| August 29, 2024 | | | | | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | How tasty was the tastytrade sale to IG? Tom Sosnoff and Scott Sheridan, co-founders of Tastytrade Inc., sold approximately ÃGBP65 million ($86 million) worth of shares in IG Group Holdings Plc, marking their first major sell-off since IG acquired their Chicago-based options trading business in 2021, Bloomberg reports. The sale involved 6.5 million shares, or about 1.8% of IG's total shares, to institutional investors. The transaction follows a record-high close of IG shares at 992 pence. Sosnoff - who held around 14.9 million IG shares prior to the sale - and Sheridan previously co-founded the Thinkorswim Group, which was sold for about $606 million in 2009. ~JJL
BornTec shared a post on its blog called, "Optimism with a Dash of Resignation: Derivatives Markets in Europe" by Andy Jennings. It begins, "Earlier this summer, the FIA released a survey of participants in the European derivatives markets and the findings were an interesting mix of optimism and resignation. The results reflect a healthy industry that sees global opportunities for growth along with promising new technologies to spur innovation that also recognizes the inescapable tide of rising regulatory responsibilities and cyber risks are burdens that won't ever subside. Here in the waning days of summer, let's take a look at some of the specifics before sharing a few thoughts from the perspective of BornTec." You can read the rest HERE. ~SR
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Chicago Options Entrepreneurs Net Millions From IG Stock Sale; Sosnoff, Sheridan sell shares gained in 2021
Joe Easton - Bloomberg
Tom Sosnoff and Scott Sheridan sold about ÃGBP65 million ($86 million) worth of IG Group Holdings Plc shares in the first big selldown since their Chicago-based options-trading business was bought by the British firm three years ago. The Tastytrade Inc. co-founders offloaded 6.5 million IG shares to institutional investors, representing about 1.8% of the existing shares, according to a statement. The deal was announced after shares closed at a record-high of 992 pence on Wednesday. The stock dropped 2.2% on Thursday, trimming its year-to-date gain to 27%.
/jlne.ws/4fWkdls
Pre-market trades blamed for record Vix surge
Faye Kilburn and Helen Bartholomew - Risk.net
The US equity volatility market witnessed one of its wildest - and arguably weirdest - swings ever on August 5. The Cboe Volatility Index, a measure of the implied volatility of the S&P 500, surged 180% to an intraday high of 65.7 in pre-market trading that morning - the biggest one-day spike in its 30-year history - before retracing to 38.57 by the close.
/jlne.ws/3Z3D87N
Feuding Founders of Two Sigma Hedge Fund Stepping Down; Fights between two leaders got so bad firm decided to disclose them
Gregory Zuckerman - The Wall Street Journal
The founders of mega hedge fund Two Sigma have agreed to step down as co-chief executive officers, resolving a long-running feud between the quant-trading pioneers, according to a release the firm is sending its investors. John Overdeck and David Siegel clashed over the direction of the $60 billion firm. Their disagreements got so bad the firm felt the need to disclose them.
/jlne.ws/3X0pVKB
GameStop has ended a $250 million credit facility. The stock is on pace for its biggest gain since June.; The videogame retailer and original meme stock's shares were soaring Thursday
James Rogers - MarketWatch
GameStop Corp. shares were up 11.7% Thursday - putting the videogame retailer's stock on pace for its biggest gain since June 13, when it rose 14.4%, Dow Jones Market Data show.
The stock was also set to snap a three-day losing streak. In an SEC filing Tuesday, GameStop said it had voluntarily terminated a $250 million credit agreement that the company entered in November 2021. Wells Fargo is the administrative agent and collateral agent for the agreement, which had a maturity date in November 2026.
/jlne.ws/3Taaz5b
| | | | | | Exchanges | | | FLEX Appeal: Enhanced FLEX Functionality on Cboe Platforms and Data
Henry Schwartz - Cboe
What to Know About FLEX Options
The increasing use of FLEX (FLexible EXchange) options is one of the hottest growth segments for the options industry in recent years. FLEX options are calls and puts with customized contract specifications currently traded on five U.S. exchanges and cleared by the OCC. Over the past decade, FLEX options volume has grown by 26% annually, from 60,000 contracts per day in 2014 to nearly 800,000 contracts per day in 2024, while total listed options volume has grown from 17.6 million contracts to nearly 47 million, representing a 7.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). In terms of market share, FLEX options currently make up nearly 1.7% of the total listed options volume, with peak days topping 2 million contracts, or 4% of the market.
/jlne.ws/4g7fFbU
Cboe files amended applications to list Bitcoin, Ethereum options in US; The applications cover ETFs from issuers including Grayscale, iShares, and Fidelity.
Alex O'Donnell - Cointelegraph
Cboe Exchange, a United States securities exchange, filed an amended application to regulators to list options on Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to two Aug. 28 filings for Bitcoin and Ether options, respectively.
According to the documents, the exchange seeks to list options linked to ETH and BTC ETFs issued by asset managers, including Fidelity, 21Shares, Invesco, VanEck, Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock's iShares, and Valkyrie.
/jlne.ws/4g65AMp
Philippine Stock Exchange plans first derivatives in 2026
Luke Jeffs - FOW
The Taiwan group and the Philippine exchange have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the infrastructure to launch derivatives and establish best practices in areas such as operations and governance
/jlne.ws/4g5xeJr
| | | | | | Strategy | | | Mastering the Markets: Investor Strategies for Staying Power in Options Trading
Justin Zacks, VP of Strategy of Moomoo Technologies Inc. - Traders Magazine
The meteoric rise of retail options trading accelerated by the pandemic continues. In 2019
retail options volumes were 34% of total trading, peaking at 48% in the second half of 2020
before reaching 64% in 2023, according to the New York Stock Exchange.
The democratization of trading knowledge through social media and educational platforms
has enabled more novices to explore the complexities of options trading if they have been
careful to select useful sources that have been properly vetted.
/jlne.ws/3XnBqNz
European Gas Trading Signals Commitment to Fuel for Longer; First 2033 Dutch futures traded on exchange last week: ICE; Move signals growing conviction that gas demand will persist
Priscila Azevedo Rocha - Bloomberg
European gas traders are bidding into longer-term contracts with a view that fuel demand will remain elevated well into the 2030s, even as the region transitions to renewables. The Intercontinental Exchange Inc. registered its first trade of Dutch gas futures for 2033 last Friday, according to an ICE spokesperson. That means trading of Europe's gas benchmark has now extended all the way to that year. While one of this year's dominant trades has been to hedge against swings caused by short-term price volatility, going long signals a view among some traders that gas demand is set to persist for the foreseeable future.
/jlne.ws/4cKNo88
Pinduoduo
Cboe (Video)
Scott Bauer shares market updates in #Vol411, covering $NVDA earnings, $PDD trading activity (~5x recent ADV), tomorrow's PCE inflation data and more.
/jlne.ws/3z1TBPt
| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | Wall Street's big green flip-flop; Big banks promised to protect the planet. Now they're doing an about-face.
Catherine Boudreau - Business Insider
When a small group of climate protesters logged on to a Zoom meeting in early July to speak with Citibank's top sustainability executives, their emotions ranged from cautious optimism to guarded skepticism.
Protesters from groups like Stop the Money Pipeline, Climate Organizing Hub, and Planet Over Profit spent weeks barricading the doors of the bank's New York City headquarters as part of their "Summer of Heat on Wall Street" campaign. After a string of arrests and confrontations with employees, all of which coincided with three blistering heat waves, Citi's invitation to talk was welcome. Organizers from the climate groups viewed the meeting as a chance to speak frankly with Citi execs about their role in the climate crisis. But protesters said the meeting only reemphasized the gap between Wall Street's actions and the lofty promises the industry made in 2021 to reduce the carbon footprints of their portfolios.Marlena Fontes, the organizing director of Climate Organizing Hub and Climate Defenders, pointed to an exchange over the new liquified-natural-gas terminals under construction along the Gulf Coast.
/jlne.ws/4e6H10l
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