Your guide to the happenings in derivatives markets and trading since 2000
John Lothian Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
Hong Kong Exchange Drops on Worry Protests Will Hurt Trading; Homespun Firms Challenge Wall Street’s Muni-Bond Supremacy
See also: Bakkt now plans to offer cash-settled bitcoin futures; Brexit’s $78 Trillion Derivatives Spat Needs Fix Now, Banks Say; and more.
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JLN Options Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
Alarm Bells Ringing in Options Market Point to Volatility Ahead; Money Stuff: You Can’t Just Call Loans Options
See also: Options Traders Resist Growing ETF, Index Influence; Libor’s Demise Will Upend How Hugely Popular Derivatives Work, and more.
Everything you need to know about Options Today
Lead Stories
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the CFTC Case Against Jitesh Thakkar, Part I
Cost-benefit analysis is an important part of the regulatory process and even more so after Dodd-Frank became the law of the land. The CFTC does not have an unlimited budget, though it is attempting to throw the legal version of the kitchen sink at Jitesh...
How to Keep a Close Eye on the Markets
Travis Schwab of Eventus Systems discusses the complex task of developing software to help fight market manipulation, while also maintaining the flexibility to meet the varying needs of a broad range of customers. Turns out it helps to have former employees from the types of firms that use these products working under the hood.
MarketsWiki
Page of the day
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.’s (HKEX’s) shares fell 2.1% on Wednesday (down 4.7% for the week) because of worry that the continuing unrest in the city will cripple trading volume, which has fallen as many traders work from home.
CryptoMarketsWiki
Page of the day
Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM)
The Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM) published a code of conduct for its member organizations Tuesday called “The Adam Code,” a guideline for ethical practices to which members are required to commit themselves.
John Lothian Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
Hong Kong Exchange Drops on Worry Protests Will Hurt Trading; Homespun Firms Challenge Wall Street’s Muni-Bond Supremacy
See also: Bakkt now plans to offer cash-settled bitcoin futures; Brexit’s $78 Trillion Derivatives Spat Needs Fix Now, Banks Say; and more.
JLN Options Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter
Alarm Bells Ringing in Options Market Point to Volatility Ahead; Money Stuff: You Can’t Just Call Loans Options
See also: Options Traders Resist Growing ETF, Index Influence; Libor’s Demise Will Upend How Hugely Popular Derivatives Work, and more.
Lead Stories
Letter to JLN from Vivek Sharma in Support of Jitesh Thakkar
Editor’s note: John Lothian News received the following letter from Vivek Sharma, a former employee of Edge Financial, the firm owned by Jitesh Thakkar. Sharma has also worked for the National Futures Association as a quantitative analyst in...
Justice for Jitesh: Special Sauce is Never Shared
I worked with traders and systems developers for many years when I was a futures broker. During the time I worked with them, they never shared with me their “special sauce,” the intellectual property that made their trading systems tick. There...
CFTC, Chairman Skate Away From Testifying About Kraft
In a win for the CFTC, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals let the CFTC’s Commissioners breathe a bit more freely on Tuesday afternoon. The court ruled that the commissioners could not be required to provide testimony about their and the...
The Spread: Negative interest rates, VIX for bonds and an options bet that netted a 14,000% return
Negative interest rates, VIX for bonds and an options bet that netted a 14,000% return Will the fed cut rates? Are we headed for negative rates? Fun with acronyms (ICE buys MOVE) and a guy who lucked into a 14,000% return on an options trade...
Justice for Jitesh; CFTC Should Drop Civil Charges and Apologize
I have created a petition titled "Justice for Jitesh: CFTC Should Drop Civil Charges and Apologize" on Change.org. Here is a link to sign the petition: Justice for Jitesh Petition. I ask you to read and please sign this petition. My hope is go...
The Weekend Update: October 14-18, 2019
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK “There Is Definite Hanky-Panky Going On”: The Fantastically Profitable Mystery of the Trump Chaos Trades In the last 10 minutes of trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday, September 13, someone got...
Kent Law College Covers Kraft-Mondelez, Renato Mariotti, and US v. Andrei Flotron
Kent Law College Covers Kraft-Mondelez, Renato Mariotti, and US v. Andrei Flotron Thom Thompson - John Lothian News The 11th annual Conference on Futures and Derivatives took place on Thursday at Chicago- Kent IIT College of Law. I was going...
The Spread: Cboe moves, MIAX wins, CME vs Bakkt
Cboe moves, MIAX wins, CME vs Bakkt Cboe moves C1 to its Bats technology and moves its floor, MIAX wins patent case against Nasdaq twice, and options are big news in the cryptocurrency world. Produced by Mike Forrester Follow The Spread...
The Weekend Update: October 7-11, 2019
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK U.S. online brokers still profiting from 'dumb money' NEW YORK (Reuters) - People who trade stocks online cheered last week when several large retail brokers slashed stock-trading commissions to zero, a move made...
Jacob Morowitz – Open Outcry Traders History Project
Jake Morowitz came to the Chicago Board of Trade as a philosophy major and a member of the Students for a Democratic Society. A former professor recruited him to come work in the markets and he was hired as a researcher. He bought his first membership with the help of Leslie Rosenthal.
The CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast Episode 5: Living That Distributed Life
After finishing her education at Pepperdine University, Lexy Prodromos dove headfirst into the blockchain world, quickly establishing herself as an influential figure. An early contributor to the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, she later became executive director of the Chicago Blockchain Center as well as a strategic lead at Bloq. Prodromos shares what it has been like working behind the scenes with both regulators and technology firms to help this nascent technology flourish.
Bcause LLC ordered into liquidation
U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Janet Baer converted Bcause’s long six-month long Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy under which the company will be liquidated. The U.S. Trustee has been asked to assign a trustee...
The Spread – October is Fear Month
October is a scary month, what with Halloween, the fear gauge jumping up and down, and a “Murder” of drones attacking Saudi Aramco. This week’s edition of The Spread will help you face your fears. Or not.
A Legacy of Innovation Binds Chicago’s Financial Community and Boy Scouts
For nearly 50 years, the Chicago financial district has supported the Boy Scouts of America with a fundraiser. The glory years of the LaSalle Street Dinner featured a circus tent set up on LaSalle Street for a summer soirée.More than 100 years...
Voice of Blockchain 2019: Smaller, More Streamlined
In 2018, “Disruption” Joe Hernandez’s Chicago-based blockchain conference, Voice of Blockchain, debuted at Navy Pier from August 24-25. When I asked Hernandez why he started VoB, he said he was “disappointed with the quality level of most...
CFTC, Chairman Skate Away From Testifying About Kraft
In a win for the CFTC, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals let the CFTC’s Commissioners breathe a bit more freely on Tuesday afternoon. The court ruled that the commissioners could not be required to provide testimony about their and the...
The Spread: Negative interest rates, VIX for bonds and an options bet that netted a 14,000% return
Negative interest rates, VIX for bonds and an options bet that netted a 14,000% return Will the fed cut rates? Are we headed for negative rates? Fun with acronyms (ICE buys MOVE) and a guy who lucked into a 14,000% return on an options trade...
Justice for Jitesh; CFTC Should Drop Civil Charges and Apologize
I have created a petition titled "Justice for Jitesh: CFTC Should Drop Civil Charges and Apologize" on Change.org. Here is a link to sign the petition: Justice for Jitesh Petition. I ask you to read and please sign this petition. My hope is go...
The Weekend Update: October 14-18, 2019
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK “There Is Definite Hanky-Panky Going On”: The Fantastically Profitable Mystery of the Trump Chaos Trades In the last 10 minutes of trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday, September 13, someone got...
Kent Law College Covers Kraft-Mondelez, Renato Mariotti, and US v. Andrei Flotron
Kent Law College Covers Kraft-Mondelez, Renato Mariotti, and US v. Andrei Flotron Thom Thompson - John Lothian News The 11th annual Conference on Futures and Derivatives took place on Thursday at Chicago- Kent IIT College of Law. I was going...
The Spread: Cboe moves, MIAX wins, CME vs Bakkt
Cboe moves, MIAX wins, CME vs Bakkt Cboe moves C1 to its Bats technology and moves its floor, MIAX wins patent case against Nasdaq twice, and options are big news in the cryptocurrency world. Produced by Mike Forrester Follow The Spread...
The Weekend Update: October 7-11, 2019
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK U.S. online brokers still profiting from 'dumb money' NEW YORK (Reuters) - People who trade stocks online cheered last week when several large retail brokers slashed stock-trading commissions to zero, a move made...
Jacob Morowitz – Open Outcry Traders History Project
Jake Morowitz came to the Chicago Board of Trade as a philosophy major and a member of the Students for a Democratic Society. A former professor recruited him to come work in the markets and he was hired as a researcher. He bought his first membership with the help of Leslie Rosenthal.
The CryptoMarketsWiki Podcast Episode 5: Living That Distributed Life
After finishing her education at Pepperdine University, Lexy Prodromos dove headfirst into the blockchain world, quickly establishing herself as an influential figure. An early contributor to the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, she later became executive director of the Chicago Blockchain Center as well as a strategic lead at Bloq. Prodromos shares what it has been like working behind the scenes with both regulators and technology firms to help this nascent technology flourish.
Bcause LLC ordered into liquidation
U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge Janet Baer converted Bcause’s long six-month long Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy under which the company will be liquidated. The U.S. Trustee has been asked to assign a trustee...
The Spread – October is Fear Month
October is a scary month, what with Halloween, the fear gauge jumping up and down, and a “Murder” of drones attacking Saudi Aramco. This week’s edition of The Spread will help you face your fears. Or not.
A Legacy of Innovation Binds Chicago’s Financial Community and Boy Scouts
For nearly 50 years, the Chicago financial district has supported the Boy Scouts of America with a fundraiser. The glory years of the LaSalle Street Dinner featured a circus tent set up on LaSalle Street for a summer soirée.More than 100 years...
Voice of Blockchain 2019: Smaller, More Streamlined
In 2018, “Disruption” Joe Hernandez’s Chicago-based blockchain conference, Voice of Blockchain, debuted at Navy Pier from August 24-25. When I asked Hernandez why he started VoB, he said he was “disappointed with the quality level of most...
The Weekend Update: September 30 – October 4, 2019
JLN PRESS ROOM PICK OF THE WEEK Documents unsealed in CFTC v Kraft On Wednesday, October 2, the Chicago federal district court unsealed 500 hundred pages of documents in the contempt of court dispute between the CFTC and Kraft Foods and...
Mike Fishbain – Open Outcry Traders History Project
Mike Fishbain is a former open outcry trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Today he is part of the customer support team at Trading Technologies, a leading provider of trading screen technology to the futures and options markets. He sat for an interview with John Lothian News as part of the MarketsWiki Education Open Outcry Traders History Project.