The U.S. market for exchange-traded options took off during the past decade. The buy side is increasingly looking at options as instruments to hedge risk exposure and generate alpha, according to TABB Group's recent report on the state of the…Read More

New York, NY, Aug 7-- OMEX Systems LLC, the provider of broker-neutral DMA and OEMS technology for firms active in the equities, options and futures markets, announced that a customized version of the vendor’s OEMS platform has been implemented by Durango, CO-based Swan Wealth Advisors, the $850mil AUM risk management…Read More

  Excerpts courtesy of Simon Jessup, Reuters   MarketsMuse Editor Note: Yes, the headline and the article are both elementary observations for many; yet there remain many others (including investment managers) who misunderstand the meaning of VIX     Investors seeking to predict the magnitude of share price moves at…Read More

New York, NY, July 10--OMEX Systems, LLC (“OMEX”), the provider of broker-neutral DMA and OEMS trading systems for broker-dealers and buy-side investment firms active in stocks, options and futures announced the addition of 2 more trading technology veterans to the firm’s New York office, bringing the 5-year old company’s total…Read More

  By Belinda Cao - Jun 16 Options traders are paying the most in two months to protect against drops in the largest Chinese exchange-traded fund in the U.S. on concern a local money-market cash crunch will deepen a slump in Asia’s biggest economy. The cost of three-month puts on…Read More

Courtesy of Andy Nybo and TABB Forum A proposal to reform the taxation of financial instruments would dramatically change the tax treatment for options strategies, potentially decimating trading volumes by as much as 40%. And it is not the so-called ‘fat cats’ of Wall Street that will be impacted by…Read More

  Courtesy of Tom Lydon Yield generation has been a hot topic as investors look for alternative income sources in a low-rate environment. ALPS with Rich Investment Solutions recently launched an exchange traded fund that seeks to provide income through a sophisticated options strategy. The U.S. Equity High Volatility Put…Read More

   Courtesy of Nina Mehta/Bloomberg LP BOX Options Exchange, the third- smallest of 11 U.S. options venues, will be the first to begin trading larger-size contracts on the most-active U.S. equity derivatives product, according to a company executive. BOX will list and trade contracts based on 1,000 shares of the…Read More

  Courtesy of Peter Chapman MarketsMuse Editor Note: This is a late post; the original article was published Mar 21. Given the use of options as a means to enhance returns for pension funds has remained ridiculously under-explored by fiduciaries since listed options were introduced 4 decades ago, now that…Read More

Refreshing Market Commentary courtesy of Ron Quigley, Mgn.Dir./Head of U.S. Syndicate Desk & Primary Sales for Mischler Financial Group. With Washington in full-out gridlock, Americans should be turning to the best national news, namely corporate profits.  Corporations are driving the resurgence in equity markets posting overall fabulous earnings.  The flight…Read More

Courtesy of Max Chen ALPS Portfolio Solutions has launched a new exchange traded fund that provides investors with income through selling put options on the largest U.S. stocks with the highest volatility. The U.S. Equity High Volatility Put Write Index Fund (NYSEArca: HVPW) tries to reflect the performance of the…Read More

Courtesy of Jeff Sommer, New York Times THE economy may be lurching into another crisis, but you wouldn’t know it from the stock market, where an epic party is under way. Yet this effervescence belies some ominous developments in politics and the economy. After the State of the Union address…Read More

Courtesy of Brad Zigler. This article first appeared in the February 2013 issue of REP/WealthManagement.com. In 2013, the market for alternative investment exchange-traded products seems to revolve around one word. That word is “hedge.” Judging by their proportion of regulatory filings and launches last quarter, product sponsors are keen on…Read More

Courtesy of Cinthia Murphy and Olly Ludwig Credit Suisse on Tuesday launched its Credit Suisse Gold Shares Covered Call ETN (NasdaqGM: GLDI), a strategy that provides long exposure to physical gold coupled with an overlay of call options. The ETN, comes with an annual expense ratio of 0.65 percent, will…Read More

Courtesy of Peter Chapman, Traders Magazine CBOE Holdings, buoyed by the phenomenal success of options and futures contracts based on its Volatility Index, is ratcheting up its efforts to broaden their appeal. “The volatility business is only eight years old, but we see terrific growth,” Ed Tilly, CBOE’s president and…Read More

The Outlook for 2013 Uncertainty around the elections, low volatility and anemic volumes in the equity markets drove the first year-over-year decline in options trading volume since 2002. But bright spots such as weekly and mini options portend a stronger 2013. Despite the options market doldrums in 2012, TABB Group…Read More

AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of 17 actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced today that the AdvisorShares Peritus High Yield ETF (NYSE Arca: HYLD), the first high yield actively-managed ETF has met listing requirements of the Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®) and that HYLD options are now listed for trading on…Read More

Within the first several days since the  December 20 proposed merger announcement between NYSE Euronext and IntercontinentalExchange  (ICE), there has been no shortage of public responses, comments and of course, a lawsuit opposing the deal (filed last Friday by the New Jersey Carpenters Pension Fund). For those following this deal,…Read More