Tom Sosnoff (born March 6, 1957) is an entrepreneur, options trader, co-founder of

Thinkorswim Thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade (often stylized and officially branded as thinkorswim, lacking capitalization) is an electronic trading platform by TD Ameritrade used to trade financial assets. It is geared for self-directed stock, options and fut ...

and tastytrade, and founder of Dough, Inc. He was senior vice president of trading and strategic initiatives at

TD Ameritrade TD Ameritrade is a stockbroker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, mutual funds, fixed income investmen ...

. Sosnoff promotes option trading as an important financial strategy for the individual investor. He has promoted this view by founding an online financial network, tastytrade, and by developing software products to support individual investor options trading.

Early life and education

Sosnoff, a native New Yorker, got his first job as a

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives the player advice and moral support. Description A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the ...

at the age of 13. In 1979, Sosnoff received a BA degree in political science from

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

and immediately began working for

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was a ...

Career

Starting in the early 1980s, Sosnoff, through the Sosnoff Sheridan Group, was a lead

market maker A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or an individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the ''bid–ask spread'', or ''turn.'' The benefit to the firm is that it ...

at the

Chicago Board Options Exchange The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), located at 433 West Van Buren Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with an annual trading volume of around 1.27 billion at the end of 2014. CBOE offers options on over 2,200 companies ...

. By 1999, Sosnoff believed that option trading would largely move online and that individual investors would become interested in trading options if they had the software tools to do so. This led to his co-founding of Thinkorswim in 1999. In 2009, Thinkorswim was sold to

for approximately $606 million and Sosnoff personally received $84 million. In 2011, Sosnoff announced that $20 million in

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

had been raised to support his idea for a financial network called tastytrade. His aim in founding tastytrade was to create a financial news show focusing on options, which mixes content with comedy somewhat like the "''

Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fro ...

''". In 2014, a Silicon Valley venture fund,

Technology Crossover Ventures TCMI, Inc. better known by the name TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures) is an American investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. The firm mainly invests in public and private growth-stage companies in the technology industry. Background ...

, invested $25 million into Dough Inc., also founded by Sosnoff, which includes tastytrade. In 2014, Sosnoff was co-winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Midwest Award.

Options trading

Sosnoff advocates options trading as a viable long-term

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

strategy for individual investors. He argues against financial experts who claim that options trading is too risky for individual investors. According to Sosnoff, the use of various options strategies in a portfolio can reduce the risk of owning stocks, and options trading is a portfolio management strategy that is well-suited for the individual investor. He devotes considerable time on his financial network, tastytrade, and in seminars demonstrating the mechanics and strategies of options trading.

References

External links

Tom Sosnoff – tastytrade
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosnoff, Tom 1957 births Living people University at Albany, SUNY alumni Options traders 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American financial analysts American broadcast news analysts American financial company founders American investors American stock traders American technology company founders Stock and commodity market managers