Options

Options Taking — Quantitative Trader/Researcher

Applications open

Research and trade volatility and relative value in SPY and AAPL options. You will choose contracts, investigate trade structures and manage positions as the underlying price, volatility and time to expiry change. Your desk has no obligation to maintain quotes.

What you'll do

Arm: Options — Taking · Places: 4 per team · Team size: 7

About QTE

Queen's Tower Exchange is a financial-markets simulation for Imperial College London students. Teams use live data and simulated capital to test ideas against one another and learn from the outcomes.

Responsibilities

Develop research questions about option prices and volatility.
Test trade ideas and choose contracts appropriate to their expected horizon.
Size positions to the desk's available risk capacity.
Monitor changing Greeks and coordinate qualifying stock hedges.
Review outcomes after trading, hedging and carrying costs, and recommend when to exit.

What success looks like

Well-supported trade ideas and disciplined management when the evidence changes. Your whole desk is scored on risk-adjusted returns and net profit and loss. Hedging stock can change delta but cannot eliminate gamma or vega exposure.

Prerequisite knowledge

Basic understanding of calls, puts, strike prices and expiry.
Introductory knowledge of delta and why volatility affects an option's value.
Comfort with probability, basic calculus and quantitative evidence.
Enough Python to analyse data and communicate the result.

Advanced derivatives study and professional trading experience are not required. Relevant self-study and coursework count.

Useful, but not required

Familiarity with gamma, vega, volatility modelling or time-series research.

What you'll be taught

Much of your learning will take place during a dedicated training week, held after teams are selected and before trading begins. Your Head of Arm will deliver lectures exclusively for the teams in your arm, giving you a strong grounding in the concepts and tools you will use in your role.

How to use the exchange's option marks, Greeks and risk displays.
How to turn a volatility view into a trade with identifiable risks and exit conditions.
How hedging costs and contract selection affect results.
QTE's daily strike windows, reducing-only contracts and pre-expiry wind-down.
How to review research assumptions against live behaviour.

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