First Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The CFTC’s Enforcement Division issued an advisory highlighting that prediction markets such as those on KalshiEX are fully subject to federal anti-fraud and market‑abuse rules, using two recent Kalshi cases to make the point. In one, a political candidate traded contracts on his own election, […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Here is the obituary for James E. Oliff on Shalom Memorial’s website, with the service, internment, and Shiva information. The service will be on Friday, February 27, at 12:14 pm at the Shalom Memorial Funeral Home, 1700 West Rand Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004. There […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff James E. Oliff, a member of a venerable Chicago Mercantile Exchange family and long-time CME member who served as its vice chairman before the merger with the Chicago Board of Trade, passed away this morning after a long battle with cancer. Oliff was inducted into […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff A record number of Designated Contract Market applications are pending before a depleted CFTC staff, with the fastest cadence of new exchange applications in the agency’s modern history. RSBIX, ProphetX, tZERO DCM, XV Exchange, Optex Markets, Ludlow Exchange, Water Street Labs, Juice Exchange, Sporttrade DCM, […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff It seems my commentary “CFTC Adrift: Selig’s Silent First 60 Days Leave Crucial Division Posts Empty” has made news this morning, as the Financial Times editor Robin Wigglesworth picked up on it and quoted it extensively in his FT Alphaville commentary, “The giant void of […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Euronext reported strong Q4 and full-year 2025 results, with underlying revenue up 12.1% to 1.82 billion Euros, driven by growth in non-volume businesses, resilient trading and disciplined costs. Non-volume-related revenue reached 59% of the total and more than covered operating expenses, while FICC and equity […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff In part three of our four-part interview with Scott Kohl, he recalls the S&P pit as a place where money meant freedom more than luxury, a testament to skill and independence in a world ruled by influence. In his interview for the Open Outcry Traders […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, writing in The Wall Street Journal, warned that states are encroaching on federal authority over prediction markets, also known as event contracts. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which has regulated these financial instruments for decades, is backing Crypto.com in a […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Today, we have two original JLN videos. The first is the last video from our FIA Expo 2025 coverage, an interview conducted by JLN Editor-in-Chief Sarah Rudolph with Jamila Piracci, principal of Roos Innovations. The second is part one of four of an Open Outcry […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff FOW announced that the 2026 FOW International Awards at The Waldorf Hilton in London recognized leading firms and individuals across the global futures and options industry, following a year with a notably strong field of submissions. Thomas P. Gallagher, the chairman and chief executive of […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Here is a wake-up call for American citizens. A new poll for the Munich Security Conference finds that Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House has sharply increased the share of people in both western and emerging economies who see the US as […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff As prediction markets and crypto-related event contracts surge in popularity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission‘s once-formidable Chicago enforcement office has been effectively hollowed out, Nick Devor reports for Barron’s. Once home to roughly 20 trial lawyers who drove many of the agency’s biggest cases, from […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is under mounting bipartisan pressure to resign over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, James Politi of the Financial Times reported. Lawmakers including Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Thomas Massie accused him of lying about the extent of his relationship with […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Cboe Global Markets, in its earnings call on Friday, reported record fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results, driven by surging derivatives activity and broad-based strength across its businesses. Fourth-quarter net revenue rose 28% to a record USD 671 million, while adjusted diluted EPS jumped 46% to […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) announced an agreement to acquire CQG, a provider of futures and options trading, execution management, and market connectivity technology. The deal will integrate CQG’s execution management, analytics, and algorithmic trading tools with Broadridge’s existing order management and connectivity systems, forming […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff CME Group in its 2025 fourth quarter earnings call reported its most successful year ever in 2025, marking a fifth straight year of record volume across all asset classes, including interest rates, energy, metals, agriculture, and crypto. Average daily volume rose 6% to 28.1 million […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Clive Furness, a 47-year veteran of commodities and derivatives markets and a friend to many in the derivatives world, has been appointed director, financial markets at Expana, a price reporting agency for food and agriculture, he announced on LinkedIn. The appointment follows a consulting engagement […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Intercontinental Exchange announced that ICE Clear Credit has received SEC approval to expand its Covered Clearing Agency designation to include U.S. Treasury clearing, making it the first alternative venue for Treasury securities clearing. Now fully operational, the service introduces industry-standard clearing to Treasury markets and […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The Cboe research department is not just thinking about vanilla solutions for event contracts. Instead, they might roll out some saffron pistachio-flavored options. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Cboe Global Markets is positioning itself at the center of the fast-evolving event-trading landscape by […]
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