Sponsors
THE PATH TO ELECTRONIC TRADING
The Path to Electronic Trading was inspired by the success of the Open Outcry Traders History Project. Gerry Corcoran, the CEO of RJ O’Brien, came to JLN to tell the story of how his one day of working on the trading floor helped create the path to electronic trading as RJO and other firms applied technology to improve the efficiency of a futures pit busting at the seams with paper orders.
His story inspired us to develop this new video series that will capture the individual stories of the people and firms that embraced technology and created the evolutionary path from the shouting of orders on the trading floor to trading all forms of derivatives, securities and other products via purely electronic means.
The Path to Electronic Trading series will capture stories from the beginning of order routing to trading floors, to after hour trading, then side-by-side trading and eventually just electronic trading. It will take us from TOPS, CUBS, Electronic Clerks and COMET to CME’s Globex and Globex II, the CBOT’s Project A to a/c/e and LIFFE Connect. It will take us from the NYSE to the ECNs and beyond. The series will address electronic options trading inspired by the ISE’s entry to the response by CBOE and other exchanges. And it will even go as far as trading in tokens and the Defi trading space and DEX exchanges.
We welcome suggestions for individuals to interview. Suggestions can be emailed to johnlothian@johnlothian.com.
Nick Bishop Part II: Defending the Trading Floor: When Markets Face Protesters and Power Outages
Nick Bishop recalls the wild camaraderie, data center chaos, and nail-biting standoffs that turned LIFFE’s Cannon Bridge Headquarters into London’s most unpredictable battleground—where surviving meant teamwork, nicknames, and a never-ending supply of lessons learned.
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) ― November 7, 2025 ― The server room at Cannon Bridge was as much a battlefield as the trading pits—except that instead of traders in striped jackets, it was cables and temperamental hardware facing off against fate, and, at least once, a well-meaning telecom engineer. “There was this one huge cabinet stacked in the middle, and it just had massive air conditioning being piled onto it all day long to try and keep the thing cool,” recalls Nick Bishop. In those days, protecting the trading engine meant wrapping it in cotton wool—and Sunday upgrades were as common as spilled coffee. A single misplaced plug, it turns out, was all it took to snuff out London’s markets: “A BT engineer came in, pulled out this plug, stuck his piece of equipment in, and again all the lights went off.” Lesson learned: don’t let anyone into the server room alone, and never underestimate the power of a 13-amp socket.
From Banking Halls to the Trading Floor: Nick Bishop’s Journey through London’s Financial Transformation
How a would-be surveyor found himself at the heart of LIFFE’s switch from open outcry to electronic trading, witnessing the upheaval, excitement, and challenges that redefined a market and a career.
ELMHURST, IL (JLN) ― November 6, 2025 ― Nick Bishop had a plan—just not the one London’s trading world had in mind for him. “The plan was to become a charter surveyor,” recalls Bishop, whose family history was firmly rooted in the building trades. At first, it seemed settled: “My father got me a job at John Laing, a construction firm in England. They were set to sponsor me for day release charter surveyor exams.” But fate, with a nudge from the financial industry’s wage scales, intervened. “At the last minute, Lloyd’s Bank offered me a job for double the money in 1988, so I abandoned charter surveying and started at a high street bank in the West End.”
The Exchange Whisperer: How One Australian Became Financial Markets’ Ultimate Startup Artist
Cathryn Lyall has built trading exchanges from scratch on three continents, turning floor traders into electronic converts and emerging markets into global players
LONDON-(JLN)-August 21, 2025—Most people struggle to start one business in their lifetime. Cathryn Lyall has built four financial exchanges from the ground up, spanning three continents and surviving one global financial crisis along the way.
The Australian veteran of electronic trading has become something of a serial exchange entrepreneur, shuttling between Chicago, London, and São Paulo to transform dusty trading floors into sleek digital marketplaces. Her secret weapon? An ability to speak the language of gruff floor traders while building the technology platforms that would eventually replace them.
Introducing “Auditions” – A JLN Topic Page for Market-Related Entertainment Content Creators
John Lothian News announces the upcoming launch of “Auditions,” a new space on johnlothiannews.com and the John Lothian Newsletter for entertainment content creators to introduce to the JLN audience their market related TV scripts, movie scripts, documentaries, short stories, books and poems. The official launch date is not set, but is coming soon.
Mogator Media Capital (Mogator Media Capital), along with writers Daniel F. Sullivan (Pencils with Erasers Podcast) and John Nuckel (JohnNuckel.com), are presenting the first audition, a script for a feature film titled “The Front Runner.” Based on a true story from the Chicago Board of Trade, the film chronicles a man’s attempt in 1992 to corner the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond futures market, albeit for a brief 15 minutes.
From Punch Cards to Crypto: One Man’s Journey Through Wall Street’s Tech Revolution
John Rapa never imagined his part-time college job would lead to a front-row seat for Wall Street’s technological transformation. But over five decades, he’s witnessed the industry’s evolution from paper tickets to blockchain – and he’s still grappling with how to explain Bitcoin to his grandparents.
Former CQG President Reflects on Algo Trading, Crypto, and AI’s Impact
Elmhurst, IL (JLN) – Josef Schroeter, the former president of CQG, a provider of trading software and market data, shared his insights on the evolution of electronic trading, the rise of crypto, and the potential impact of AI in part three of his interview with John Lothian News for The Path to Electronic Trading video series.
Discussing the advent of algorithmic trading, Schroeter said, “When I look at trading, I see it in three shifts: trading 1.0 was the interfaces, 2.0 was the advent of algo trading, and the third is what we’re seeing now.” He highlighted how algo trading enabled traders to execute orders without constantly monitoring the system, driving a surge in trading volumes. “The better you became at providing algo technology, the more players you could provide for, and the more needs they had,” he added.
Josef Schroeter Reflects on the CQG’s Transformation and the Evolution of Electronic Trading in Derivatives Markets
Elmhurst, IL (JLN) – Josef Schroeter, the former president of CQG, shares his insights on the company’s journey and the evolution of electronic trading in the derivatives markets.
Schroeter joined CQG in the early 2000s at the invitation of Tim Mather, the owner of CQG at the time. Mather had built CQG into a company known for its data quality and analytics but lacking execution capabilities. Schroeter’s mandate was to transform the company and prepare it for the rapidly approaching shift to electronic trading in the derivatives markets.
Joe Schroeter on Transforming CQG for the Digital Age: From Humble Beginnings to Market Leader
Elmhurst, IL (JLN) – Joe Schroeter is a change agent and that is exactly why CQG owner Tim Mather hired him in 2000 as the markets were turning electronic and CQG needed to reinvent itself.
Schroeter shares his humble beginnings in Nebraska farm country and then at the University of Colorado for law school in part one of a three part interview for our MarketsWiki Education video series, The Path to Electronic Trading.
Rama Pillai’s Path to Electronic Trading Showed He is a Good Student
Rama Pillai enjoyed being a student and earned three separate degrees before deciding to come to Singapore to accept a position with SIMEX in 1991. Studying the floor-to-screen migration of other exchanges and spearheading a proactive migration plan for SGX showed that Pillai was a good student.
The seven-year-old SIMEX made Pillai employee number 118 when he joined a three-person sales team that also handled marketing and business development. Reflecting on this experience, he remarked, “It was just the three of us covering the world.”
Ilan Levy-Mayer Shares the History of Cannon Trading and its Path to Electronic Trading
Ilan Levy-Mayer was interviewed by John Lothian News for the Path to Electronic Trading Video series. Mayer joined his brother in the futures broker business in Los Angeles after Ilan’s hopes for a basketball career were cut short by an injury.
Mark Smith’s Path To Electronic Trading: From Banking to Blockchain
Mark Smith started his career at broker-dealer Edward Jones, became an entrepreneur and then after his second firm was purchased by Citi, he found himself working for the bank, which he found an eye-opening experience.
Mark Smith’s Path to Electronic Trading is Awash in Entrepreneurial Drive
The Path to Electronic Trading for Mark Smith started in a pool. He wanted to be an Olympic swimmer, a singular focus that took him to the Olympic trials of 1988 and 1992, but not to the Olympic Games, though he did swim in the Pan American games of 1991.
Brian Hyndman’s Path To Electronic Trading Began Early
Brian Hyndman wanted to be a stockbroker growing up and that is what he became, starting out by working for Waterhouse Securities. But his career would be driven by the innovations and new technologies adopted by the markets and he would play a central part.
Alan van Griethuysen’s Dutch Path to Electronic Trading
Alan van Griethuysen wanted to be an officer in the Netherlands Royal Army, following in the footsteps of his father, who was a full colonel in the military police.
However, when he took a one-year leave while in school and worked in hotels in England, it started a path that led him to the options exchange in Amsterdam. That first job as a price reporter began a tenure of 32 years at the exchange, which saw many changes during van Griethuysen’s time.
Brendan Bradley’s Front Row Seat to the Path to Electronic Trading
Brendan Bradley had a front row seat for the major exchange battles between open outcry trading and electronic trading after starting at the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) in the 1980s and then moving to DTB in the mid-1990s. While there he saw the German Bund contract battle that shocked the global derivatives trading world and then later witnessed the competition between Eurex and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) that he said ultimately led to the global leading exchange’s demise.
Bradley shared a historic overview of the development of markets in Europe as electronic trading developed for The Path to Electronic Trading from John Lothian News’ MarketsWiki Education video series.
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...
We visit more than 100 financial news websites daily (Would YOU do that?)
The Spread
Introducing “Auditions” – A JLN Topic Page for Market-Related Entertainment Content Creators
John Lothian News announces the upcoming launch of “Auditions,” a new space on johnlothiannews.com and the John Lothian Newsletter for entertainment content creators to introduce to the JLN audience their market related TV scripts, movie scripts, documentaries, short stories, books and poems. The official launch date is not set, but is coming soon.
Mogator Media Capital (Mogator Media Capital), along with writers Daniel F. Sullivan (Pencils with Erasers Podcast) and John Nuckel (JohnNuckel.com), are presenting the first audition, a script for a feature film titled “The Front Runner.” Based on a true story from the Chicago Board of Trade, the film chronicles a man’s attempt in 1992 to corner the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond futures market, albeit for a brief 15 minutes.
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,...
