Amsterdam & Barcelona

Nigelvan derLaan

I read order flow, and I build the tools I kept wishing existed.

Discretionary trader working from cumulative delta, footprint and volume profile. Biological psychology and neuroscience before that — which turned out to be the more useful half of the education.

BidAsk
412388
3011,204
566489
1,8421,779
2,110402
734651
288310
FootprintDelta −1,940

What I build

How I read a market

Price tells you where. Order flow tells you who, and how badly they wanted it.

I trade from the tape. Cumulative volume delta, footprint, volume profile, open interest — aggression against absorption, and where size actually changed hands rather than where a candle happened to close.

None of that is a system. It's a way of seeing, it takes years, and it still fails on the days you're tired.

Which is the part nobody sells you. I studied biological psychology and neurosciencebefore I traded a single contract, and the thing that keeps surfacing is that a trader's edge dies at execution, not analysis.

You knew the level. You moved the stop anyway. That gap is behavioural, it is measurable, and it is specific to you — which is the entire premise DojiPad is built on.

So: read flow, then read yourself. In that order, every session.

The story

I read Biological Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, then went on to Neuroscience at the CNCR and a second track in Genes in Behaviour and Health. I finished neither master's. I'd worked out by then that I liked shipping working software more than pipetting samples.

ARQNXS started in 2017 as a healthcare sensor company. It became a fintech and machine learning shop because that was where the problems I actually wanted to solve turned out to be. Everything since has been the same instinct pointed at a harder market.

  1. 2017ARQNXS founded

    A vision for the healthcare industry through innovative sensor solutions. That was the whole idea at the start.

  2. 2018Healthcare & technical division

    Community-based technology and government-focused medical aid. The first time the work touched public infrastructure.

  3. 2022Fintech

    Traditional financial services rebuilt on a biopsychological foundation — the first serious use of the science degree.

  4. 2023AI / ML division

    A dedicated division to put machine learning across every industry the company already worked in.

  5. 2025 — NowDojiPad

    The behavioural engine turned on the one market participant nobody was modelling: the trader.

Track record

Since
2017ARQNXS founded
Volume processed
1B+Through ARQNXS infra, 2025
Largest team led
13Engineers, FinTech build
Max seed raised
$600kSintryx, 2021, closed in 10 days
Languages
3Dutch, English, Spanish
  1. Founder & CTOARQNXS2017 — Present · AI & DeFi architecture

    Institutional-grade AI and DeFi architecture. I built the full signal-to-execution system connecting on-chain analytics, Enzyme vaults and GMX execution layers — the architecture now licensed to ARCrypto. Alongside it, AI procurement, NLP automation and quantitative optimisation frameworks for research and asset management.

    • Complete DeFi signal → Enzyme → GMX execution pipeline
    • 1B+ trading volume processed through ARQNXS infrastructure (2025)
    • ML chatbot framework handling 1M+ requests per minute
    • 95% NLP accuracy on production systems
    • 800% efficiency improvement in automated trade execution
    • PhD-level portfolio optimisation framework
    Signal architectureEnzyme × GMXPortfolio optimisationScalable cloud systems
  2. Architecture licensorARCrypto2024 — Present · Multi-chain DeFi

    ARCrypto runs on ARQNXS architecture under licence. I built the DeFi execution core and the client-facing layer on top of it — analytics dashboards, performance trackers, financial calculators and the proprietary Risk Profiling Tool used for investor onboarding — then handed operations over. I hold no officer role there.

    • Suite of DeFi dashboards and client tools built on ARQNXS core
    • Proprietary Financial & Risk Profiling Tool for investors
    • Scaled to €4M+ Series A with multi-million position management
    • Institutional-grade security and uptime maintained
    Architecture licenceRisk profilingDeFi UXClient onboarding
  3. Information AnalystDutch Government2022 — 2023 · Government technology

    Led a development team delivering solutions for government operations, optimising processes through Python and SPARQL while putting DevOps practice in place.

    • Led cross-functional development team
    • Operations optimised with Python and SPARQL
    • CI/CD pipelines implemented
    • Government solutions delivered end to end
    PythonSPARQLDevOps
  4. Chief Technology OfficerSintryx2021 — 2022 · FinTech startup

    Built a full FinTech platform leading a team of 13 across an NFT marketplace and DEX. Engineered the smart contracts and closed a $600k seed round.

    • Led team of 13 engineers
    • NFT marketplace and DEX built
    • $600k seed funding raised
    • AI-optimised smart contracts deployed
    Smart contractsTeam leadershipProduct architecture
  5. Senior Python DeveloperGMU2021 · Financial technology

    ML and deep learning models for financial analysis, plus GUI-integrated trading bots. Managed a $100k fund portfolio with optimised strategies.

    • ML/DL financial models built
    • $100k portfolio managed
    • Automated trading systems created
    • Strategy optimisation implemented
    Machine learningTrading botsFinancial analysis

Stack

AI & Machine Learning

TensorFlow95Deep learning & neural networks
OpenAI92GPT integration & fine-tuning
PyTorch90Research & production ML models
HuggingFace88Transformer models & datasets
LangChain85LLM application development
MLflow85ML lifecycle management

Backend & APIs

Python95Primary development language
TypeScript92Type-safe JavaScript development
FastAPI90High-performance API development
Node.js88Server-side JavaScript
Django85Full-stack web applications
GraphQL80Efficient API query language

Frontend

React95Modern UI development
JavaScript95Core web development language
HTML / CSS92Web fundamentals
Tailwind CSS90Utility-first CSS framework
Next.js88Full-stack React framework

Data & Analytics

SQL95Database querying & optimisation
PostgreSQL90Advanced relational database
Pandas88Data manipulation & analysis
R85Statistical analysis & modelling
SPARQL80Semantic web data queries

Blockchain & Web3

Solidity90Smart contract development
Hardhat88Smart contract testing & deployment
Ethers.js87Ethereum blockchain interaction
Web3.js85DApp frontend integration
Rust75High-performance blockchain apps

Cloud & DevOps

Docker90Containerisation & deployment
Linux88Server administration & scripting
AWS85Cloud infrastructure & services
Azure82Microsoft cloud platform
GCP78Google cloud services
Kubernetes75Container orchestration

33 technologies · Read it as a volume profile. Depth is where the hours went, not a certification.

Open source

ContributionsLess More

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Currently

  • Opening DojiPad to testers. Small group, direct line to me, no waitlist theatre.

  • Publishing the track record. Every behavioural prediction DJ makes, scored and public — hits and misses.

  • Filming the order flow series. Long-form, three pillars: the product, the neuroscience, and reading the tape.

  • Friday mornings are for papers. Current rabbit hole: homomorphic encryption for secure federated learning.

Reach me

If you trade,
build, or allocate
— write to me.

I answer my own email. Traders wanting access to DojiPad write to the product inbox, engineers and allocators write to me directly.