Courtesy of Daniela Pylypczak Back in March of 2010, the SEC began a review of the use of derivatives by ETFs, specifically actively-managed and leveraged funds. Norm Champ, Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, stated that “The use and complexity of derivatives have grown significantly over…Read More
Extracts courtesy of a special year-end story from Terry Flanagan at MarketsMedia The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index stood at 1,380 in mid-November, down about 5% from 1,450 five years earlier. To a visitor from Mars, the similarity of the numbers could suggest that it was a quiet period…Read More
December 3, New York, NY—WallachBeth Capital LLC (“WB”), the institutional agency broker specializing in options and Exchange-Traded-Fund (ETFs), announced the hiring of Matt Gohd, the trading market strategist whose contrarian market calls have been widely-followed for two decades by leading hedge fund managers and industry observers. Mr. Gohd, a…Read More
Courtesy of Andy Nybo, TABB Forum The recent approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow the listing of “mini” options provides the options industry with a wealth of potential opportunities. The potential success of mini options, however, will be a double-edged sword. The costs to build out…Read More
Courtesy of John Carney/CNBC MarketsMuse Editor Note: article below was published Tuesday Nov 13 at 6pm, in advance of $FB lock-up expiration. Eight hundred million shares of Facebookare set to “flood” the market Wednesday, as the company’s biggest post-IPO lockup expires. This has many investors fearful that stock sales from…Read More
VelocityShares is pleased to present the October 2012 Volatility Report, providing insights into the volatility landscape. Highlights from this report include: Year-to-Date Performance for the VIX Index is -21%. Year-to-Date Performance for the S&P VIX Futures Indices: Short-Term: -74% (SPVXSP) Mid-Term: -47% (SPVXMP) Tail Risk: -20% (SPVXTRSP) VIX spot increased…Read More
Courtesy of WSJ Reporter Scott Patterson WASHINGTON—Swaps trading is one the last bastions of Wall Street where brokers arrange deals over the phone. That clubby way of doing business could go the way of the rest of Wall Street, where trading takes place on computers, under a roughly 500-page…Read More
Courtesy of Christine Williamson About three-quarters of executives from a mixed universe of institutional investors think a significant tail-risk event is likely to very likely within the next 12 months, according to a new survey from State Street Global Advisors. Survey respondents — money managers, family offices, consultants and private…Read More
Courtesy of Peter Chapman With options volume down this year, industry professionals are looking beyond traditional players such as retail investors and hedge funds for growth. "We are strongly focused on the institutional space," Alan Grigoletto, director of education at the Options Industry Council, said at this year's joint…Read More
For those institutional fund managers, hedge fund traders and anyone else that's tired of watching the volatility shrink, the Futures Industry Association is joining with the Options Industry Council to host a special conference this week (Sept 12 & 13th) at the New York Marriott Marquis. However dry these programs…Read More
Citi has added intelligent options algorithms for U.S. equity options to its suite of advanced electronic trading strategies. The algorithms are intended to provide traders with speed, liquidity and the desired degree of exposure, using Citi’s proprietary smart routing logic, which provides liquidity and price improvement while avoiding information…Read More
Courtesy of Phil Gocke, Options Industry Council Since the 2008-09 financial crisis and the central bank’s response of near zero interest rates, financial markets have been vacillating violently between risk-on and risk-off periods. This bipolar attitude toward risk has increased asset class correlations, negating the effective benefit of many traditional…Read More
Courtesy of TABB Forum Options trading volumes may be down across the industry but the buy side continues to remain captivated by the potential of using options. TABB Group expects options volume to decline by as much as 10 percent in 2012, yet a combination of greater buy-side adoption and…Read More
Industry Pro Thomas Halikias contributed the following "Single Stock Futures...A New Dawn?" to Tabb Forum. Excerpted version is below, full article available by clicking on Tabb's logo.. In nearly every conversation about single stock futures – and they’re happening more frequently than ever these days – several typical misconceptions…Read More
Courtesy of Peter Chapman/TradersMagazine The launch of the Nasdaq OMX BX options exchange, at the end of June, marked not only the debut of the industry’s 10th exchange, but an expansion of the use of taker-maker pricing. In contrast to the conventional maker-taker pricing model whereby exchanges pay liquidity…Read More
The International Securities Exchange (ISE), the venue that bills itself as the first all-electronics options exchange in the United States will open a second by year’s end. The company has has filed a Form 1 application for a second exchange license with the Securities and Exchange Commission. No details about…Read More
Courtesy of Peter Chapman TRADERS Magazine interview with Nasdaq OMX EVP Eric Noll unveils a new tact in the ever-changing world of major exchange strategies to attract order flow. In this case, NasdaqBx is up-ending the current industry "make-take" fee model whereby exchanges pay rebates to market-makers who improve prevailing…Read More