Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Wolverine Trading
A privately held Chicago options market maker founded in 1994 that started in equity-index options and grew into a proprietary trading group "market making and valuation arbitrage across global markets", with two sister businesses under Wolverine Holdings — an agency broker-dealer (Wolverine Execution Services) and a hedge-fund manager (Wolverine Asset Management, whose flagship began as a convertible-arbitrage fund) (Wolverine website; MarketsWiki; Preqin). It is the archetype of the mid-sized options market maker: a member of every US equities and options exchange and eleven non-US exchanges, quoting in more than 2,500 issues with 300+ staff (MarketsWiki, c. 2019), but publishing no financials. Its public record is mostly regulatory — one SEC case over information-sharing between its trading and fund arms in TVIX (2012 conduct, $1.15m settlement in Oct 2015) and a run of small exchange fines for missing market-maker quoting obligations (2014, 2016, 2022). Fewer strategic decisions are documented than for larger firms, so this profile has six moves (rule 6).
At a glance
- Founded
- 1994, Chicago (MarketsWiki; Hedgeweek); founders not confirmed in a primary source — Robert Ross Bellick and Christopher Lazarus Gust are listed as co-managing partners (MarketsWiki) and as the founders of Wolverine Asset Management in 2001 (MarketScreener) (verify founders of the trading firm)
- Headquarters
- Chicago, Illinois; offices in New York (website awards mention Chicago and New York) and a UK entity, Wolverine Trading UK (MIFIDPRU 8 disclosure dated 06-2026) (Wolverine website); other offices verify
- Ownership / structure
- Private; Wolverine Trading LLC (broker-dealer, CRD No. 36848) and Wolverine Asset Management LLC are subsidiaries of Wolverine Holdings (SEC release 2015-237; Phlx AWC, 2022)
- Leadership (2026)
- Co-managing partners Robert Bellick and Christopher Gust (MarketsWiki, 2019 — verify current)
- Business lines
- Wolverine Trading: proprietary market making and "valuation arbitrage"; Wolverine Execution Services (WEX/WES): independent full-service broker-dealer executing equities, options and futures, including electronic trading for retail customers; Wolverine Asset Management (WAM): registered investment adviser managing private funds for qualified investors (Wolverine website)
- Scale (dated, reported)
- Market maker in 2,500+ issues; member of every US equities and options exchange and 11 non-US exchanges; 300+ employees (MarketsWiki, page last edited Aug 2019). WAM assets: >$1.4bn in its convertible fund (Hedgeweek, 2011); "over USD 3.8bn" (Built In, undated); ~$10.8bn–$11bn (Capedge, Fintool — likely gross regulatory AUM including leverage; verify)
- Regulators
- SEC and FINRA (broker-dealer and RIA); the options exchanges as self-regulatory organisations (Cboe, Nasdaq PHLX, ISE, GEMX, MRX and others); CFTC/NFA for futures (verify registrations); the FCA for the UK entity
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding as an index-options market maker (1994); WAM and convertible arbitrage (2001); WEX agency broker (2002–03); TVIX information-sharing breach and SEC settlement (2012/2015); Cboe and Phlx market-maker obligation fines (2014, 2016); Nasdaq options quoting settlement (2022)
6 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1994
Founding as Index Options Market Maker
Founding / new strategy
2001
Wolverine Asset Management and Convertible Arbitrage
Founding or fund launch / new strategy
2002
Wolverine Execution Services Agency Broker
New strategy, product or market (new business line)
2012
TVIX Information Sharing and SEC Settlement
Rogue trade or control failure; regulatory, enforcement or legal action (settled)
2014
Cboe and Phlx Market Maker Obligation Fines
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (settled)
2022
Nasdaq Options Quoting Obligation Settlement
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (settled)