First Read Hits & Takes By John Lothian & JLN Staff On Friday I attempted to apply for a Payroll Protection Plan loan, which is part of the CARES Act to help small businesses. However, it turns out the bank I do commercial business with is not part of the...
Basel
Quad Witching; Options Liquidity Matrix; Yuan Options Whipsaw; Basel Capital Relief
A daily snapshot of options news regarding regulation, market participants, market structure, and trends in the industry.
What does your clearinghouse DEFCON scale look like today?
Talk about timing. Ten years after the collapse of the global financial market and a decade of rebuilding it, Nasdaq reports that Nasdaq Clearing had to cover for a clearing member default of €114 million on Nasdaq Nordic, a default...
Volatility – An intellectual virus, a bubble, or both?; Huge Brazilian FX trade
Observations & Insight Lessons From the "Not Guilty" Verdict in This Week's Criminal Spoofing Trial Renato Mariotti, former federal prosecutor - JLN Wednesday's stunning "not guilty" verdict in United States v. Andre Flotron,...
Vol or bust?; VIX lawsuits; Equity traders are killing it
Observations & Insight Miscellany of the Day Spencer Doar - JLN Cboe turned 45 years young and Russell Rhoads has a blog out with 45 facts about Cboe - I forgot seats were originally offered for $10,000. Using a U.S. Inflation Calculator site, the cost of a seat...
Bank regulators to revise capital rules for trading risk; The Growing Influence of Asia In Derivatives Trading
Observations & Insight Congressional CFTC Budget Decision Lacks Vision and Reason John Lothian - JLN A reasonable person could see that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission needs an increase in its budget to address the growing responsibility it has...
Spot Trading Closes; EU Fintech Regulatory Roadmap; EU probes UK derivatives tax treatment
First Read Renato Mariotti for Illinois Attorney General; A Former Prosecutor and Current JLN Reader Is The Best Choice For Illinois AG John Lothian - JLN Democratic Attorney General candidate Renato Mariotti stopped by the John Lothian News offices in the Chicago...
Treasury Report Calls for Sweeping Changes to Financial Rules
Observations & Insight Thaler, Famed for 'Nudge' Theory, Wins Nobel Economics Prize Jonas O Bergman - Bloomberg University of Chicago's Richard H. Thaler, one of the founders of behavioral economics and finance, was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics for...
Equity volatility schemes seen widely used; Volatility risk endures; Laszlo Birinyi’s calls
Observations & Insight Crypto Developments of the Week - There Were a Lot Spencer Doar - JLN The news just won't stop in the crypto space and with the big exchanges making moves, new platforms seemingly launched every day, ETFs trying to get off the ground and...
OCC chief Donohue latest to warn over Basel rules; Does a 263% Profit Mean Markets Are Efficient?; What History Says About Low Volatility
Observations & Insight June 2017 Options Exchange Marketshare via OCC ++++++ OCC Cleared Contract Volume Up Two Percent in June OCC OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced today that cleared contract volume in June reached...
Liquidity Providers Unduly Penalized By Capital Rules: CTC’s Crutchfield
Financial Reform Objectives at Odds with Effects of Rules What’s a market maker to do when it can’t warehouse risk? The options industry has a problem with bank capital rules. In this JLN video, Steve Crutchfield, head of market...
BoE told to firm up oversight of clearing and other support; Biggest banks each set to be hit with $200m trading rule costs; Smaller companies fear threat from new financial regulation
First Read New CEO, Updated Offices By John J. Lothian, Executive Chairman Today is the first day in the reign of Jim Kharouf as king....err... CEO of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. He takes command in our newly updated offices in the CBOT Building, which are not...
LSE sells French clearing unit to Euronext for EUR510m; Basel postpones bank reform vote amid policy differences; Anshu Jain to Join Cantor Fitzgerald as President
First Read Ringing In New Year's Resolutions Jim Kharouf, JLN Some years are more important than others. The trick is guessing what's going to happen ahead of those. Welcome to 2017, the year of Trump, the true start of Brexit, the end of the trading floors in some...
A Basel netting issue: Pushing for less burdensome capital requirements in the options market
The unintended consequences of financial regulation have been seeping into the markets since the first rule was made in the wake of the financial crisis. One prime example is the leverage ratio, which determines the required capital...
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Today’s Newsletter

Libor Moves to Its ‘Final Chapter’ as U.K. Sets End Dates; Libor to cease for most currencies by end of 2021
Libor Moves to Its ‘Final Chapter’ as U.K. Sets End Dates; Libor to cease for most currencies by end of 2021
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JLN Options Newsletter
Today’s Newsletter

Wall Street’s ‘fear index’ surges to highest level in about 5 weeks as Treasury-yield spike sparks stock-market selloff; A new era of volatility begins, but equity inflows continue: BofA
Wall Street’s ‘fear index’ surges to highest level in about 5 weeks as Treasury-yield spike sparks stock-market selloff; A new era of volatility begins, but equity inflows continue: BofA
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