Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Welcome to the John Lothian News daily Update podcast for March 11, 2024. I am your host, John Lothian. This podcast is brought to you by John Lothian News the home of markets wiki and markets wiki Education. Thank you for joining us. Here are the hits and takes comments from today's Jln Fia. Boca 2024 is underway. It began with a welcome reception last night that was full of familiar faces. Thank you to Alan Barouche, founder of Sweet Options, Inc. And Risk Massics Financial Institute holdings, for inviting my wife Cheryl and me to dinner. We were next to an NFA dinner that included Leo Mohammed, who stopped by our table to say hello. There's a picture in today's newsletter of Leo and me. CQG announced the development of an artificial intelligence AI predictive model for traders in a press release coinciding with the FIA Boca conference. CQG claims this model has shown remarkable predictive accuracy in forecasting futures market movements after being rigorously trained and tested with live data. I will be interviewing CQG's President Ryan Moroni and senior vice President Pat Kenny tomorrow at the Boca conference for the JLN Industry Leader video series sponsored by Wed Bush, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. CFTC, in collaboration with the center for Risk Management, Education and Research at Kansas State University, is set to host the third agricultural Commodity Futures Conference, AGCON 2024. From April 11 to twelveth 2024, this conference will serve as a pivotal platform for industry professionals, researchers and policymakers to engage in discussions surrounding agricultural commodity futures. It will be held at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel in Overland Park, Kansas. Registration is now open. The agenda for AGCON 2024 includes speeches from US Senator Roger Marshall, Jeffrey R. Schmidt, president of the Federal Reserve bank of Kansas City, and Ambassador Doug McCallop, U. S. Chief agricultural negotiator. The event will feature opening remarks from CFTC Commissioner Rossam Benham and K state's dean of the College of Agriculture, Ernie Minton, along with a commissioner's chat with CFTC commissioners Kristen Johnson, Christy Goldsmith Romero, summer Mercinger, and Carolyn Fam. Attendees can expect discussions on various topics including agricultural risk management, illegal conduct in cash commodity markets, futures contract life cycles, government data and information, voluntary carbon markets and current derivatives related issues facing the livestock industry. Derek Hayworth of Born Tech, one of my interviewees today at the fia conference in Boca Raton, Florida, has published a commentary looking back on the ion hack a year later titled one year on Lessons from the Ion Ransomware event. I guess I'll have to ask him about this. The fow trading Amsterdam conference will be taking place on April 10 at the Hilton Amsterdam. The conference is free to banks, brokers, funds, asset management firms, proprietary traders and CTAs. Exchanges and technology firms must pay one €195. For more details and to register, click on a link in today's newsletter. Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN options were realized volatility from Sibo our structured products to blame for suppressed volatility from the Financial Times Sibo trading pits endure despite takeover of electronic trading from Crane's Chicago business. Subscribe to the free JlN Options newsletter with a link in today's JlN. Here are more stories from the first read section of today's JLN. Here's that press release from CQG.
[00:04:47] CQG unveils new first of its kind AI machine learning trading toolkit for predicting futures market moves success in live trading environment confirms internal test results CQG, a leading global provider of high performance technology solutions for market makers, traders, brokers, commercial hedgers and exchanges, today announced the completion of internal testing and proof of concept using live data on what the firm believes to be the first of its kind artificial intelligence AI predictive model for traders. Following extensive machine learning training in a back testing environment, the firm just started applying the technology to live data with an extremely high level of predictive success in anticipating futures market moves. CQG made the announcement on the first full day of FIA Boca, the international Futures conference. My comment CQG is trying to take all the fun out of trading they probably predicted. I would say that. Here's another story. This is from Yahoo Finance. The headline Sec. Gensler says crypto quote rife with abuses and fraud, unquote. As bitcoin surges to new all time record, SEC chair Gary Gensler offered new warnings about cryptocurrencies as bitcoin surged to a new all time high Friday, saying in an interview with Yahoo Finance that, quote, the whole field is rife with abuses and fraud, unquote. Investors, he added, should be aware that bitcoin is a, quote, highly speculative, volatile underlying asset, unquote. My comment Dearest chairman Gensler, the public is ignoring these comments. They have paid attention to your vote to approve the bitcoin ETFs. They are depending on the valiant financial service companies. They have entrusted their money to manage the abuses and fraud for them. They are also paying attention to the imbalance in supply and demand your ETF vote helped create and the resurrection in the FOMO demand as the price of bitcoin continues to rise. Maybe try another office hours with Gary video. Here's another story, this one from Fortune. The headline does bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto have a deadband switch? Bitcoin soared to an all time high this week thanks to massive inflows from newly launched ETFs, which signaled to many that the original cryptocurrency, once derided by Wall street as a scam, is a legitimate mainstream investment. That's a view that I hold, but at the same time, bitcoin is still subject to some particular risk that, while unlikely, could deliver a price shock, one that has been on my mind and that I wrote about at length. Here is the influence of Satoshi Nakamoto, who owns over a million bitcoins that haven't moved in well over a decade. Everyone assumes that Satoshi will never return to oversee his creation, and I agree with that. He or she declared their work to be done in 2011, and aside from a short message in 2014, no more has been heard from them since. There is no reason to return, as bitcoin's code is safe and in good hands. And coming back would make Satoshi a target of criminals and government investors across the world. But what happens to Satoshi and all those bitcoins when they die? My comment they should go to Mrs. Nakamoto, if there is or was one. Or children or nieces or nephews. No dead man switch is necessary. Here's another story, this one from the Financial Times. The headline bitcoin bulls are not the bigger fools the most popular cryptocurrency is starting to look more like to look like more than a passing fad. Once dismissed as fanatics, the bitcoin bulls must be feeling vindicated. They made an accurate call on the cryptocurrency's potential for gains, witnessed a staggering rally underway, and were right, at least in part for the right reasons. When bitcoin was all the rage at the start of the decade, many serious investors and traditional economists spurned it as a useless fad, even a fraud. Their scorn, seemingly confirmed by its crash in 2022, persists today while the currency separates itself from the pack. My comment is there a technical flaw in bitcoin that the bulls have figured out? Is having the flaw or just a feature? Here are the top three stories from Friday's JLN. Our top story Friday was espionage probe finds communication device on chinese cranes at U. S. Ports from the Wall Street Journal. Second was eight Chicago steakhouses serving glitz, glamour and really good steak from Block club Chicago. Third was the Myx press release. Miami International holdings reports trading results for February 2024. MyX Exchange group year to date options and equity volumes at record levels, while MGX features volume surges 30.3%.
[00:10:30] Here are the top three stories from the lead section of today's JLN.
[00:10:37] First, the story from Bloomberg. The headline BlackRock to buy Spider Rock as firm expands wealth management BlackRock said it's acquiring Spider Rock Advisors and an asset management and technology firm to expand its customized investment strategies to wealthy clients. The deal will increase BlackRock's ability to offer tax efficient investment services, especially those that rely on options trading, BlackRock said in a statement Friday. In 2021, the asset manager made a minority investment Spider Rock, which oversees about $4.8 billion in assets for investment advisors, family offices and other clients. Spider Rock can provide advisors with a comprehensive suite of customization capabilities that help solve clients unique challenges such as income generation, downside protection and tax efficiency through the use of options, Eve Cote, head of portfolio design and solutions in BlackRock's U. S. Wealth advisory business, said in the statement. Here's another story. This is a press release from Deutsche Bors AG. Stefan Lightner becomes new chief executive officer of Deutsche Bors AG appointment as of the 1 October co CEO with Theodore Weimer until end of 2024 the super advisory board of Deutsche Bors AG today appointed Stefan Leithner as the company's new chief executive officer. The 57 year old will take up his new position on the 1 October 2024 and initially lead Deutsche force as a co CEO together with Theodore Weimer until the end of the year. Theodore Weimer will then be 65 and resign from the executive board. His contract expires at the end of 2024. Stefan Leithner has been a member of the executive board of Deutsche Porsche AG since 2018, responsible for pre and post trading. His current areas of responsibility include the strategically important investment management solutions segment with ISS stocks and Simcorp, as well as the group's post trading business with Clearstream. A decision on his succession will be made in due course.
[00:13:13] Here's another story, this one from the Wall Street Journal. The headline 80% of the world's stock options aren't traded where you think bitcoin and GameStop made headlines, but an even wilder speculative mania has emerged in India. US markets have been no stranger to meme driven casino like trading in recent years. But on the other side of the world, a stock speculation boom is unfolding that makes GameStop and bitcoin look tame, or at least well domesticated. India accounted for a staggering 78% of equity options contracts traded worldwide in 2023 according to data from the Futures Industry Association, FIA, a global derivatives markets policy advocacy organization. The number of stock index options traded there reached 84.3 billion contracts last year, up 153% from 2022. Total futures and options turnover touched a notional value of $4.5 trillion on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday.
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