Your guide to the happenings in derivatives markets and trading since 2000
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THE HISTORY OF FINANCIAL FUTURES EPISODE: GAME CHANGERS, PART II
JLN Options Newsletter
As stocks fall, options traders show no rush to guard against deeper pullback
Lead Stories As stocks fall, options traders show no rush to guard against deeper pullback Saqib Iqbal Ahmed - Reuters U.S. stocks are experiencing the biggest wave of volatility in months but options traders are showing little appetite for more protection, a sign...
Lead Stories
Multiple options expirations add to September market gyrations; Who are the smartest traders in the room?; Strike price pick no simple matter; The Spread – September 17, 2021
– Options markets take a bumpy ride ahead of simultaneous options and futures expirations;
– John’s Take looks at why it’s the smartest traders in the room who trade options;
– Two crucial concepts in strike price choices with Jermal Chandler in the Term of the Week.
Options Veterans Forge New Path With Tried-And-True Strategy
As its name suggests, Options Solutions is an options-centric asset-management firm that aims to increase the returns of investors’ portfolios with customized options strategies. JLN’s John Lothian and Suzanne Cosgrove recently interviewed the founders of the new enterprise, described by CEO Michael Brodsky as an early-stage, high-growth company. Team members are led by former CBOE Chairman and CEO Bill Brodsky, as well as Michael, his son, and options industry strategist Steve Sears.
John Lothian News Daily Update
The John Lothian Daily Update is a podcast turning the daily JLN hits and takes comments, our original content and the stories and quips in the top box of First Read into a daily podcast.
John Lothian Newsletter
New derivatives trading system J-GATE3.0 has gone live
First Read $53,406/$300,000 (17.8%) ++++ Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The following nominations were sent by The White House to the U.S. Senate on September 20, 2021: - Rostin Behnam, of Maryland, to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading...
MW Page of the day
Osaka Exchange
Osaka Exchange (OSE) and TOCOM successfully launched their new derivatives trading system, J-GATE3.0, on Monday and completed the transfer of the J-GATE3.0 backup function to the Kansai Data Center.
Lead Stories
GameStop disappoints; Coinbase gets into it with the SEC; Cboe offers Europe options; MIAX Spikes a record; John’s Take on CBOE’s Phil Slocum’s passing and a great moment in options history; and how to execute a strangle — The Spread — September 10, 2021
– Options markets get ready for fall’s chill as equity prices consolidate; Another perspective on small investors;
– John’s Take pays homage to an options veteran and looks at a moment in options market history;
– Pros and cons of using options strangles with Jermal Chandler in the Term of the Week.
FEX Global Makes Its First Trade
The first power trade on the Australian start-up exchange FEX Global was made Friday, September 10, and it was truly a global story. The trade was made using a Chicago-based Trading Technologies trading screen, cleared on the Chicago-based CME Group’s clearinghouse and traded on the FEX Global match engine in Sydney.
THE JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS DAILY UPDATE (WEEKLY ROUNDUP) – WEEK OF 9/6/2021
Ryan McNally’s Path to Electronic Trading Was Routed Through TOPS
Ryan McNally started his career as a runner on the CME trading floor, but he quickly moved off the floor to use the tools that helped make the markets more efficient and able to handle greater volumes, creating his path to electronic trading.
McNally started in 1982 as a runner for Lind-Waldock and he has been an electronic trading pioneer since the day he first saw the Lind-Waldock Order Express system.
Options Traders Brace for Fall; OCC Sets Record; John’s Take on Financial Journalists; Straddling Uncertainty – The Spread – September 3, 2021
In this week’s options news: Delta variant dents U.S. jobs data; Will fall bring a further equity market correction?; Options volume robust despite dog days of August; Cboe and Nasdaq post near tie for most options traded; A tribute to a departing crypto journalist in John’s Take; and Jermal Chandler explores the use case for straddles in the options “Term of the Week.”
John Lothian Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
New derivatives trading system J-GATE3.0 has gone live
First Read $53,406/$300,000 (17.8%) ++++ Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The following nominations were sent by The White House to the U.S. Senate on September 20, 2021: - Rostin Behnam, of Maryland, to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading...
We visit more than 100 websites daily for financial news (Would YOU do that?)
Featured Video
THE HISTORY OF FINANCIAL FUTURES EPISODE: GAME CHANGERS, PART II
JLN Options Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
As stocks fall, options traders show no rush to guard against deeper pullback
Lead Stories As stocks fall, options traders show no rush to guard against deeper pullback Saqib Iqbal Ahmed - Reuters U.S. stocks are experiencing the biggest wave of volatility in months but options traders are showing little appetite for more protection, a sign...
Everything you need to know about Options Today
John Lothian News Daily Update
The John Lothian Daily Update is a podcast turning the daily JLN hits and takes comments, our original content and the stories and quips in the top box of First Read into a daily podcast.
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.
CME Group Flatly Denies It’s In Talks With Cboe Global Markets
The CME Group Wednesday issued a firm denial that it was in talks to acquire Cboe Global Markets, a clear attempt to squash a story published by the Financial Times earlier in the day.
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.
Larry Abrams Part Two: Trader, “New York Jew” and Magician
Trader Larry Abrams Talks About His Career for the Open Outcry Traders HIstory Project
In part two of the JLN MarketsWiki Education Open Outcry Traders History Project interview with Larry Abrams, he talks about the emotionally draining market openings every day, his rather ugly experience in Kansas City opening a futures trading operation for Cooper Neff, options exercised out of the money, electronic trading, economic opportunity (and small worlds) and being a magician.
The Spread – August 13, 2021
Volatility eases as summer draws to a close and earnings season ends; Treasury and Eurodollar options perk up on inflation worries; John Lothian delivers a tribute to the late Wayne Luthringshausen and talks market structure; Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing launches new options; Two economics professors take a poke at stock market bubbles; and tastytrade’s Jermal Chandler talks about theta in the “Term of the Week.”
Remembrances of Wayne Luthringshausen
Here is a list of remembrances of the life of Wayne Luthringshausen, the retired chairman and CEO of the Options Clearing Corporation: From OCC: OCC’s Board of Directors, management and colleagues join the entire options community in honoring the life of Wayne...
Jim Sullivan and Stable Want to Change the Way People Manage Commodity Risk
Jim Sullivan has spent his entire career in the markets. He started as a runner, became a trader and then worked for the CME Group for 11 years. Now he is the U.S. commercial director for a new firm, Stable. John Lothian News interviewed him over Zoom about his career and his current role helping to manage commodity risk beyond what can be accomplished on a futures exchange.
Sullivan says Stable offers an innovative solution to commodity hedging for those commodities that don’t have listed futures contracts and for those commodities where those contracts may not work as well as they should.
Bruce Williams – He Found Love of Open Outcry Trading Through Tennis – Part Two
Williams Spoke to John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project Bruce Williams met Blair Hull when both were on a joint CBOT-CBOE committee for a new equity product where different versions would trade at the exchanges. Williams was in the Major Market...
THE WEEKEND UPDATE: August 2-6 2021
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.
Larry Abrams Part Two: Trader, “New York Jew” and Magician
Trader Larry Abrams Talks About His Career for the Open Outcry Traders HIstory Project
In part two of the JLN MarketsWiki Education Open Outcry Traders History Project interview with Larry Abrams, he talks about the emotionally draining market openings every day, his rather ugly experience in Kansas City opening a futures trading operation for Cooper Neff, options exercised out of the money, electronic trading, economic opportunity (and small worlds) and being a magician.
The Spread – August 13, 2021
Volatility eases as summer draws to a close and earnings season ends; Treasury and Eurodollar options perk up on inflation worries; John Lothian delivers a tribute to the late Wayne Luthringshausen and talks market structure; Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing launches new options; Two economics professors take a poke at stock market bubbles; and tastytrade’s Jermal Chandler talks about theta in the “Term of the Week.”
Remembrances of Wayne Luthringshausen
Here is a list of remembrances of the life of Wayne Luthringshausen, the retired chairman and CEO of the Options Clearing Corporation: From OCC: OCC’s Board of Directors, management and colleagues join the entire options community in honoring the life of Wayne...
Jim Sullivan and Stable Want to Change the Way People Manage Commodity Risk
Jim Sullivan has spent his entire career in the markets. He started as a runner, became a trader and then worked for the CME Group for 11 years. Now he is the U.S. commercial director for a new firm, Stable. John Lothian News interviewed him over Zoom about his career and his current role helping to manage commodity risk beyond what can be accomplished on a futures exchange.
Sullivan says Stable offers an innovative solution to commodity hedging for those commodities that don’t have listed futures contracts and for those commodities where those contracts may not work as well as they should.
Bruce Williams – He Found Love of Open Outcry Trading Through Tennis – Part Two
Williams Spoke to John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project Bruce Williams met Blair Hull when both were on a joint CBOT-CBOE committee for a new equity product where different versions would trade at the exchanges. Williams was in the Major Market...
THE WEEKEND UPDATE: August 2-6 2021
The Spread – August 6, 2021
Robinhood shares get an options boost; July options volume up more than 29%; John Lothian says exchange competition is heating up; The Delta variant and volatility; Bullish bets in bitcoin and ether options; And tastytrade’s Jermal Chandler goes back to the basics with calls and puts in the Term of the Week.
THE JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS DAILY UPDATE (WEEKLY ROUNDUP) – WEEK OF 8/2/2021
Bruce Williams – He Found Love of Open Outcry Trading Through Tennis – Part One
Williams Spoke to John Lothian News for the Open Outcry Traders History Project Bruce Williams was a South Side Chicago street smart kid who found his way to the markets through tennis. As a youth, Williams had dreams of being a professional tennis player, and it was...
Hemp Hangs Tough In July
The month of July brought more than its share of disruptions to the growing season — wildfires and severe drought in much of the West, for example — but prices for biomass and industrial hemp ended the month mostly unchanged, according to the latest PanXchange Hemp: Benchmark & Analysis.
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.
THE JOHN LOTHIAN NEWS DAILY UPDATE (WEEKLY ROUNDUP) – WEEK OF 7/26/2021
The Spread – July 30, 2021
Earnings season in full bloom; Options lead year-to-date derivatives volume; Robinhood’s IPO; John gets real with Get Real VR: Conflicting factors underpin volatility; Cboe cleared for fall European competition; and the Cboe Options Institute’s Kevin Davitt talks about vega in this week’s “Term of the Week.”
The Complete 2021 MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity Virtual Event & Additional Videos
The 2021 JLN MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity was held on July 21 as a virtual event and featured an interview with Small Exchange CEO Donnie Roberts and an interview of and presentation from Get Real VR partner Ed Haravon.
Charles Farra – The Path to Electronic Trading Has Many Steps and Flights
For Charles Farra, there were many steps on the path to electronic trading that saw him start as a runner for Cargill Investor Services in 1981 and work his way up in the organization. He would serve the firm in Chicago, London and Tokyo during a time when new products and big markets led to incredible growth in the futures industry.
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