| | | | | | | April 10, 2025 | | | |  | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
|
| | | | Observations & Insight | | | I will be attending the 43rd annual Options Industry Conference, May 6-8, 2025 at PGA National Resort, Palm Beach Gardens, FL and we will be shooting video interviews for the JLN Industry Leader series, sponsored by OCC. If you are interested in an interview, please reach out to me at [email protected]
Also, Patrick Lothian, our head of videography, will be there as our videographer replacing Robby Lothian, who has shot our recent U.S. events. Patrick is also the artistic brains behind John Lothian Productions, so if you have a video production project you are interested in, it would be a good chance to talk to him directly. He also has his own production company helping smaller firms with their websites and marketing, so you are welcome to talk to him about that if you need help there. ~JJL
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Investors Are Ramping Up Option Bets for Weaker Asian Currencies
Marcus Wong - Blooomberg
President Donald Trump's US tariff whiplash and the Chinese yuan's trajectory will likely keep Asian currency volatility elevated.
Currency volatility across the region has jumped ever since the larger-than-expected new US tariffs were announced last week, while foreign currency options signal increased bearishness. Concerns over economic growth have also driven more aggressive bets that regional central banks will cut interest rates. Uncertainty could remain high, even as Trump paused higher tariffs on most economies except China on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/44lS1Fb
Behind Stocks' Big Bounce: Sudden Short Covering, Low Liquidity
Michael Msika - Bloomberg
The spectacular stock market rebound came with a lack of any real conviction as a look beneath the surface reveals aggressive short covering and very low liquidity despite massive trading volumes. Traders rushed to cover short positions they accumulated amid the market downturn after President Donald Trump's tariff reprieve on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top-of-book liquidity - how much notional you can trade at the price shown on the screens - on S&P 500 futures was sitting at an all-time low according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s prime desk, exacerbating the market moves. The S&P 500 surged 9.5% - its best day since October 2008. Contracts on the benchmark fell 2.1% at 5 a.m. in New York.
/jlne.ws/4lkimJT
Volatility ETFs halted as VIX sees biggest drop on record after Trump's tariff pause; Wednesday was another wild day on Wall Street
Joseph Adinolfi - MarketWatch
This almost sounds like it could be the setup for an extremely niche markets joke.
Several exchange-traded products that track swings in a popular Wall Street volatility gauge were themselves halted for volatility on Wednesday afternoon after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on some tariffs.
/jlne.ws/3Yi7N0j
Index Insights: March
Cboe
Continued weakness for U.S. equities and higher volatility was the theme for March, as concerns about a slowing economy became more prominent.
In contrast to European equities, which retained most of their Year to Date (YTD) gains in March, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) finished the month down 5.75% and down 4.6% YTD, while the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) was down nearly 7% for the month and nearly 10% YTD. Consistent with general weakness for equities, both implied and realized volatility increased, with the Cboe Volatility Index (the VIX Index) closing the month up 2.65 to 22.28 after briefly approaching 30 on March 10, when the broad market sold off nearly 3%. Correlation increased from historic lows as the selloff was generally widespread, with the Cboe 1-Month Implied Correlation Index (COR1M) up more than 17% to 24.33, while dispersion was little changed. Cryptocurrency also declined in March with the Cboe Bitcoin ETF Index (CBTX) down just over 2%.
/jlne.ws/4lwDYTI
Markets boomerang as 'Trump Blink' redefines volatility
Amanda Cooper and Samuel Indyk - Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump's U-turn on tariffs has rained yet more volatility on markets, leaving investors skidding from stocks to safe-havens and back, and while previous crises have seen bigger moves, few have been this fast.
Trump said on Wednesday he would temporarily lower the hefty duties imposed on dozens of countries while ramping up pressure on China, igniting one of the most intense turnarounds for markets since the 2020 COVID crisis.
/jlne.ws/43Jb5x1
Hedge Fund Veteran Set to Lead Trump's Sanctions Strategy
Ben Bartenstein and Daniel Flatley - Bloomberg
A low-profile hedge fund executive who's among the dozens of disciples tracing their roots to the late investing legend Julian Robertson is poised to become the face of the Trump administration's sanctions strategy. If confirmed after his Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, John Hurley will lead the Treasury Department's terrorism and financial intelligence arm, a pivotal post that tackles everything from terrorist financing to money laundering and drug cartels.
/jlne.ws/3E49cRb
| | | | | | Exchanges | | | CME Group International Average Daily Volume Hits Record 8.8 Million Contracts in Q1 2025, Up 19% Year over Year
CME Group
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that its quarterly international average daily volume (ADV) reached a record 8.8 million contracts in Q1 2025, up 19% year on year. Reflecting all trading reported outside the United States, this quarterly record was driven by growth across all asset classes, as well as record quarterly ADV in EMEA, APAC and Canada. Quarterly international records were achieved in Energy, Agricultural and Foreign Exchange products up 29%, 29% and 14% respectively.
/jlne.ws/4jpZqHN
Nasdaq Announces End-of-Month Open Short Interest Positions in Nasdaq Stocks as of Nasdaq
At the end of the settlement date of March 31, 2025, short interest in 3,140 Nasdaq Global MarketSM securities totaled 13,072,444,217 shares compared with 13,066,514,117 shares in 3,124 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of March 14, 2025. The mid-March short interest represents 2.64 days compared with 2.14 days for the prior reporting period. Short interest in 1,625 securities on The Nasdaq Capital MarketSM totaled 2,682,510,166 shares at the end of the settlement date of March 31, 2025, compared with 2,598,104,131 shares in 1,634 securities for the previous reporting period. This represents a 1.12 day average daily volume; the previous reporting period's figure was 1.17.
/jlne.ws/425a01k
| | | | | | Regulation & Enforcement | | | SEC Approves Ethereum ETFs for Options Trading on Nasdaq and NYSE
TheCryptoBasic
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially approved options trading for spot Ethereum ETFs from multiple asset managers.
This move opens up additional financial avenues for investors looking to engage with Ethereum-related assets, broadening opportunities within the digital asset market. Nasdaq ISE, LLC and NYSE American LLC are now authorized to facilitate these new trading options.
/jlne.ws/3FYx3SH
Ex-Janus Henderson Analyst Denies WFH Insider Trading at Trial
Upmanyu Trivedi - Bloomberg
An ex-Janus Henderson Group Plc analyst denied having anything to do with the bets that made ÃGBP1 million in profits at the heart of allegations that he ran an insider trading ring during Covid-19 lockdowns. Redinel Korfuzi is on trial for conspiracy to insider trade and handle criminal property along with his sister, Oerta Korfuzi and his personal trainer. He is alleged to have orchestrated the trades from a flat in Marylebone, central London, and used the other defendants' accounts to place short bets on listed companies that were preparing to issue new shares.
/jlne.ws/4j4iCLF
| | | | | | Technology | | | Bloomberg Launches ETF Strategy Optimizer
Press Release via Traders Magazine
Bloomberg today announced the launch of Strategy Optimizer, a tool that increases the efficiency of the ETF trading workflow, and helps reduce overall cost of execution. The new offering is accessible through RFQe, Bloomberg's ETF Request for Quote service, which is part of Bloomberg Electronic Trading, is also seamlessly integrated with EMSX, a leading equities focused solution within Bloomberg's multi-asset buy-side execution management system (EMS).
/jlne.ws/4j7ecnj
BlackRock Adds a New Digital Asset Custodian
Mallika Mitra - etf.com
BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world's largest asset manager, has tapped Anchorage Digital as a digital asset custodian for the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) to meet growing crypto demand from retail and institutional clients. Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) was previously the only crypto custodian for BlackRock's Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds.
/jlne.ws/42E0dPS
| | | | | | Moves | | | OCC Congratulates Paul Atkins on Confirmation as SEC Chairman
OCC
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today congratulated Paul Atkins on his Senate confirmation as Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"On behalf of our Board of Directors, we congratulate Paul Atkins on his confirmation as SEC Chairman," said Craig Donohue, Chairman of OCC's Board of Directors. "He brings extensive knowledge and experience in financial regulation and market infrastructure with a principled approach to oversight. Market participants will benefit from having him return to the SEC as chairman."
/jlne.ws/3RL3hDy
| | | | | | Strategy | | | How to 'Recession-Proof' Your Portfolio During Trump Tariffs, According to Experts
Denise Wee, Filipe Pacheco, and Advait Palepu - Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump's hail of tariffs - and then abrupt 90-day pause for many countries except China - has unleashed market mayhem. Investors are hunkering down for what could be a bout of prolonged volatility. Where should you go to keep your money safe?
While stocks in the US and beyond are on track to recover from the more than $10 trillion wipeout in the past week, some market watchers caution that we're not out of the woods yet. Trump's 10% levies on most countries still stand and countries are working out whether to come to the negotiation table.
/jlne.ws/3XUhe5T
| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | The Investors Who Prop Up America Won't Soon Forget This
Rebecca Patterson - The New York Times
Growing up in Florida, I lived through some bad hurricanes. The worst of them altered the shape of the land, destroyed islands and left channels that hadn't existed before. That's what the past several weeks have felt like in my work as an economist and investor. Since President Trump took office in January, we saw a building storm that hit landfall last week on "Liberation Day." Shockingly large and broad tariffs fueled investor concerns about economic growth, drove extreme market volatility and triggered a "dash for cash" that caused selling even in traditionally safe assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds and gold.
/jlne.ws/3YtPlBJ
The stock market memes are in full swing after Trump's tariff whiplash
Filip De Mott - MarketWatch
Retail investors online are in shock over the market's abrupt U-turn that catapulted US stocks to their best day in years on Wednesday.
But they're not at a loss for words - or memes.
"The entire stock market is now a meme stock," one Reddit user said, commenting on an r/stocks post regarding Wednesday's surge.
/jlne.ws/3Rdgsx6
| | | | |  | | | | JLN Options is sponsored by: | | | | | |  |  |  |  |  | | | | | |  |  | | |
|
|
| | | |
| | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
Publisher | | | Sarah Rudolph
Editor-in-Chief
| | | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
| | |
|
|
| |
Disclaimer: All John Lothian Newsletters, JohnLothianNews.com, MarketsWiki.com and MarketsReformWiki.com are products of John Lothian News, a division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. The opinions expressed in all John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. publications are strictly those of their respective editors. They are intended solely for informative purposes and are not to be construed, under any circumstances, by implication or otherwise, as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or trade in any commodities or securities herein named. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is in no way guaranteed. No guarantee of any kind is implied or possible where projections of future conditions are attempted. Security futures are not suitable for all customers. Futures and options trading involve risk. Past results are no indication of future performance. Nothing on any John J. Lothian & Company site should be considered an endorsement by any sponsor of any website or newsletter content.
© 2025 John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
