Biography
A respected market commentator seen on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business, Scott Bauer has almost 25 years of professional equity and index options experience including over fifteen years as a Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) market maker and a trader for Goldman Sachs.
Scott Bauer grew up in Morton Grove, IL and graduated with Honors from the University of Illinois Business School, Urbana Champaign, in 1988 with a B.S., Finance. Bauer, (SIB), began as a clerk on the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1991 and started trading in April, 1992 in the Coca Cola and Bank of America equity options pit. Along with four partners, Bauer formed BOTTA Capital Management in 1995 and grew the trading company to over 100 traders on four Options Exchanges. Besides being one of the lead market makers for BOTTA, Bauer’s other responsibilities included options education and Risk Management.
Throughout his trading career, Scott Bauer has excelled in trading a variety of equity and index options. In 1997, Bauer was the only market maker on the CBOE to trade Amazon.com options. He has also traded such notable names as EBay, U.S. Robotics, American International Group, Rambus and National Semiconductor.
Most recently, Bauer traded S&P 500 options at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and was employed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. as Vice-President/Equities Division and traded in the
S & P 500 options pit at the CBOE. During Bauer’s time on the floor of the CBOE he served on many committees including Arbitration and Market Performance.
In addition to his trading floor presence, Bauer has taught Options classes at The Options Institute at the CBOE and has written many Options instruction manuals. These manuals instruct everyone from the beginning options trader to the most experienced floor trader.
Scott Bauer is currently the CEO of Prosper Trading Academy and created the Option Volatility Education curriculum for Prosper. He is a frequent guest speaker at the College of Business at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, is on the Advisory Board of the Market Information Lab at the U of I and is a member of the Illini Leadership Council.
I live in Long Grove, IL and have three children, all boys. Alex, 24, is a graduate of Indiana University and works in Chicago. Jake, 21, is a Junior at the Kelley Business School at Indiana University. Brett, 18, is a Freshman at the University of Colorado - Boulder. I also have three step-children. Gabi is a Senior at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL and will be attending Miami University in the Fall of 2018. Brady is a sophomore at Stevenson High School and Keegan in seventh grade at Woodlawn Middle School in Long Grove, IL.
I graduated with a B.S., Finance - Honors from the U of I Business School in 1988. I am on the Executive Board of the Buffalo Grove Recreation Association and am actively involved in coaching baseball and basketball. I am also on the Executive Board of SLAP’D, an organization which provides support and resources to young people who are coping with the death of a parent. In addition to spending time with my family I enjoy skiing and golfing and of course, the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs.
Along with family and friends, I founded the Lauri S. Bauer Foundation shortly after my wife Lauri passed away of a sudden heart arrhythmia on January 5th, 2011. Lauri was a healthy, beautiful 43 year old wife, daughter, sister, friend and mother of three sons. The foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), was founded in her honor to give HELP, HEALING and HOPE to children and their families that have suffered a sudden loss or crisis. Since its inception we have raised over $1,000,000. We have opened two Children’s Grief Centers and have literally helped thousands of grieving and their children.