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Editor
John Lothian News | |
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| Lead Stories | Tariff-driven Currency Volatility Hits North American Firms' Profits, Driving Surge in FX Hedging
Press Release via Traders Magazine
A new report from advanced FX and cash management solutions provider MillTech, has revealed that nearly seven in ten (69%) North American corporates have seen their profitability or competitiveness in international markets negatively impacted by currency volatility caused by US tariffs. Over four-fifths (83%) have experienced recent losses due to unhedged FX risk. The MillTech North American Corporate FX Report 2025 analyses the findings from a survey of 250 senior finance decision makers at corporates across the US and Canada, revealing how they are responding to tariff-driven volatility, accelerating geopolitical risk and heightened market volatility, and leveraging AI and automation.
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Options Trading for All: Navigating Risk, Access, and Investor Protection
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
As retail investors expand into asset classes that were once largely reserved for institutions or high-net-worth individuals, options trading has become a central issue in the broader conversation about market access, investor protection, and financial education. The surge in participation through digital brokerage platforms has intensified scrutiny on how these platforms support users in managing the complexity and risks associated with derivatives. This growth in retail options trading has prompted a wide-ranging industry response.
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Big Banks Are Spinning Market Chaos Into Gold; Jittery markets are swelling trading revenue and profit, prompting banks to put more money to work on Wall Street
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
Second-quarter market upheaval was about tariff policies. Third-quarter volatility might be about President Trump and the Federal Reserve. Bankers are generally against moves that call into question the independence of the central bank. Yet in the meantime the biggest U.S. banks at least stand to profit from investors' anxiety, via their Wall Street trading desks. These operations have kicked into high gear, providing a gusher of revenue and profit for big banks that reported second-quarter results this week, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. And a closer look suggests this could continue into future quarters, too.
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Wall Street Traders Supercharged by Tariffs That Stymied Deals
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Wall Street banks were optimistic Donald Trump's second term would unleash a dealmaking boom. Instead, it's delivered a trading bonanza. First-half trading revenue at the five biggest lenders jumped $10 billion from last year to a record level, with tariffs and tax policy driving a surge of activity across equity, currency and bond markets. Investment-banking revenue, meanwhile, nudged up less than $1 billion, and is still almost 40% below the 2021 peak as that same volatility weighed on merger and IPO volumes.
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'Black Swan' author Nassim Taleb tells BI he agrees with Elon Musk on debt, saying a 'crisis' is looming
Theron Mohamed - Business Insider
Elon Musk is right to worry about America's debt problem - and bitcoin is no more valuable than a flower, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb said in a wide-ranging interview with Business Insider. Taleb popularized the term "Black Swan" to refer to rare, extreme, unexpected events that are seen as less surprising in hindsight. He's a distinguished scientific advisor to Universa Investments, a "Black Swan" hedge fund that manages over $20 billion in client assets and specializes in hedging against "tail risks" - rare and extreme market events.
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| Exchanges | On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, FIA will present its Q2 review analyzing global trends in exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) trading, with a focus on trading volume and open interest for the year to date. Hosted by Will Acworth, FIA's senior vice president and global head of market intelligence, the webinar will provide insights into key developments and activity patterns across listed derivatives markets worldwide. The session, which runs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. ET, aims to equip professionals with up-to-date intelligence on trading dynamics and market shifts in the global derivatives sector. ~JJL
India stock exchange derivative activity slips by a third since Jane Street trading ban
Bharath Rajeswaran - Reuters
Trading in India's weekly equity index options has slumped by a third since the country's market regulator banned U.S. high-frequency trading giant Jane Street in the local market earlier this month, exchange data showed on Thursday.
National Stock Exchange of India - the world's largest derivatives exchange by number of contracts traded - saw a nearly 36% drop over two weeks in index options premium turnover, a key measure of real capital deployed and risk appetite.
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New liquidity program for EURO STOXX 50 Index Options off to a flying start
Eurex
In July, Eurex fully implemented its new, first-of-its-kind Liquidity Provider (LP) program. The initiative aims to further enhance liquidity and efficiency in the flagship EURO STOXX 50 Index Options (OESX and SX5E).Strong market-maker support from the community boosted the scheme, leading to a significant increase in liquidity coverage and order book interactions. In this article, Strahinja Trenkic, Quantitative Analyst in Market & Liquidity Analytics at Eurex, shares his thoughts on the scheme and its early promise.
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ETF Market Report: 2nd Quarter 2025; Discover the latest figures about the development of the ETF segment at SIX Swiss Exchange, one of Europe's top 3 ETF venues - including statistics for Quote on Demand (QOD).
SIX
With turnover of CHF 31.89 billion and 840,726 transactions, the figures for the Swiss ETF market was at the same level as the previous quarter. They continued to significantly exceed the figures of the previous year. The number of trades is now already at 68.61% of the previous year, while the average trade size was CHF 40,158. In terms of ticket sizes, the slight upward trend in trades over 1,000,000 continued. The median confirmed the trend reversal that emerged in the previous quarter.
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Position Accountability Levels and Large Trader Reporting Requirements in Connection with the Initial Listing of Options on Four (4) FX Cross Rate Futures (EUR/AUD, EUR/CAD, AUD/NZD, AUD/JPY) Contracts
CMEGroup
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| Regulation & Enforcement | US CFTC begins staff firings, agency source says
Chris Prentice - Reuters
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday began staff firings that are expected to affect over two dozen people, according to an agency source, after the Supreme Court last week cleared the way for mass government firings.
Employees from the CFTC's enforcement, market oversight, administration and data divisions are expected to be affected as part of a more general reorganization at the regulator, the source said.
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India markets regulator looks to extend tenure of derivatives contracts, official says
Reuters
India is looking to improve the quality of the derivatives market by extending the tenure and maturity of such contracts, an official at the markets regulator said in a speech on Thursday.
"We must look for further ways to further deepen our cash equities markets, even as we look to improve the quality of our derivatives market by extending the tenure and maturity of the products and solutions on offer," said Ananth Narayan, a whole-time member at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
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| Strategy | Inside the great ETF boom of 2025: 'How do you navigate all this?'; A record flood of new cash. Risky leveraged and inverse products. Hedge-fund and private-equity firms getting in. Exchange-traded funds are the investing story of the year.
Christine Idzelis - MarketWatch
For 25 years, Dan Ives worked on Wall Street and became known for appearing on business television programs wearing colorful shirts and jackets to talk up technology stocks. Then in June, Ives started something new, slapping his name on his own exchange-traded fund, the Dan IVES Wedbush AI Revolution ETF, an investment vehicle made up of 30 stocks.
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The VIX's Recent Spike and Its Implications for Options Strategy
AInvest
The CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX), often dubbed the "fear gauge," has been a rollercoaster ride in 2025. The most eye-popping move came on April 8, when the index surged to 65.73-a level not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. This spike, driven by the escalating April 2025 tariffs crisis, underscores how geopolitical and economic uncertainties can rapidly inflame market anxiety. For investors, such volatility isn't just a warning sign-it's an opportunity to deploy advanced options strategies that protect portfolios while generating alpha, regardless of the S&P 500's direction.
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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. | | |
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