Amsterdamtrader stops
6 comments / January 6, 2017
I’ve decided to stop with Amsterdamtrader. After exactly eight years and 405 posts, I’m calling it a day. It was a hell of a ride, but I’m getting out on the high. Reporting on the earnings of trading outfits, football tournaments, DeGiro and other returning events – it is time to move on.
Better to put an official end to the website, than slowing fading away. The website will remain online, though.
Anonymous posts
Writing anonymous for eight years was a challenge. Yet, it was the only way to make it work. Must have been very annoying for some people. Staying anonymous was time consuming as well. Not telling anyone is the easy part. But things get complicated when my own network is overlapping with Jack’s friends. Maintaining a virtual identity is truly a memory game.
Who is Jack anyway?
It has always been a fun game attempting to figure out Jack’s true identity. In the early years, headhunter Matthew Hoyle was the prime suspect. He was accused to add grammar errors to conceal his identity. Having his banner on this website as the first sponsor was another clue.
Matthew himself was convinced Jerry de Leeuw was behind Amsterdamtrader. After all, former open outcry trader Jerry wrote a book about trading (Milkshakes and Butterflies). Matthew paid for his banner via a 3rd party middleman, who also happened to be named De Leeuw, and Jerry had also worked at Curvalue. Another name coined by some traders is Iain Somers, partner at hedgefund Done Capital.
It’s not Tom Voute
But most consistent suspect has always been Tom Voûte. Former arbitrage trader at IMC and ATG. He placed a birth notice of his youngest daughter on the site, in 2010. Tom knows everybody, and he helped Amsterdamtrader with his amazing network. And he kept an eye on the website during his Hong Kong timezone. Without his help and enthusiasm, Amsterdamtrader wouldn’t have lasted for more than a year or two.
It’s less international
But my name is not Matt, Tom, Jerry or Iain. Though it’s an honour to be compared with these guys. My name is Maarten Mosselman. That’s sounds less international – I know. A handful of people will be astonished, but most will say “who?!“.
I started as market maker, back in 2001. I was around at Van der Moolen when it imploded in 2009 – and we left the sinking ship to build our own trading firm, Caerus Trading. I’m still a derivatives trader. Since this take over in 2013, trading for WEBB Traders.
Financieele Dagblad
For a trip down memory lane, this old story from the FD is a nice read (nl). Speaking of the Financieele Dagblad – today it has an interview with me. Giving way too much importance to Amsterdamtrader – but nice anyway.
That’s all, thanks for reading!