Commentary
Fed’s Powell Takes Center Stage; New Company Offers Options Solutions; Explaining Volatility Skew – The Spread – August 27, 2021
In this week’s options news, the Fed’s Jackson Hole pronouncements placate the markets; meme stocks take off on a lark; volatility skew rises as traders remain divided; bitcoin and ethereum options hunker down ahead of expiration and Eurex plans to launch a first; John’s Take looks at a new options business with seasoned players; And Jermal Chandler kicks off this week’s options “Term of the Week” with the important concept of volatility skew.
CME Buying Cboe? Options News, John’s Take and Term of the Week in The Spread – August 20, 2021
— Will CME Group finally buy Cboe Global Markets?; Options volume outpaces exchange-traded derivatives action; Will the Fed taper sooner or later?; Volatility comes back as August options expire;
— John Lothian talks about Cboe sharks, MIAX SPIKES and remembers Philip McBride Johnson;
— Tastytrade’s Jermal Chandler explains why you need to keep a close watch on gamma in the “Term of the Week.”
Buy the Sharks, Sell the Bait
Cboe and its CEO Are Now in a Different Boat
In January of 2014, after hearing CBOE executives crow at an annual Chicago press lunch about how great their publicly traded company and its products performed in 2013, I wrote a commentary titled “The CME Should Buy the CBOE Soon.” There have been many on and off discussions about just that for many years. And yesterday for just a short period of time it seemed like it was happening, as the Financial Times reported that CME Group had approached Cboe to acquire it in a $16 billion deal that CME Group later strongly denied.
FIA Reports July Exchange-Traded Derivatives Post 26.9% Volume Gain from a Year Ago; Dip vs. June
The Futures Industry Association released its July 2021 report on worldwide volume and open interest for exchange-traded derivatives on Tuesday, and it shows a volume gain of 26.9% compared with July 2020 for a combined total of 4.91 billion contracts. However, trading slowed down from its torrid pace of early summer — July volume was down 2.4% from the month earlier.
Giancarlo, others praise Ameribor as one “choice” for new post-Libor benchmark
SOFR is not the only Libor-replacement game in town. At a press briefing given last week by American Financial Exchange (AFX), the exchange that introduced the Ameribor benchmark, former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo said that with the U.S.’s diverse economy, more than one benchmark is needed to replace the Libor, and Ameribor may be more appropriate for small, medium-sized and regional banks.
‘Weed Out the Dreamers’ to Make Hemp Sustainable
In a midyear update with JLN, PanXchange CEO Julie Lerner says the hemp industry needs to turn its focus to farm economics; sees continued promise in carbon credits.
The Spread – July 16, 2021
Options traders torn between higher Inflation and steady Fed policy; June market share up at MIAX; John Lothian talks about a World of Opportunity; SEC charges binary options shop with fraud; Moscow Exchange set to offer quarterly options on U.S. stock index futures; and the Options Institute’s Kevin Davitt talks about implied volatility in the “Term of the Week.”
The Spread – July 9, 2021
Chicago, a data destination; SEC, Robinhood and payment for order flow; John Lothian weighs in with his take; Retail trading continues to percolate; and Cboe’s Kevin Davitt explains the differences between equity and index options in the “Term of the Week.”
THE JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS DAILY UPDATE – 7/8/2021
Names for Consideration as Chair of the CFTC
I have written a letter to the President of the United States about the need for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have a permanent chair named and confirmed. I have suggested that Rostin Behnam, the current acting chairman of the CFTC, should become the permanent chair of the Commission.
Dear Mr. President: The CFTC Needs A Permanent Chairman, Not An Acting One
Because of the importance of cotton to our nation’s beginnings and all the other commodities it residually drove the production of, the U.S. commodity and related derivatives markets are among the most important in the world. I am writing to you today to urge you to appoint a permanent chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The Spread – July 2, 2021
Finra socks Robinhood with its biggest-ever fine; Cboe acquires Chi-X Asia Pacific; OCC reports another volume gain; NIO takes its cue from options; John Lothian weighs in with his take; Looking for volatility; and Jermal Chandler explains hedging in the options “Term of the Week.”
Look! Something New To Spoof
Every month PanXchange publishes some of the summary data they have calculated from hemp trading, collected from their trading platform and reported to them by market contacts. In addition to the indications of the ongoing weakness in many hemp prices, the June Benchmark & Analysis carried a report about what can be taken as a sign of the growing sophistication of the hemp marketplace: Hemp traders are spoofing! (Maybe not a good thing.)
The Innovator’s Dilemma Meets Fertik’s Law
The late author and Harvard professor Clayton Christensen coined the phrase “the innovator’s dilemma” in his popular book by the same name. In the book he describes why some well-run companies lose their dominant market position through the entrance of a competitor with a disruptive technology.
He uses as an example the personal computer and its smaller, slower disc drives, which disrupted “big iron” mainframe computers by offering a cheaper solution that was good enough.
The CME Group’s dominant market position in the U.S. futures market, which some classify as a monopoly, has spawned two separate challengers built on the model of the innovator’s dilemma. The Small Exchange and the Fair Exchange are seeking to disrupt the CME’s dominant position, or at least carve out a place of their own in the U.S. futures market landscape.
The Spread – June 18, 2021
Inflation really is a thing; Small traders are still big; John Lothian weighs in on the current trading landscape; and Nasdaq wins the May options market share race. All in this and the debut of the options “Term of the Week” in The Spread.
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London Stock Exchange to abandon lossmaking derivatives venture
First Read $53,406/$300,000 (17.8%) ++++ Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The London Stock Exchange has given notice that CurveGlobal is to be closed effective Friday, the 28th of January, 2022. CurveGlobal's CEO Andy Ross had this to say on LinkedIn...
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The founder of a volatility-hedging program that gained over 3,700% in March 2020 says the stock market could fall another 10% to 20% and the VIX could spike to 125
Lead Stories The founder of a volatility-hedging program that gained over 3,700% in March 2020 says the stock market could fall another 10% to 20% and the VIX could spike to 125. He breaks down his strategy and shares 2 other trading ideas. Vicky Ge Huang - Business...
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