First Read https://johnlothiannews.web.app/test3 Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Compute is going open outcry, with a MarketsWiki backstory. Much like the original general call to the commercial Chicago community issued by grain warehouse owner Thomas Richmond and commission broker William L. Whiting in 1848 to organize the Chicago Board of Trade, the launch […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Yesterday afternoon an email arrived from Leo Melamed. Leo asked if I had seen the Kalshi Wall Street Journal story. I searched and found the story he was referring to, which made this last comment make sense. “Is there an answer by Lothian?” Kalshi Co-founder […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff A wave of cyberattacks across Asia is raising concerns about financial institutions’ growing vulnerability as artificial intelligence makes large-scale hacking easier. In “Korea Financial Firms Hit By More Hacks as Asia Breaches Grow,” Bloomberg’s Heesu Lee and Haram Lim report that several major South Korean […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Guardrails, we don’t need no stinking guardrails. A cyberattack on Japan’s GMO Internet Group disrupted foreign exchange trading services, exposed potentially sensitive customer information, and prompted hackers to demand a $50 million ransom, which the company refused to pay. In “Trading Platform Rocked by Japan […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The artificial intelligence developer Anthropic filed paperwork Monday, October 26, for a potentially record-breaking initial public offering on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, targeting a November debut and a possible valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. The maker of the Claude chatbot disclosed $16.3 […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Since I will be attending FIA EXPO on Tuesday, November 3, which is Election Day, I voted early. Yesterday, I voted at Elmhurst City Hall, where early voting is available in the City Hall Council Chamber. Among the election judges was a woman from my […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Here are ten questions I want to ask at FIA EXPO to no one in particular, but to anyone(s) who wants to step up and be heard: 1. What would it take for a new venue to win durable liquidity from an incumbent in a […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff George Orwell’s book 1984 had a profound impact on me when I was a student at Purdue. As a business and communications major in the early 1980s, working on two degrees, I worked hard not to be part of the class of 1984. There was […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Former Congressman (and President) Gerald R. Ford must be rolling in his grave. Yesterday, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange became the site of a highly unusual demonstration as University of Chicago students protested the 1958 Onion Futures Act. A student-led advocacy group known as “For Our […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Late Saturday afternoon, I did something stupid, or I was just unlucky. Either way, I ended up with a dislocated right hip while I was doing some landscaping work on my property in Wisconsin. I was seated in a camping chair, pushing with my legs […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Congratulations to Ryan Kwiatkowski, the managing director and head of broker-dealer sales at StoneX Group Inc., on receiving the prestigious Dictum Meum Pactum Award at the Security Traders Association‘s (STA) 93rd Annual Market Structure Conference. The award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Nodal Exchange announced that Paul Cusenza will retire as CEO on March 15, 2027, after more than 19 years leading the company, and Demetri Karousos, currently CEO of Nodal Clear and president and chief operating officer of Nodal Exchange, will succeed him on March 16. […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff In the latest episode of John Lothian News’s AI Discovery series, sponsored by NinjaTrader, titled “Creating Internal AI Tools That Don’t Hallucinate,” host Patrick Lothian explores how financial firms can safely build custom internal tools using artificial intelligence while eliminating the threat of compounding hallucinations. […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff I have signed up for the FIA Markets Academy program on Monday of FIA EXPO, which takes place from November 2nd to 4th this year. The lineup of educational programs covers everything from “Futures Markets Basics” to the ominous-sounding “The Rise of Prediction Markets,” alongside […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The future of perpetual futures trading in the U.S. is in question as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange challenges the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s approval of the products, Joe Light reported for Barron’s. Popularized in cryptocurrency markets, perpetual futures have no expiration date and use funding […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The former Cboe Global Markets trading headquarters at 400 S. LaSalle Street is undergoing a $300 million to $400 million conversion into a 33-megawatt AI data center by Legacy Investing and GI Partners, Natalie Wong and Marie Patino reported for Bloomberg. The 300,500-square-foot building, which […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff This is not going to end well. A 23-karat gold-leaf statue depicting a naked Donald Trump, titled “The Orange Plague – King of Injustice,” has been unveiled at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Suha Kidwai reported for The Independent. Created by the Danish sculptor Jens […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Where the CME Group blinked, Kalshi thinked. Kalshi Inc. has filed a proposal with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for a West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude-linked perpetual futures contract, one that never expires, in contrast to the CME’s dated futures expiry contracts, Mia Gindis reported […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff If there is one thing I love it is exchange competition, especially in the precious metals markets. I have fond memories of the scorecard I kept in JLN to track CBOT‘s electronic assault on NYMEX open-outcry metals, and then NYSE LIFFE picking up the banner. […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The CME Group blinked on Friday in its conflict with the CFTC over the 10-barrel WTI crude oil futures contract and withdrew its filing for the new 24/7 retail-sized contract. Following conversations with industry participants, the CME decided a bird in the hand is better […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Cboe Global Markets is exploring the launch of perpetual futures tied to the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) to allow investors to directly trade the index’s cash level, a long-sought capability currently unavailable through existing VIX futures, options, or ETFs, Bernard Goyder reports for Bloomberg.. Speaking […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff This has been a hard year, losing men who helped shape my early adult years and beyond. In the spring, my mentors Thomas J. Cashman and John J. Ruth died within a week of each other. Yesterday, I learned that Connie Hawkins had passed away; […]
Read article