Helping the world manage non-price oriented market risk since 2000
Lead Stories
John Lothian: Week in Review (October 5th – 9th, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
Old Downtown Chicago Trading Hub Is Reborn as an AI Data Center
The former headquarters of Cboe Global Markets Inc. will soon house 33 megawatts of capacity and bring in rents much higher than the average downtown office building
Gensler to Supreme Court: “I Was There,” and Dodd-Frank Didn’t Make the CFTC a Sports Book
WILLIAMS BAY, WI (JLN) — October 9, 2026: Gary Gensler was often a burr under the futures industry's saddle while he ran the CFTC. Now he is TradFi's best friend, filing amicus briefs telling courts sports betting isn't part of the Commodity Exchange Act and never...
AI Discovery: How a Non-Technical Founder Built a Prop Trading Firm Using Claude AI
Want to know how a non-technical founder used AI to build a prop trading firm from the ground up? We sat down with Melissa Footlick, the founder and CEO of Catalyst, to discuss how she leverages artificial intelligence across every area of her business and personal life.
DoubleZero Brings Institutional Multicast Market Data to Hyperliquid
Co-founder Austin Federa discusses bringing low-latency multicast data feeds to the fast-growing onchain venue in a Zoom interview with John Lothian News.
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) — October 5, 2026 — As onchain perpetual futures trading matures, the infrastructure supporting it is increasingly borrowing from traditional electronic financial exchanges.
DoubleZero, a market-data infrastructure provider, is positioning itself to serve high-speed digital-asset traders and emerging AI trading agents by bringing private-network multicast distribution to Hyperliquid, an ascendant decentralized trading network, as co-founder Austin Federa explained in a Zoom interview with John Lothian News.
MW Page of the day
CME FSPI Sports Indexes
CME Group announced it will launch the world's first baseball futures contracts, which will track the CME FSPI Sports Indexes (CME FSPI), on October 12 pending regulatory review.
Old Downtown Chicago Trading Hub Becomes New AI Data Center
First Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The former Cboe Global Markets trading headquarters at 400 S. LaSalle Street is undergoing a $300 million to $400 million conversion into a 33-megawatt AI data center by Legacy Investing and GI Partners, Natalie...
Hyperliquid Won Perpetuals. After $536 Million of Options Traded in September, Can It Win Options Too?
OBSERVATIONS Gensler to Supreme Court: “I Was There,” and Dodd-Frank Didn’t Make the CFTC a Sports Book WILLIAMS BAY, WI (JLN) — October 9, 2026: Gary Gensler was often a burr under the futures industry’s saddle while he ran the CFTC. Now he is TradFi’s best friend,...
AI Discovery
AI Discovery: How a Non-Technical Founder Built a Prop Trading Firm Using Claude AI
Want to know how a non-technical founder used AI to build a prop trading firm from the ground up? We sat down with Melissa Footlick, the founder and CEO of Catalyst, to discuss how she leverages artificial intelligence across every area of her business and personal life.
Auditions
“The Front Runner”
A movie about the Floor. New script sections every week.
The Opening Bell, Part Six – Wednesday, April 23, 2025
INT. THERAPISTS OUTER OFFICE - DAY Sign on the door reads, Dr. Shahina Malaika Addae PHD. DR. ADDAE (O.S) Late again. INT. THERAPISTS OFFICE - CONTINUOUS Dr Addae is dressed in a hijab, colorful kaftan and sandals. She sits in a chair, a bit haughty. Micki sits opposite her on a plush couch. MICKI The story of my life. DR ADDAE Let’s start today with the story of your life. MICKI Again? DR ADDAE Yes, and I’ll explain why. MICKI What, starting with today? DR ADDAE No, not today, go back, all...
John Lothian: Week in Review (September 28th – October 2nd, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
The CFTC Is Tying Its Own Hands on Prediction Markets
A recent proposed rule from the CFTC offers prediction markets something more than just minimal oversight; it aims to prevent a future commission—perhaps under new leadership—from reversing course.
Trading Technologies Delivers Complete Multi-Asset Trading Engine with TRAFiX Acquisition
Addition of Equities and Equity Options Completes Global Multi-Asset Stack Amid Unprecedented Market Velocity
CHICAGO, IL (JLN) — September 30, 2026: The world of capital markets is moving faster than ever before, with new products and asset classes coming in rapid-fire and 24/7 trading becoming the norm. The other norm is multi-asset trading on one platform. Trading Technologies took another step forward to meet the needs of this demanding environment by adding a crucial asset class that was missing from its multi-asset technology platform: equities and equity options. It is doing this by acquiring TRAFiX, a provider of equities and equity options order and execution management systems.
AI Discovery: Can LossDog’s AI Balance Your Portfolio?
In this episode of AI Discovery, we explore using artificial intelligence to level the playing field between everyday retail investors and institutional giants. Retail traders have long faced structural disadvantages in data access, speed, and market mechanics, often leaving them on the losing side of market asymmetry.
The Constitution Is Market Infrastructure
Press freedom, due process, and the right to counsel are part of the plumbing of price discovery, and market leaders should defend them together
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) — September 30, 2026: Last week I asked the leaders of our industry to speak up for CNN, MS NOW and Politico after President Trump banned them from the White House. My argument was simple. Markets run on information, and when the government decides which reporters get into the building based on whether it likes their stories, it shrinks the information that feeds price discovery. I hold freedom of the press and price discovery as sacred. Bans on freedom of the press give us fewer sources of important market information, which gives us a narrower answer.
John Lothian: Week in Review (September 21nd – 25th, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
The Future of Nigeria’s First Regulated Prediction Market is Clouty
David Umeh recently returned to the United States from Nigeria, where he is weeks, if not days, away from regulatory approval from Nigerian market regulators to launch a futures exchange offering prediction markets. Umeh’s Clouty Inc. is in the final stage to become the first Nigerian SEC-approved regulated prediction market, operating under the trade name Sabi.
AI Discovery – Stop Asking Vague Questions: How to Actually Get Results from AI
Want to know the best tools and strategies to make AI your personal assistant? We talked with Tom Smith, the founder of Prosperum Fintech Holdings, about how he uses AI and what he sees coming for the technology in the future.
A Weak Man’s Ban, and the Markets’ Responsibility
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) — September 21, 2026: Markets are built on disagreement. A price is not a decree; it is not a social media post demand. It is a negotiated truce between people who see the world differently. The buyer thinks the asset is cheap, the seller thinks it is dear, and the number where they meet carries the compressed judgment of everyone with information and an opinion. Take away the disparate perspectives, and you do not get a cleaner price. You get a worse one.
That is why President Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House should alarm anyone who makes a living in the capital and derivatives markets. The decision was announced Friday on Truth Social as “effective immediately,” with a warning that other outlets would follow. The ban targets three organizations for reporting and commenting on the most powerful political office in the world. It took effect on Saturday, as journalists from these organizations were turned away when they tried to enter the White House. Whatever one thinks of their coverage, removing them from the room narrows the flow of information that reaches the American people and the rest of the world. Every trader knows what happens when a data feed goes dark.
John Lothian News Sponsors
John Lothian: Week in Review (September 28th – October 2nd, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
The CFTC Is Tying Its Own Hands on Prediction Markets
A recent proposed rule from the CFTC offers prediction markets something more than just minimal oversight; it aims to prevent a future commission—perhaps under new leadership—from reversing course.
Trading Technologies Delivers Complete Multi-Asset Trading Engine with TRAFiX Acquisition
Addition of Equities and Equity Options Completes Global Multi-Asset Stack Amid Unprecedented Market Velocity
CHICAGO, IL (JLN) — September 30, 2026: The world of capital markets is moving faster than ever before, with new products and asset classes coming in rapid-fire and 24/7 trading becoming the norm. The other norm is multi-asset trading on one platform. Trading Technologies took another step forward to meet the needs of this demanding environment by adding a crucial asset class that was missing from its multi-asset technology platform: equities and equity options. It is doing this by acquiring TRAFiX, a provider of equities and equity options order and execution management systems.
AI Discovery: Can LossDog’s AI Balance Your Portfolio?
In this episode of AI Discovery, we explore using artificial intelligence to level the playing field between everyday retail investors and institutional giants. Retail traders have long faced structural disadvantages in data access, speed, and market mechanics, often leaving them on the losing side of market asymmetry.
The Constitution Is Market Infrastructure
Press freedom, due process, and the right to counsel are part of the plumbing of price discovery, and market leaders should defend them together
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) — September 30, 2026: Last week I asked the leaders of our industry to speak up for CNN, MS NOW and Politico after President Trump banned them from the White House. My argument was simple. Markets run on information, and when the government decides which reporters get into the building based on whether it likes their stories, it shrinks the information that feeds price discovery. I hold freedom of the press and price discovery as sacred. Bans on freedom of the press give us fewer sources of important market information, which gives us a narrower answer.
John Lothian: Week in Review (September 21nd – 25th, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
The Future of Nigeria’s First Regulated Prediction Market is Clouty
David Umeh recently returned to the United States from Nigeria, where he is weeks, if not days, away from regulatory approval from Nigerian market regulators to launch a futures exchange offering prediction markets. Umeh’s Clouty Inc. is in the final stage to become the first Nigerian SEC-approved regulated prediction market, operating under the trade name Sabi.
AI Discovery – Stop Asking Vague Questions: How to Actually Get Results from AI
Want to know the best tools and strategies to make AI your personal assistant? We talked with Tom Smith, the founder of Prosperum Fintech Holdings, about how he uses AI and what he sees coming for the technology in the future.
A Weak Man’s Ban, and the Markets’ Responsibility
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) — September 21, 2026: Markets are built on disagreement. A price is not a decree; it is not a social media post demand. It is a negotiated truce between people who see the world differently. The buyer thinks the asset is cheap, the seller thinks it is dear, and the number where they meet carries the compressed judgment of everyone with information and an opinion. Take away the disparate perspectives, and you do not get a cleaner price. You get a worse one.
That is why President Trump’s decision to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House should alarm anyone who makes a living in the capital and derivatives markets. The decision was announced Friday on Truth Social as “effective immediately,” with a warning that other outlets would follow. The ban targets three organizations for reporting and commenting on the most powerful political office in the world. It took effect on Saturday, as journalists from these organizations were turned away when they tried to enter the White House. Whatever one thinks of their coverage, removing them from the room narrows the flow of information that reaches the American people and the rest of the world. Every trader knows what happens when a data feed goes dark.
John Lothian: Week in Review (September 14th – 18th, 2026)
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK
AI Discovery: Can AI Solve the Customer Service Problem?
In this inaugural episode of AI Discovery, we tackle one of the biggest friction points in finance: customer service.With support desks facing high call volumes, after-hours gaps, and questions ranging from basic onboarding to complex multi-leg trades, traders often face long wait times to reach the right representative.
Testimonials