| | | | | | | April 03, 2025 | | | | | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | I ran across the archives of the John Lothian Newsletter on the WayBackMachine from when they were kept on the PriceGroupETD.com website. The archives began on July 5, 2001 about 11 months after the newsletter started in August of 2000. It is amazing to look at how modestly the newsletter and archives started out compared to the advanced state of John Lothian News and all its offerings today.
Looking at the headlines from the John Lothian Newsletter between July and September 2001 provide a fascinating snapshot of the financial industry's transition during a pivotal era. At this time, exchanges were grappling with the shift to electronic trading, regulatory changes, and the globalization of markets. Headlines like "CME GLOBEX2 Record Volume Surpasses 500,000 Mark" and "LIFFE trades record ÃGBP45 trillion worth of contracts in first half 2001" highlight the growing adoption of electronic platforms and the increasing scale of trading activity. This was a period when exchanges like CME, LIFFE, and Eurex were breaking volume records as they embraced technology to expand their reach and efficiency. Today, electronic trading dominates nearly all markets globally, with high-frequency trading algorithms executing millions of transactions in milliseconds-a stark contrast to the early 2000s when such advancements were still in their infancy.
The regulatory landscape was also undergoing significant changes during this period. Headlines such as "CFTC and SEC Propose Joint Rules Relating to Trading of Security Futures Products" and "New day trading rules take effect at NYSE" reflected the industry's efforts to adapt to the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 and other regulatory shifts. These developments laid the groundwork for modern derivatives markets and introduced new products like single-stock futures. Fast forward to today, when regulatory frameworks have become even more complex, addressing challenges posed by algorithmic trading, digital assets, and global interconnectedness.
Another striking theme from these headlines is the consolidation and collaboration among major exchanges. For example, "CBOE, CME, CBOT Name William Rainer to Head Joint Venture on Single-Stock Futures" demonstrates how competitors were beginning to work together on new initiatives. This trend has only intensified over the years, with mergers like ICE's acquisition of NYSE and NYBOT and CME's consolidation of various markets reshaping the industry into a handful of global powerhouses.
Finally, the technological advancements hinted at in these headlines have transformed not only how markets operate but also who participates in them. The mention of "Investors Need Warning on Online Trading Risks-GAO" underscores the nascent concerns about retail investors entering markets through online platforms-a phenomenon that has exploded with today's mobile apps like Robinhood. The financial industry has evolved dramatically since 2001, driven by technology, regulation, and globalization, making these headlines a time capsule of an industry on the brink of transformation.
Today, despite significant advances in trading that have made our markets more globally accessible, fair, and transparent, we increasingly find ourselves navigating volatile, opaque, and unpredictable environments shaped predominantly by arbitrary tariff policies. Economic stability has given way to uncertainty, and genuine market forces are disrupted by political interventions. Such distortions undermine effective price discovery, weakening the market's ability to allocate resources efficiently and accurately signal supply-and-demand dynamics, ultimately diminishing overall economic welfare. ~JJL
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | 'I'm never going to buy options again': Retail traders online are despairing over the impact of Trump's tariffs
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
Everyday investors took to social media on Thursday to commiserate over the impact of the president's latest tariffs, which tanked stocks on Thursday.
By 11:00 a.m. ET, the rout had deepened, with the S&P 500 down more than 4%, the Dow falling over 1,500 points, and the Nasdaq 100 falling over 5%. Bond yields also sank as investors flocked towards safe-haven assets, with the 10-year US Treasury yield declining as much as 18 basis points to its lowest level since October.
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Short-Selling Hedge Funds Deserve a Level Playing Field; Regulators should use carefully the discretion they have in how they police public companies and the hedge funds that bet against them.
Chris Hughes - Bloomberg
Life has never been easy for short sellers in Europe. Post Brexit, the contrast with the UK is becoming more pronounced. And it's the more lenient British approach that should prevail. European companies have proved a difficult hunting ground. For starters, a hedge fund launching a public attack on a firm risks becoming a target itself for regulatory scrutiny. Wirecard AG is the textbook example, given that Germany authorities initially sided with the fraudulent firm against its critics before it imploded in 2020. But it's not the only one. The French watchdog went after Muddy Waters LLC over its research on grocer Casino Guichard Perrachon SA, eventually letting the short seller off after a long fight.
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India's Fear Index Signals Calm Before Possible Storm As Traders Assess Tariff Impact
Savio Shetty - Bloomberg
Good morning, this is Savio Shetty, an equities reporter in Mumbai. Traders face a sea of red across Asian equities this morning following US President Donald Trump's announcement of a minimum 10% tariff on all US imports and additional duties for major trading partners. Investors are assessing the impact of the tariffs, which include a 26% levy on India, slightly higher than rates imposed on the EU, Japan, and South Korea. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical shares may attract attention, having won a reprieve for now.
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Depositary Receipts: A Critical Direct Bridge Between Crypto and TradFi
Ankit Meht - CoinDesk
Digital assets have grown into a multi-trillion-dollar market, yet they remain largely disconnected from traditional finance. Institutional investors increasingly want to own and monetize digital assets, but most banks, broker-dealers and asset managers operate on infrastructure designed for stocks and bonds - not blockchain-based assets. While spot crypto ETFs are an important step toward integration, they only enable passive exposure to the asset class. For digital assets to fully mature, they need a mechanism that bridges them with the entirety of the existing capital markets infrastructure in a familiar, regulated way.
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Corporates Focus on FX Risk Management Amid Growing Geopolitical Uncertainty
Press Release via Traders Magazine
London, 2 April 2025 - A new report from FX-as-a-Service provider, MillTechFX, has revealed that over four-fifths (81%) of corporates hedge their foreign exchange (FX), increasing protection from increased currency volatility, driven by growing geopolitical uncertainty. The MillTechFX Global FX Report 2025 analyses the findings from surveys of 750 finance leaders at corporates across Europe, the UK and North America, revealing their FX strategies, the impact of domestic currencies, geopolitical influences, operational challenges and more.
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Why One of the Market's Favorite Dividend ETFs Just Got a Lot Riskier
Ian Salisbury - Barron's
One of the market's biggest dividend ETFs just dramatically increased its bet on energy stocks. For investors looking to play defense amid a rocky stock market, that could be a danger sign.
The index fund Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF is a hit with investors. With nearly $70 billion in assets, it is the second-largest fund of its type. In the past few weeks, investors have funneled more than a net $2 billion into the fund, according to FactSet. That probably represents a search for havens as uncertainty rocks the stock market.
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| | | | | | Exchanges | | | CME Starts Smaller, Longer Futures Contracts Targeting Retail Investors
Katherine Doherty and Bernard Goyder - Bloomberg
The contracts will be available for two digital currencies, Bitcoin and Ether, as well as four equity indexes: the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, CME said in a statement Wednesday. It will offer futures positions in spot-market terms, meaning the price that is quoted on the screen or trading application. The new offering, which is subject to regulatory review, is part of a larger push by the derivatives exchange to reach more retail traders. Earlier this year, Chicago-based CME rolled out futures products on Robinhood Markets Inc.'s app, seeking to expand beyond institutional investors. It also launched new "micro" contracts for farm commodities that trade in finer increments and are cash-settled instead of physically delivered, Bloomberg reported in February.
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Cboe Data Vantage: Enhancing Market Access and Connectivity in 2025
Adam Inzirillo - Cboe
This year has gotten off to a busy start for Cboe Data VantageSM. I started the new year with a trip to China, where Cboe will now be able to sell market data. This was an incredibly exciting development for us as we have been continuously working to enhance U.S. market access in the Asia Pacific region in response to customer demand.
Similarly, the demand for more access to U.S. equities markets - potentially on a 24-hours, five-days-a-week (24x5) basis - has never been stronger. And we recently shared that Cboe is prepared to deliver around-the-clock trading, as soon as the necessary regulatory approvals and industry developments are in place. Cboe currently offers Global Trading Hours for several proprietary products, making us well positioned to expand trading in other asset classes. In the meantime, Cboe Data Vantage's robust U.S. equities market data offerings enable participants around the world to gain insight into the current market environment.
/jlne.ws/41UMiES
Early Birds and Night Owls: How Extended Trading Hours are Reshaping U.S. Equities Markets
Cboe
As access expands and global markets have become increasingly interconnected, U.S. exchanges have responded to domestic and international demand by offering extended trading hours. Cboe introduced early hours trading on its EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGXÃ ) from 4 a.m. - 7 a.m. ET in March 2021, and EDGX is now the second largest early hours trading exchange.
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Miami International Holdings Receives 2025 TabbFORUM NOVA Award
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, today announced that it was selected as a 2025 TabbFORUM NOVA Award honoree. The awards highlight the financial industry's ongoing commitment to technology-driven innovation by recognizing organizations for their outstanding recent and sustained achievements. MIH was previously selected as an honoree in 2023.
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Intercontinental Exchange Reports March and First Quarter 2025 Statistics
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today reported March 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. "Twenty-five years ago, ICE began building a derivatives platform to serve customers' evolving risk management needs, and today, we are the home to benchmarks such as Brent, TTF and Euribor, used by customers across the world to address their hedging needs," said Ben Jackson, President of ICE. "The support from our customers has created the depth of liquidity that our markets offer, and we thank them for making the first quarter of 2025 the highest traded volume quarter in ICE's history."
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CME Crypto Derivatives Average Volume Hit Record $11.3B in Q1
Francisco Rodrigues - CoinDesk
CME Group (CME) saw record activity in its cryptocurrency derivatives markets during the first quarter of the year, driven by increased interest in micro-sized contracts. The company reported average daily volume of 198,000 contracts for crypto products, representing $11.3 billion in notional value. It pointed to record highs across its micro ether futures, with 76,000 contracts being traded, as well as its BTC and ETH futures contracts with a volume of 18,000 and 13,000 contracts, respectively.
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UBS and SIX List First SARON-Based ETF
SIX
On April 2, UBS Asset Management is introducing the first-ever exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the Swiss Average Rate Overnight (SARON) with SIX. The ETF will be listed and traded on SIX Swiss Exchange with SIX also calculating the relevant rates, specifically SARON and the "SARON index" which compounds the daily interest rates.
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SGX Securities welcomes the listing of Amova MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ex China Index ETF
SGX
SGX Securities today welcomed the listing of Amova MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ex China Index ETF. It is the first ETF globally that tracks the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan ex China Index, offering investors a more targeted opportunity to capture Asia's growth story. Managed by Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM), the ETF provides targeted exposure to large and mid-cap companies across some of the most dynamic and rapidly developing markets in Asia. It captures growth opportunities in economies such as India, the world's fastest-growing major economy; South Korea and Taiwan, which are at the forefront of AI and technology trends; and the ASEAN region, offering diverse potential driven by industrialisation, rising consumer demand and global supply chain shifts. The ETF reflects the increasing investor interest in accessing key growth engines across Asia, highlighting the region's economic dynamism.
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| | | | | | Regulation & Enforcement | | | Galaxy Secures UK Approval for License to Expand Derivatives Trading
Camomile Shumba - CoinDesk
Galaxy Digital UK, the subsidiary of Mike Novogratz-led digital asset financial services firm's application for a license to execute derivatives trading in the U.K. has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The firm's Investment Banking arm will also use Galaxy Digital UK's FCA authorization to provide capital raising and investment banking services, according to a statement on Wednesday. The Galaxy U.K. subsidiary will also support its asset management business with fund distribution activities.
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Why an SEC Filing Is Causing DJT Stock to Fall
Paul R. La Monica and Mackenzie Tatananni - Barron's
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group dropped Wednesday after the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow a trust headed by President Donald Trump to eventually sell around $2.15 billion in stock, but noted there are no current plans to do so.
Shares of the Truth Social owner fell 7.4%, to $18.76, even as the broader market rallied. The stock was down as much as 9% earlier in the day.
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| | | | | | Strategy | | | The 'VIX' is on the verge of signaling a bear market for U.S. stocks, says DataTrek
Jamie Chisholm - MarketWatch
The Cboe Volatility Index, known commonly as Wall Street's fear gauge, was jumping early Thursday, as investor angst over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war pushed stock-index futures sharply lower.
But it's not so much the fresh lurch higher for the "VIX" that is a concern for Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. Such spikes often signal buying opportunities for stocks, he observed.
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Opinion: The stock market is giving investors a sign - and it's bearish; The S&P 500 closing below 5,500 could trigger more selling and lead to a bear market
Lawrence G. McMillan - MarketWatch
The S&P 500 index is falling hard on the first trading day after the Trump administration announced new and tough tariffs on imports to the U.S.
S&P 500 technical indicators currently show overhead resistance near 5,800. Conversely, there have been multiple successful tests of support at the 5,500 level. I wouldn't exactly say that 5,500-5,800 area is a trading range, but any clear breakout would see further movement in the direction of that breakout.
A clear breakout would be, at a minimum, a close outside of that range. Two trading days would add more credence, although false breakouts have been a hallmark of this market for several months now.
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| | | | | | Education | | | Wide World of Options: Jumping Into the Deep End With Volatility
OIC's Wide World of Options - The Options Insider (Video)
Apart from volatility metrics, investors might also look to the mechanics of implied volatility to help decipher option values. Join show host Mark Benzaquen as he welcomes back Dan Passarelli of Market Taker Mentoring to discuss volatility concepts including standard deviation, tail risk, and the Rule of 16.
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| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | Wall Street Facing Toughest Test in Years; U.S. stocks fall sharply as investors wrestle with Trump's sweeping tariff plans
Gunjan Banerji - The Wall Street Journal
Stocks, oil and the dollar tumbled on Thursday as Wall Street opened for its most eventful day in years, after the aggressive U.S. tariff plan rattled the outlook for global growth, corporate profits and the flow of funds around the globe.
Money managers and financial advisers were racing to reassure clients following overnight declines in overseas stocks and U.S. futures of as much as 6%. Analysts were scrutinizing trading in gold, which surged recently to a record before slipping, as well as Treasurys, whose yields fell to their lowest level this year, a sign of deep concern about the health of the world economy.
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| | | | 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
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| | | Jeff Bergstrom
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