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JLN Options
March 21, 2023  
 
Jeff Bergstrom
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Lead Stories
 
FTX's Crypto Derivatives Platform LedgerX Gets Bid From Miami Exchange
Katherine Doherty and Isis Almeida - Bloomberg
FTX has attracted bidders including Miami International Securities Exchange for its crypto-derivatives platform, LedgerX, one of the few solvent pieces of Sam Bankman-Fried's former empire.
The exchange, known as MIAX and owned by Miami International Holdings Inc., made an offer for LedgerX, which is being sold in FTX's bankruptcy proceedings, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Other bidders include Kalshi Inc., the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. The size of the bids couldn't immediately be learned.
/jlne.ws/3LXP2Kf

VIX Heads for Biggest Two-Day Plunge Since May: Markets Wrap
Rita Nazareth - Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance
Wall Street's favorite volatility gauge tumbled as stocks pushed higher, with a rally in banks and assurances from authorities easing fears that the recent financial tumult would lead to a full-blown crisis.
/jlne.ws/40tRDiZ

Crypto Exchanges Are Now Eyeing Derivatives After FTX's Collapse; Traders looking to leverage positions are turning to exchanges; Bitcoin price volatility boosts demand for the products
Muyao Shen - Bloomberg
Crypto exchanges are rushing to fill the void left by FTX, once one of the largest derivatives exchanges for digital assets, as the cash market faces declining volume and liquidity. FTX's collapse has become an opportunity for other exchanges to capture market share or enter a space now dominated by Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. Some exchanges showed interests in buying FTX's derivatives platform in the US, while others are just looking to build brand new derivatives exchanges. At the same time, the demise of several crypto lenders like Genesis Global Hold LLC have left traders looking for other ways to leverage their positions.
/jlne.ws/3LEzY3F

Stocks Are Shrugging Off Bank Woes With Help From Hedge Funds
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
A question has arisen amid all the bank failures. How, with the bond market enduring its worst spasm of volatility in almost four decades, have benchmark-level stocks managed to glide along, oases of calm?
Part of the answer, as is often the case, is positioning.
/jlne.ws/3JwShoR

Time for brokers to add options trading as volumes explode on high volatility
Rick Steves - FinanceFeeds
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has just published its FY 2022 Market Highlights report that can be summed up in two takeaways: $25 trillion was wiped off global stock markets in 2022 due to a perfect storm of negative pressures and the pronounced increase of options trading.
We will be focusing on the latter as the CBOE equity put-call ratio, which is a reflection of options trading volume, continued to print new record highs, caused in part by traders' growing reliance on options to speculate on movements in stocks, or to hedge their positions.
/jlne.ws/3yVAwux

Fed's Interest Rate Decision in March Weighs Banks Versus Inflation
Enda Curran - Bloomberg
What is the Fed thinking?
That's the trillion dollar question on everyone's mind, as the high drama over the past week surrounding Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse scrambled predictions about the Federal Reserve's next rate move. At one point two-year Treasury yields fell 61 basis points, the biggest drop since the Volcker era in the early 1980s, signaling expectations that the Fed would pivot from hiking to cutting at this week's meeting. Economists at Goldman Sachs shelved their call of a 25 basis point hike, predicting that the Fed would stand pat until the choppiness in financial markets eased. Analysts at Nomura heralded that Wall Street's long awaited Fed pivot was finally near. Traders went further, pricing in not just one rate cut but three before the year is out, then later tempered those bets.
Unlike past bouts of financial volatility, this time much of the anxiety was abetted by social media.
/jlne.ws/3FFDhUt

The US economy is headed for a hard landing as the banking crisis makes a recession more likely - and traders should avoid risk, JPM's quant guru says
Jennifer Sor - Business Insider
"The Fed ... is likely already past the point of no return - a soft landing now looks unlikely, with the airplane in a tailspin (lack of market confidence) and engines about to turn off (bank lending)," strategists said, pointing to the recent tumult stemming from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.
SVB's collapse in recent weeks has upended confidence in the US banking system, sparking a steep-sell off in regional bank stocks. The chaos has raised the risk of recession, experts warn, as banking troubles naturally slow down the economy.
/jlne.ws/3luj3X0

 
 
Exchanges
 
MEMX Expands Investor Base with Leading Options Firms; Optiver led equity round focused on supporting the growth of MEMX Options
MEMX, a market operator founded by members to benefit all investors, today announced the successful completion of a strategic equity round of funding led by Optiver, a leading global market maker, to support the launch of MEMX Options in August. Optiver assumes a MEMX board seat as part of the transaction. Additional firms participating in the round include new investors Belvedere Strategic Capital, LP, Chicago Trading Company, and IMC, as well as existing investors Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial.
/jlne.ws/3LBKpVV

Position Limits - Government Of Canada Bond Listed Products (All Months)
TMX
The applicable position limits for the Government of Canada Bond futures and options on the Government of Canada Bond futures have been updated and are reflected in the position limit file. The position limit file is available in Annex 1 and retrievable here.
/jlne.ws/3n9cQQQ

Cboe Global Markets Announces Date of First-Quarter 2023 Earnings Release and Conference Call
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading provider of global market infrastructure and tradable products, will announce its financial results for the first quarter of 2023 before the market opens on Friday, May 5, 2023. A conference call with remarks by the company's senior management will begin at 7:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. ET).
/jlne.ws/3ncxG1w

 
 
Regulation & Enforcement
 
Archegos Founder Bill Hwang to Seek Dismissal of Market-Manipulation Charges
James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey - WSJ
Lawyers for Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang are set to ask a federal judge Tuesday to throw out charges tied to the meltdown of the investment firm, saying federal prosecutors have mischaracterized legal trading as criminal market manipulation.
/jlne.ws/3yUiaKj

 
 
Strategy
 
VIX Strangle Trade
Cboe (Video)
In #Vol411, Tim Biggam discusses #options activity as banking concerns continue and #markets prepare for tomorrow's Fed decision. $VIX $SPX 
/jlne.ws/3yTRNUO
 
 
 
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