| | | | | | | March 05, 2025 | | | | | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | Congratulations to Justin Llewellyn-Jones, who will become CEO of Trading Technologies International on March 31, replacing Keith Todd, who will stay on as deputy chairman, TT announced today. Llewellyn-Jones joined the company as COO in January 2024 after a 30-year career in fintech and financial services. ~JJL
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| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Montreal Exchange Announces Options On 10 CIBC Canadian Depositary Receipts
Traders Magazine
Montreal Exchange (MX), Canada's derivatives exchange, has announced the launch of options on 10 CIBC Canadian Depositary Receipts (CDRs), marking a significant expansion of investment opportunities for Canadian investors.
The new CDR options, listed on MX and available at the opening of trading today, provide investors with access to options on fractional shares of U.S. companies while trading in Canadian dollars on a Canadian exchange.
/jlne.ws/41SOa13
Tariff Fears Send Key Volatility ETF Soaring; The VIX, also known as "the fear index," and the VIXY volatility ETF surged to 2025 highs on fears of an escalating and prolonged trade war.
Kent Thune - ETF.com
Investors are growing increasingly fearful of a prolonged trade war as key trading partners Canada, Mexico and China respond to U.S. tariffs with retaliatory levies on U.S. goods.
These worries translated into rising volatility in financial markets, as measured by the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) and the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (VIXY). Both have surged in recent sessions as investors brace for potential economic disruptions tied to trade policy uncertainty.
/jlne.ws/41oCWQh
Lockstep Moves in US Stocks Suggest More Volatility Is Brewing
Jess Menton - Bloomberg
US stocks are increasingly moving in tandem, raising the risks of further turbulence ahead as investors grapple with uncertainty over economic growth and the potential fallout from President Donald Trump's trade policies.
With the S&P 500 now down around 6% from its all-time high, an index of three-month implied correlations from Cboe stands at its highest level since a selloff rattled global markets in September. Lockstep moves in equities are a red flag for traders, as they can indicate an environment where good stocks get hit along with bad ones when risk appetite dries up.
/jlne.ws/4hZKG2a
Wall Street Banks Say Markets Are Flashing Rising Recession Risk
Denitsa Tsekova - Bloomberg
Financial markets are signaling that the risk of a recession is growing as tariff-related uncertainty and indicators of economic weakness spread fear across Wall Street.
A model from JPMorgan Chase & Co. shows that the market-implied probability of an economic downturn has climbed to 31% on Tuesday, from 17% at the end of November. Key indicators like five-year Treasuries and base metals are showing an even higher - toss-up - chance of a contraction. While it's far from the base case, a similar model from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also suggests recession risk is edging up, at 23% from 14% in January.
/jlne.ws/4i4tAQQ
India's NSE Moves Derivatives Expiry in Surprise Shift
Savio Shetty - Bloomberg
India's largest bourse, the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., unexpectedly changed the expiration day for its listed equity derivatives to Mondays from Thursdays. Starting April 4, all monthly, quarterly and semi-annual futures and options on indexes and stocks will expire after the market close on the last Monday of the expiry month, according to an exchange circular late Tuesday. Weekly contracts on the benchmark NSE Nifty 50 Index - the only NSE weeklies remaining after recent curbs from the regulator - will mature on the Monday of the expiry week.
/jlne.ws/4bqgISo
BlackRock's (BLK) Bitcoin ETF Sees Biggest Trading Volume in Three Months
Markets Insider
Trading volume in BlackRock's (BLK) leading spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) has reached its highest level since the U.S. presidential election last November.
The heavy trading volume in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) comes as cryptocurrency markets remain volatile. In the past week, the price of BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has declined alongside the price of BTC. The iShares Bitcoin Trust is the largest and most popular of about a dozen spot BTC ETFs in America.
/jlne.ws/3QK2VwA
Norway's oil fund to allocate billions to long-short equity hedge funds; Norges Bank Investment Management to give $250mn mandates to external managers
Mary McDougall, Calum Kapoor and Costas Mourselas - Financial Times
Norway's $1.8tn sovereign wealth fund has made its first investment with an external hedge fund betting on rising and falling stock prices, and plans to allocate billions of dollars more to this strategy as it tries to boost returns. Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the giant oil and gas fund and is headed by former hedge fund boss Nicolai Tangen, told the Financial Times it had invested in a long-short strategy in January and was looking to give mandates of about $250mn to other such managers.
/jlne.ws/4h9HeAV
Hershey says ICE cocoa futures market is disconnected from reality
Reuters
Chocolate maker Hershey Co said ICE New York cocoa futures market is disconnected from the reality of the global physical market due to the exchange's actions that led to lack of liquidity and increased volatility. Hershey's Vice President for Procurement Tricia Brannigan told Reuters on Tuesday that high margin calls on ICE's cocoa futures market drove commercial players away, reducing open interest and causing sharp price swings. She asked ICE to investigate speculators' activities for any disruptive behavior.
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EU think-tank looks to ETFs to boost European defence companies; There has been a surge in interest in weapons makers, but current ETFs offer only global exposure
Emma Boyde - Financial Times
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| | | | | | Exchanges | | | CME Group Reports Record Monthly ADV of 33.1 Million Contracts in February, with Growth Across All Asset Classes
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today reported its February 2025 market statistics set a new monthly average daily volume (ADV) record of 33.1 million contracts, an increase of 12% year-over-year. In addition, its deeply liquid interest rate complex reached a monthly ADV record of 19.2 million contracts, driven by record monthly U.S. Treasury futures and options ADV of 13 million contracts and a 15% increase in SOFR futures volume. Market statistics are available in greater detail at https://cmegroupinc.gcs-web.com/monthly-volume.
/jlne.ws/3XrStOd
February 2025 figures at Eurex
Eurex
Eurex, Europe's leading derivatives exchange and - along with Eurex Clearing - one of the leading central counterparties globally, reported a 12 percent increase in total trading volume for February, reaching 173.0 million contracts compared to 154.6 million contracts in the same month last year. This growth was mainly fueled by a 25 percent rise in equity derivatives, which surged from 19.9 million to 24.9 million contracts. Interest rate derivatives experienced a 14 percent increase, climbing to 88.3 million contracts. Additionally, index derivatives rose by 3 percent, from 57.1 million to 58.8 million contracts.
/jlne.ws/3Dmf9bD
Intercontinental Exchange Reports February 2025 Statistics
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today reported February 2025 trading volume and related revenue statistics, which can be viewed on the company's investor relations website at https://ir.theice.com/ir-resources/supplemental-information in the Monthly Statistics Tracking spreadsheet.
/jlne.ws/43okJVB
New Product Summary: Initial Listing of the Soybean Oilshare Futures and Options on Soybean Oilshare Futures Contracts - Effective March 31, 2025
CME Group
Initial Listing of the Soybean Oilshare Futures and Options on Soybean Oilshare Futures Contracts.
/jlne.ws/3DhUPrS
New Product Summary: Initial Listing of the Southern Yellow Pine (Fastmarkets) Futures and Options on Southern Yellow Pine (Fastmarkets) Futures Contracts- Effective March 31, 2025
CME Group
Initial Listing of the Southern Yellow Pine (Fastmarkets) Futures and Options on Southern Yellow Pine (Fastmarkets) Futures Contracts.
/jlne.ws/41o7Wji
New CDR Options Classes
TMX
Bourse de Montreal Inc. (the Bourse) and Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC) hereby inform you that at the opening of trading on Monday March 3, 2025, the following new CDR options classes are listed:
/jlne.ws/41HbiPG
| | | | | | Regulation & Enforcement | | | Private Markets Fail to Police Conflicts of Interest, UK Finds
Laura Noonan - Bloomberg
Valuations in the rapidly-growing private markets arena can suffer from unmitigated conflicts of interest, poor record-keeping and smoothing of volatility, the UK's top financial regulator warned. Valuation committee minutes' failed to record how decisions are reached on multiple occasions, the Financial Conduct Authority's probe found, and "vague" rationales were recorded for key changes to appraisal models, such as the discount rate. A failure to adequately identify and manage conflicts of interest was a recurring theme across the report on practices at the 36 unnamed private equity, venture capital, private credit and infrastructure managers and advisers.
/jlne.ws/4i14ceE
Commissioner Hester Peirce Announces Crypto Task Force Staff
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the members of the Crypto Task Force staff, which is advising the Commission on matters related to crypto. The task force is composed of staff from the Acting Chairman's office and other divisions and offices across the Commission. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said, "The Crypto Task Force exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to identifying-with the help of other talented staff across the Commission and interested members of the public-workable solutions to difficult crypto regulatory problems."
/jlne.ws/4h7QSnD
| | | | | | Moves | | | Trading Technologies Promotes Justin Llewellyn-Jones to CEO, Keith Todd to Deputy Chairman
Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets platform services provider, today announced the promotion of Justin Llewellyn-Jones to CEO, effective March 31. After three decades of experience in fintech and financial services, Llewellyn-Jones joined Trading Technologies as Chief Operating Officer in January 2024. Current CEO Keith Todd will remain on the Board of Directors and be appointed Deputy Chairman.
/jlne.ws/4ihJqaE
Kevin Street has been promoted to lead associate principal at OCC, he shared on LinkedIn.
Katy Pritchard has been promoted to vice president of marketing at Eventus, she shared on LinkedIn.
Sean Ristau is starting a new position as head of channel partnerships at InvestiFi, he shared on LinkedIn.
Laura Diorio is starting a new position as head of NYSE Social at ICE, she shared on LinkedIn.
Andrew Castello has been promoted to senior vice president, head of client operations at FIA Tech, he shared on LinkedIn.
Maggie Sklar is back in Washington, DC as principal and CEO at Sklar Strategies LLC, she shared on LinkedIn. She is advising and helping financial market and banking clients. ~JJL
| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | Can hedge funds prosper without their star trader founders? Two of the biggest names in global macro trading, Alan Howard and Chris Rokos, embody differing approaches to legacy
Costas Mourselas and Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
In late 2019, hedge fund trader Chris Rokos convened his top portfolio managers at the firm's Mayfair offices. Performance at his four-year-old hedge fund Rokos Capital Management had been poor, and it was time for the firm's mercurial founder to take matters into his own hands. Rokos told his assembled lieutenants that all key investment decisions would now go through him and they would no longer be able to manage their own money. RCM saw this as a necessary strategic shift to better encourage collaboration, but several of those portfolio managers departed in the months following.
/jlne.ws/41tCujC
There Was a Texas Lottery Arbitrage
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
I assume it is rarely a positive-expected-value play to buy every possible lottery ticket, but not never.
/jlne.ws/4in27cP
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