William C. Carlson
Securities and Derivatives Operations & Risk · Futures & Options, Clearing, Margin & Trade Lifecycle · Tampa, Florida
William C. Carlson is a derivatives operations and risk executive with more than 25 years in exchange traded options and futures. He is the principal of W Holdings LLC, an advisory practice serving principals and institutional clients on liquidity, funding, and risk analysis, based in Tampa, Florida and Aspen, Colorado.
Background
Carlson began his career in 1993 in AIG's derivatives training program in foreign exchange and interest rate products, and in November 1993 joined DBS Partners LP in Chicago as a derivatives trader, trading options and futures on the CME, CBOT, and CBOE and clearing through Goldman Sachs, through the end of 1997. He has held memberships at the CBOE since 1993, the CME since 1994, and the CBOT since 1995.
In 1998 he was named head of derivatives operations at RBC Dominion Securities, later RBC Capital Markets, in Chicago, leading a team of 25 across settlement, reconciliation, controls, and regulatory reporting.
In January 2002 he founded Belvedere Trading LLC, a Chicago options market making firm, as its majority owner, holding his interest through Willis Capital LLC, with early backing from Kenneth D. Alpart, his former colleague at DBS Partners, whose firm, later Harrison Trading Group, incubated Belvedere at its start. Carlson served as head of operations, building the firm's operations and control functions and holding principal responsibility for net capital computations under SEC Rule 15c3-1 and FOCUS reporting. He sold his interest in the firm in 2008.
From 2009 to 2016 he was derivatives portfolio operations manager at W Trading LLC, operating under a joinder agreement with G-Bar LP, responsible for daily margin, collateral, funding, and reconciliation across large options and futures portfolios on the CME, CBOT, and CBOE.
Since 2017 he has run W Holdings LLC, an advisory practice for principals and institutional clients in securities and derivatives.
Record
- FINRA Registered 1992 to 2014, CRD 2273527, no disclosures
- Memberships CBOE 1993, CME 1994, CBOT 1995
- Education BBA, Finance, Investment and Banking, Wisconsin School of Business; International Business, London School of Economics
- 2026 AI Agent Development certificate, University of Miami Herbert Business School; Series 3 candidate
Writing
What a clearing desk actually does at 3 AM · LinkedIn, September 2026
Contact
LinkedIn · williscarlson@yahoo.com · 312 282 2423