| July 09, 2025 Observations & Insight The Chicago Board of Trade Building Museum opened yesterday with a brief ceremony in the hallway outside of Ceres, with speakers from the management company R2, 34th Ward Alderman Bill Conway, and a planning and development staffer from the City of Chicago.
The turnout of industry luminaries included former CBOT Chairman Patrick Arbor, CME Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed, former Cboe Chairman and CEO William Brodsky, and philanthropy executive Steven Mendes
There was an official ribbon cutting to open the museum, which includes a CBOT-shaped tower of promotional buttons provided by Ryan Carlson of TradingPitHistory.com. The pro-football themed trading jacket from Thomas J. Cashman was prominently displayed next to the two trading floor phones, where you can hear unaccredited audio from The Open Outcry Traders History Project. ~JJL
Lead Stories India's markets regulator says no proposal to link options leverage limits to cash positions
Jayshree P Upadhyay - Reuters
India's markets regulator said on Tuesday that there was no proposal under consideration to link options leverage limits to cash positions.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued the statement after its chairman said on Monday that the regulator is stepping up surveillance to detect manipulation in derivatives trading.
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Top financial watchdog recommends limits on hedge fund leverage; FSB proposes that non-banks provide more disclosure on borrowing amid rising concern the sector could trigger new crisis
Martin Arnold - Financial Times
Hedge funds and other non-bank groups could face limits on the amount of leverage they can use and may have to provide more disclosure to regulators about their borrowing, under plans put forward by the world's financial stability watchdog. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) said on Wednesday that its recommended measures - which follow a consultation announced late last year - were designed to tackle the build-up of leverage in non-banks, which "can be an important amplifier of stress. If not properly managed, it can create risks to financial stability."
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'Sinister scheme': India ban threatens Jane Street's money machine; Allegations of market manipulation and temporary block on activities pose wider risks for Wall Street trader
Krishn Kaushik, Robin Wigglesworth and Chris Kay - Financial Times
India has been a money machine for Jane Street, netting the trading giant more than $4bn in profits in just over two years. But it is now the source of a scandal that is imperilling the Wall Street firm's golden run. The Securities and Exchange Board of India last week accused Jane Street of a "sinister scheme" to manipulate Indian stocks and derivatives, temporarily banned its activities in the country and impounded more than $550mn of "illegal gains" - the most draconian penalty it has ever levied. It is now expanding its probe into the firm's trades in other parts of India's financial markets.
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Trump-Linked Truth Social Plans Crypto ETF as Digital Asset Franchise Expands
Helene Braun - CoinDesk
U.S. President Donald Trump's Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) has filed to list a new crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would track a selection of digital assets, the latest in a string of such efforts tied to the Trump brand. The proposed "Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF" would hold a portfolio of five tokens: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and cronos (CRO), according to a filing with the SEC. Eighty-five percent of the fund's holdings would be split between bitcoin and ether. Solana would make up 8%, cronos 5% and XRP 2%.
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First Leveraged CLO ETF Tests Retail Crowd's Appetite for Risk
Scott Carpenter - Bloomberg
Reckoner Capital Management is testing investors' hunger for a new category of risky bets with an exchange-traded fund that uses leverage to juice returns on collateralized loan obligations. The Reckoner Leveraged AAA CLO ETF (ticker: RAAA) is the first such fund to invest in a variety of top-rated CLO bonds while leveraging up to 50% of that exposure, according to a statement.
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BlackRock's Cash-Like ETF Eclipses Infamous Long-Bond Trade
Emily Graffeo and Ye Xie - Bloomberg
To see how the "T-bill-and-chill" mindset is reshaping fixed-income investing, look no further than the diverging fortunes of two BlackRock Inc. exchange-traded funds.
The phrase captures a preference for short-term government debt in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's most aggressive rate hiking cycle in decades - a strategy that delivers steady income without exposure to the monetary-driven whiplash of longer-maturity Treasuries.
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Pentwater's Hedge Funds Soar 21% on Billion-Dollar US Steel Bet
Aaron Kirchfeld, Nishant Kumar, and Yiqin Shen - Bloomberg
Pentwater Capital Management's hedge funds that wager on corporate events extended gains in June to deliver some of their best-ever six-month returns, helped by a mega bet on United States Steel Corp.'s tie-up with Nippon Steel Corp. Both Pentwater Event and Merger Arbitrage funds advanced more than 7% in June, bolstering returns for the first half to about 21%, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Positions including in US Steel, Avis Budget Group Inc. and government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac added to the gains, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.
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Exchanges ICE Sets New H1 Record With 1.2 Billion Contracts Traded
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data and home of the most liquid energy markets in the world, today announced that the first half of 2025 marked a record for volumes traded across ICE's markets with a record 1.2 billion ICE futures and options contracts traded, with record average daily volume of 10 million contracts, of which approximately 6 million were commodity contracts.
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EEX Press Release - EEX Group: continued growth at trading volumes on core markets in first half of 2025
EEX
EEX Group reports significant trading volume growth in the first half of 2025 across its major asset classes, reaching the highest ever first half-yearly volumes on the EEX power and gas derivatives, as well as the gas spot markets. Over the first six months of the year the Group's global power markets have seen a 16% increase year-on-year, reaching close to 7,000 TWh; while volumes on the natural gas markets showed a strong 26% growth compared to the previous year's first half, with a total of 4,564.2 TWh. Highlights from the other EEX Group markets include the 25% year-on-year volume expansion on the global freight markets, as well as the 49% growth at trading in North American environmental contracts.
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Nasdaq Reports June 2025 Volumes and 2Q25 Statistics
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported monthly volumes for June 2025, as well as quarterly volumes, estimated revenue capture, number of listings, and index statistics for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, on its Investor Relations website.
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Change to the Executive Board of SIX
SIX Group
Christoph Muller will become Head Banking Services and Member of the Executive Board of SIX on October 1, 2025. Christoph Muller joined SIX in 2019 and served as Deputy Head Banking Services, where he leads the Debit, ATM, and TWINT processing business. He brings over 30 years of experience in the banking and payments industry. His professional journey includes leadership positions at Credit Suisse, and UBS, as well as co-founding a fintech startup. Christoph Muller holds an Executive MBA in Management of Technology from the Ãcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne & University of Lausanne and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Zurich University of Applied Science.
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SGX Group's stellar growth in June turnover caps FY2025 performance
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) today reported double-digit gains in June for both derivatives volume and securities turnover as global markets closed out a volatile quarter, capping a strong performance for the financial year. Derivatives traded volume rose 17% year-on-year (y-o-y) in June to 26.1 million contracts, as daily average volume (DAV) gained 9% y-o-y to 1.3 million contracts. For July 2024 to June 2025 (FY2025), total volume climbed 17% to 315.8 million contracts, with DAV up 17% at 1.3 million contracts.
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Regulation & Enforcement First active ETF cross-listing in Hong Kong underscores the city's status as premier asset and wealth management centre
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) welcomes the first cross-listing in Hong Kong of an actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) today. The cross-listing by way of a master-feeder structure was facilitated by the streamlined requirements for eligible ETFs, broadening Hong Kong's product offering by introducing the world's largest active ETF strategy to the city's investors, while demonstrating Hong Kong's competitiveness in attracting overseas ETFs (Note 1).
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Moves MEMX Appoints Ishaan Acharya as Chief Financial Officer
MEMX Press Release via Traders Magazine
MEMX, a technology-driven exchange operator founded by members to benefit all investors, today announced the appointment of Ishaan Acharya as Chief Financial Officer. Acharya is based in New York and will be responsible for MEMX's financial activities including accounting, budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning.
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TXSE Group Hires Former SEC Acting Director of Trading and Markets David Saltiel
TXSE Press Release via Traders Magazine
TXSE Group Inc, the parent company of the Texas Stock Exchange, announced today that David Saltiel, one of the country's leading experts in market regulation and financial policy, is joining its leadership team as senior managing director of firmwide strategy. Saltiel brings nearly a decade of experience at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he helped shape the policies that underpin today's capital markets.
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Strategy Why Active Management is Key for Options-Based ETFs
Elle Caruso Fitzgerald - ETFDB
Investing in options-based ETFs can be a powerful way to pursue capital appreciation while aiming for reduced volatility and protection against market downturns.
However, the unique nature of options may make active management particularly beneficial due to options having a finite lifespan and sensitivity to market movements. The Fidelity Hedged Equity ETF (FHEQ ) serves as a prime example of this principle in action.
FHEQ is actively managed. Fidelity designed FHEQ to offer investors both growth potential and a meaningful reduction in market volatility and exposure to drawdowns. It achieves this through two main components: an equity allocation and a diversified allocation of exchange-traded S&P 500 Index put options.
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Tariff volatility drives investors to actively managed funds
Patturaja Murugaboopathy - Reuters
Global investors are pivoting towards actively managed equity funds this year as market volatility rises on worries over U.S. tariffs and the stock market rally broadens beyond a few mega-cap tech stocks. According to LSEG Lipper data, active equity funds secured a record inflow of $127 billion in the first half of 2025, up 57% over last year, while passively managed equity funds saw a decline of 8%. Passive strategies have dominated in recent years due to their lower fees and consistent outperformance over active peers.
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Miscellaneous The Stock Market Is Unfazed by Trump's Tariffs. Here's Why.
Reshma Kapadia - Barron's
U.S. stocks have already brushed off a bout of trade-related volatility Monday after President Donald Trump extended the deadline for trade negotiations to Aug. 1 and sent letters to 14 trading partners, setting tariff rates at 25% to 40%.
The S&P 500 is back near its record highs, with the index up less than 0.1% on Tuesday. The broader market's relative apathy has been surprising, given the rise in tariff levels and trade uncertainty impacting $3.2 trillion in U.S. imports.
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Goldman Demands an Oath From Junior Bankers to Fend Off Private Equity Poaching
Todd Gillespie - Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to ask junior bankers to confirm their loyalty on a regular basis in a bid to limit advances from talent-hungry buyout firms. The investment bank will ask new analysts to certify every three months that they haven't accepted jobs elsewhere, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential plan. A representative for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
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***** You shall fear Goldman; you shall serve Goldman and hold fast to Goldman, and by Goldman you shall swear. H/T to Deuteronomy 10:20.~JJL
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