PnL days. ▪ Conducted investigations into system issues, oversaw nightly software updates, and system upgrades while managing technical operations of a proprietary high-frequency, ultra-low latency automated trading system, with responsibilities including risk management, compliance, position reconciliation, system troubleshooting, and enhancing trading and monitoring Java and C++ systems and custom FPGAs (Verilog). ▪ Collaborated with developers and technologists on a C++/FPGA project to enhance latencies and develop new techniques for improved hit-rates and quoting. Managed system integration, testing, daily rollouts, and system upgrades. ▪ Ensured operational readiness of all U.S. trading systems before EST timezone market openings and Chicago trader arrivals for "follow the sun" timezone trading handoff, along with daily position reconciliation and effective communication with the prime broker. Worked closely with developers to define requirements, supervise implementation, and conduct functional testing of proprietary internal applications. ▪ Maintained Series 56, 7, and 24 certifications, and served as the responsible principal for the auxiliary Amsterdam office, supporting Chicago.

Oil Options Screen Trader Collaborating with Oil Options Pit Traders on the CME Trading Floor

2008 - 2010

Directly recruited into Junior Rotational Trader program and trained across multiple desks including SPX Index Options, Equity Options, Oil Options, and the Delta1 Arbitrage trading desk. ▪ Trained in the role of a SPX Options Pit Trading Assistant, working on the CBOE floor. Responsibilities included transmitting via arb sign language and headset comms bid/ask quotes to upstairs screen and broker traders and similarly relaying information from them back to the floor. ▪ On September 15th, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers declared the largest commercial bankruptcy in U.S. history, I was on the CBOE trading floor, stationed just outside the SPX Index Options pit working as a trading assistant. It was, to say the least, an extraordinarily wild and tumultuous day for trading on the floor. ▪ Promoted to the role of Junior Options Trader, I was appointed to apprentice with SPX Index Options CBOE Pit Head Trader and Senior Partner at Wolverine Trading, Eoin Callery. My primary role as an upstairs electronic trader involved market-making across all major U.S. options exchanges, with a special emphasis on options on CME oil futures (CL). I actively communicated with brokers using various direct lines and worked closely with our downstairs trading team standing in the CME Trading Floor Oil Options pit in New York. ▪ Studied and attended evening classes taught by a Math PhD and company educator, I pursued and completed multiple courses covering trading instruments (futures and options), options pricing theory, the Black–Scholes model, arbitrage, market-making, risk management, Stochastic Calculus, Brownian Motion, Arb Sign Language and Mock Trading ▪ Developed innovative trading strategies and programmed multiple trading engines from scratch using C#. Among these were an automated trading engine and a distinctive strategy dubbed TACOS (Totally Automated Close Open Strategy). This strategy notably generated over $2 million in annual profits for the Delta1 trading desk

Summer Analyst Intern for Stock Loan Trading Desk

2007 - 2007

Following successful on-campus interviews and then final round interviews in New York, which involved an intense series of seventeen (17!) in-person technical interviews at Goldman Sachs' main office on Wall Street, I was thrilled to receive three internship offers in different departments within the company. I chose to join the Stock Loan Trading Desk as a Summer Analyst in a Java developer role, where I developed tools to help Stock Loan Traders monitor broker two-way markets. Upon completing my internship, I was offered a permanent Java developer position at Goldman Sachs to begin after my university graduation in May 2008. However, I expressed a desire to transition into a full-time Trader role in the Sales & Trading department instead. This request was denied with the rationale that allowing a technologist to switch to trading would set a precedent that could lead to a mass exodus of programmers and technologists to trading roles, potentially depleting the technology department. I turned down the full-time position at Goldman Sachs and instead chose between two full-time employment opportunities as a junior trader, one at Chicago Trading Company (CTC) and the other at Wolverine Trading. I ultimately accepted the offer from Wolverine Trading, with a start date of September 1, 2008. Two weeks after I started my role as a junior Trader at Wolverine Trading, on September 15, 2008, I was on the CBOE trading floor close to the SPX pit when the financial markets were shaken by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. On that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced its largest one-day point-drop in history at the time, plunging by 777 points during intraday trading. This monumental event set off a domino effect, culminating in the shutdown of Goldman Sachs' entire Stock Loan Trading Desk and the subsequent layoff of all its employees.

Engineering Intern

2006 - 2006

Technical Support

2005 - 2006

Engineering Intern

2005 - 2005