| | | | | | | April 07, 2025 | | | |  | Jeff Bergstrom
Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| | | | Observations & Insight | | | Cboe Global Markets release its March and first quarter volume numbers, and in the first quarter of 2025, Cboe reported that it set multiple trading records, achieving an all-time high of 1.1 billion options contracts traded across its four options exchanges, with an average daily volume (ADV) of 18.2 million contracts. March alone saw a new monthly ADV record of 18.8 million contracts. Cboe's proprietary product suite also reached new milestones, including a quarterly overall proprietary index options ADV record of 4.8 million contracts and a monthly record of 5.3 million contracts. S&P 500 Index (SPX) options set fresh highs, with a quarterly ADV of 3.6 million, a monthly ADV of 3.9 million, and a single-day record of 4.8 million contracts on March 10. The Mini-SPX (XSP) options also posted a quarterly ADV record of 105,000 contracts. Internationally, Cboe Europe hit a record 16.2 billion Euros in average daily notional value during continuous trading, while Cboe BIDS Europe posted EUR836.0 million. In FX, Global FX recorded a spot full amount monthly ADV of $15.9 billion.
The WFE wants to reassure investors about well functioning markets. On Friday, Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the World Federation of Exchanges, issued this statement on the recent volatility in global stock markets: "Whilst it may be unsettling, volatility in global markets as a consequence of macroeconomic and geopolitical events is nothing new. Economic uncertainty and market volatility are regular phenomena. The publicly traded derivatives market exists to assist in derisking positions, helping to navigate through choppy waters. The last few days of market volatility serve as a reminder of the vital utility of derivatives and the importance of having deep, thriving, public markets which are regulated, lit, transparent environments." ~JJL
| | | | | | Lead Stories | | | Wall Street's 'fear gauge' soars to a rare 'crisis' level. What that means for stocks.; VIX closes above 40 are rare,' says Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research
Christine Idzelis - MarketWatch
It's rare to see Wall Street's so-called fear gauge end as high as it did on Friday - with closes above 40 historically signaling "a crisis that demands an immediate policy response," according to DataTrek Research.
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) was rising again on Monday morning after surging Friday amid tariff anxiety. "Friday was a true panic day," Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek, wrote in a note emailed Monday.
/jlne.ws/4i5Y0kG
Wall Street 'fear gauge' flashes red as stocks extend selloff
Saqib Iqbal Ahmed - Reuters
Wall Street's most watched gauge of investor anxiety jumped to a new eight-month high on Monday as U.S. stocks extended their selloff from last week on worries over the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy.
The Cboe Volatility Index - an options-based gauge of investor anxiety - jumped as much as 14.82 points to 60.13, its highest since August 5. The index, dubbed Wall Street's 'fear gauge,' was last up 4.52 points at 49.83, after registering its highest closing level in five years on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3FYMhY0
Bitcoin Stabilizes After Dropping to Lowest Level Since November
Suvashree Ghosh and Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
Cryptocurrencies recovered from an earlier plunge in a whipsaw day of trading triggered by President Donald Trump's onslaught of tariffs on US trading partners.
Bitcoin was little changed near the $79,000 level at 2:17 p.m. in New York after sinking as much as 5.6% to $74,425 early Monday, the lowest since the day after the 2024 election that returned the pro-crypto Trump to the White House and sparked a massive rally in digital assets that peaked on the day of his inauguration in January. Smaller tokens that saw even steeper declines early Monday also recovered, with XRP, Solana and Cardano all trading little changed.
/jlne.ws/3R7MWZu
Stocks Hit by Dizzying Swings as Bond Yields Surge: Markets Wrap
Rita Nazareth - Bloomberg
Waves of volatility shook markets anew, with stocks, bonds and commodities getting whipsawed by another deluge of headlines around President Donald Trump's trade war that only reinforced the clouds hanging over the outlook for investors.
Traders looking for equities to bottom after a selloff of trillions of dollars were faced with a series of twists and turns on Monday. While the S&P 500 moved away from the threshold of a bear market, its 7% intraday swing was the biggest since 2020 when Covid upended global trading. Treasuries weakened in a volatile session, with yields across all maturities higher by at least 10 basis points - a stark turnaround from the plunge earlier in the day.
/jlne.ws/43JVyNp
VIX Whipsaws While Futures Signal Volatility to Stay High
Bernard Goyder - Bloomberg
While Cboe Volatility Index was whipsawed along with the broader market Monday, the futures curve is signaling that volatility may remain elevated for months.
Contracts out through July are trading around 25 - well above the 10-year average of 19 for the spot index. It's a sharp change from a week ago, when the June future was hovering around 20.
/jlne.ws/4i1c0w9
US Stocks Swing Wildly With Tariff Headlines Sparking Volatility
Natalia Kniazhevich and Jess Menton - Bloomberg
US stocks swung violently, wiping out a 4% plunge to rise more than 3% before turning negative again as investors reacted to a swirl of headlines related to President Donald Trump's trade policies.
The S&P 500 Index sank 1.8% of 11:18 a.m. in New York. The intraday move of more than 7% was the biggest swing since the pandemic bear market of 2020. The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 1.4%, after the tech-heavy gauge entered a bear market on Friday. The small-cap focused Russell 2000 dropped 1.9%.
The latest move lower came as Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on China.
/jlne.ws/3FUUwEk
Trump's Tariff 'Chart of Death' Has Wall Street Facing Harsh Reality
Denitsa Tsekova, Isabelle Lee, and Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
The American investor class - that top 10% that owns almost all of the stocks - is quickly coming to terms with its new, much-diminished status in the era of Donald Trump's trade offensive. From the corporate executives counting their stock options to the billionaire hedge-fund moguls and everyone in between, they're merely collateral damage now. The market crash Trump stoked last week was one for the history books. The Nasdaq 100 plunged into a bear market; more than $5 trillion was wiped off the value of all US shares in two days; commodities collapsed and corporate-bond investors frantically bought insurance contracts that shield them from default. Early Monday trading in Asia brought no relief as stock futures sank again. Much of the pain, though, came immediately after Trump unveiled tariff rates of up to 50% on dozens of countries, a plan so aggressive few thought it possible.
/jlne.ws/41ZO8Ev
Hedge funds hit with steepest margin calls since 2020 Covid crisis; Banks ask clients to stump up additional money as global market sell-off knocks value of holdings
Costas Mourselas and Harriet Agnew and Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
Hedge funds have been hit with the biggest margin calls since Covid shut down huge parts of the global economy in 2020, after Donald Trump's tariffs triggered a rout in global financial markets. Wall Street banks have asked their hedge fund clients to stump up more money as security for their loans because the value of their holdings had tumbled, according to three people familiar with the matter. Several big banks have issued the largest margin calls to their clients since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.
/jlne.ws/4j2auv6
Thailand Temporarily Bans Short Selling to Calm Stock Market
Thomas Kutty Abraham - Bloomberg
Thailand will temporarily ban short selling of stocks and tighten other share trading rules to curb volatility as the fallout from the US's sweeping tariffs roil global markets. The ban on short selling of all securities, except for market makers, and a narrower band for stock movements will be effective from Tuesday and no longer than April 11, the Stock Exchange of Thailand said in a statement on Monday after its board held a special meeting. Financial markets in Thailand were closed on Monday for a local holiday.
/jlne.ws/3FZ4ch7
Hedge funds, ETFs dump over $40 billion in stocks after Trump tariff shock
Carolina Mandl and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed - Reuters
Global hedge funds and levered exchange-traded funds (ETFs) dumped more than $40 billion of stocks at a breakneck pace, growing increasingly bearish after President Donald Trump's shock announcement of harsher-than-expected global tariffs, according to bank notes to clients on Friday.
Since late on Wednesday, when Trump boosted tariff barriers to their highest level in more than a century, S&P 500 companies have lost over $4 trillion in stock market value.
/jlne.ws/4lDgYT5
| | | | | | Exchanges | | | Bringing Central Clearing to Securities Lending: Unlocking Efficiencies Across the Ecosystem
Vikesh Patel - Cboe
At Cboe Clear Europe, we've always been strong advocates for the transformative potential of central clearing. Beyond mitigating counterparty risk and improving post-trade workflows, the clearing model fosters trust, certainty and confidence across the financial system. Since the financial crisis, the promotion of clearing has been a central part of policy maker toolkits, to reduce counterparty risk and in doing so, laying the foundations for growth. By enabling firms to unlock capital efficiencies, it helps contribute to the broader development and expansion of capital markets activities.
Motivated by a commitment to innovation and belief in the positive impact of central clearing, we are always exploring ways to expand into new services and asset classes.
/jlne.ws/43KGi2O
Cboe Plans to Launch New Cboe FTSE Bitcoin Index Futures, Further Expanding its Bitcoin Derivatives Offerings
Morningstar
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), the world's leading derivatives and securities exchange network, today announced plans to introduce Cboe FTSE Bitcoin Index futures. Based on the FTSE Bitcoin Reduced Value (1/10th) (Ticker: XBTF) Index, the new futures are expected to begin trading on Cboe Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE) on April 28, 2025, subject to regulatory review. This launch marks the first product to be introduced under Cboe's latest collaboration with FTSE Russell, focused on driving product innovation in the digital assets markets.
/jlne.ws/42jarDZ
| | | | | | Strategy | | | The Stock Panic Selloff Shows It Isn't Time to Buy Just Yet
Paul R. La Monica - Barron's
The brutal market selloff from last week continued (for the most part) Monday morning as investors worry that President Donald Trump's tariffs and a global trade war will lead to a worldwide slowdown. This begs the question: How to tell when stocks finally hit bottom?
/jlne.ws/3YmWwLX
How Far Does the Market Have to Fall Before It's Time to Buy?; Quite a lot of bad news is now priced in. Brave investors can start to tiptoe back into the market-so long as they realize that stocks could easily fall much further.
James Mackintosh - The Wall Street Journal
Investors have the same question as the child in the back seat of the car: Are we there yet? After one of the worst stock plunges in history and with stocks on Monday taking the S&P 500 briefly into a bear market, down more than 20% from their February intraday high, is it time to buy?
/jlne.ws/4i2AQf6
| | | | | | Miscellaneous | | | Ken Griffin Pushed the Luxury Home Market to New Highs-For Better or Worse; The billionaire hedge-funder's presence in the market has driven prices higher than ever before
Katherine Clarke - The Wall Street Journal
In February, high-end Miami Beach real-estate agents buzzed that billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin had purchased the longtime Star Island home of Russian-born hospitality magnate Vladislav Doronin for $120 million, a record for Miami-Dade County. When the deal finally recorded March 6, however, the buyer was cited in the press as a limited liability company tied to a different longtime Chicagoan-healthcare-technology entrepreneur Michael Ferro.
/jlne.ws/3YoNSN1
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