First Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff It is Good Friday for many Christians around the world and it is another Sam Bankman-Fried-news day here at JLN. The 32-year-old Bankman-Fried was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for fraud, meaning he will be middle-aged by the time he gets out, assuming […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Bernard Goyder of Risk.net has a big scoop that BGC Group, led by Howard Lutnick, is in discussions with banks and principal trading firms (PTFs) to form a consortium that would have a stake in its electronic trading and exchange businesses. The story is titled […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The New York Times is reporting that Birmingham-Southern College, the school led by president Daniel Coleman, the former CEO of GETCO and then KCG, is closing. The private liberal arts school in Birmingham, Alabama is set to close at the end of May, ending a […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The Financial Times today published a Special Report on the Future of AI that explores the profound impact of artificial intelligence across various sectors. It looks into how AI is creating new jobs, influencing lives, and reshaping employment dynamics. The report highlights AI’s role in […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Back when I took the train into Chicago every work day, as I neared downtown the rich, deep smell of burning cocoa would permeate the air as we approached the Blommer Chocolate factory. The production facility, which debuted in 1939 and is the largest cocoa […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff I did my math wrong when looking at the margins for bitcoin futures. Brett Harrison wrote on Twitter that the CME was charging more than 100% margin for Bitcoin futures. There may be some brokers that are charging that much, though I don’t know of […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff We finally know who Satoshi Nakamoto is. It must be Elon Musk. My proof? It is a well known fact that Elon Musk has engaged in cannabis-themed, if not cannabis smoked, humor. So what does this have to do with Satoshi? Musk offered to buy […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Google has recently launched ten new Artificial Intelligence courses, all available for free, catering to both beginners and seasoned professionals aiming to enhance their AI skills in 2024. The curriculum includes an “Introduction to Large Language Models,” focusing on their applications and optimization; “Introduction to […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Today we kick off our JLN Industry Leader Series, sponsored by Wedbush, shot at FIA’s International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, FL, with our interview of CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam. We are premiering a new style of presenting the interviews by showing a stylistically […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff How has AI helped with background noise during interviews? Here is a clip I posted to LinkedIn that we shot of an interview with CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam at the recent FIA International Futures Conference in Boca Raton, FL. The first part of the clip […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Bitcoin prices have pulled back after making new highs five times in seven days, but the mania about Bitcoin is returning as the word “bitcoin” has outpaced “Taylor Swift” and “Beyonce” among the top search terms on Google in the last week. Bitcoin searches were […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Welcome to Pi Day. March 14 is celebrated annually as Pi Day because 3.14 represents the first three significant digits of ÏEUR (pi), a mathematical constant used to calculate the circumference of a circle. It’s an irrational number, meaning it cannot be exactly expressed as […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Well, the Hall of Fame ceremony at the FIA Boca 2024 conference has come and gone and I did not stumble on the stage, which was my greatest fear. I was truly humbled to be part of this year’s class with so many distinguished market […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Walt Lukken officially opened FIA Boca 2024 with his opening comments titled “Competing with conviction, respecting the contest.” I captured this picture of Walt in front of this video wall, where we have Big Walt and Little Walt, and it left me a little scared. […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff FIA Boca 2024 is underway. It began with a welcome reception last night that was full of familiar faces. Thank you to Allan Barush, founder of SweetOptions INC & RiskMathics Financial Institute Holdings, for inviting my wife, Cheryl, and me to dinner. We were next […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Today’s newsletter was delayed because of problems at Constant Contact. Our apologies for the delay. I find myself in White House, TN, just north of Nashville again on my way to Florida in the same Hampton Inn my wife and I stayed at on our […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been actively engaged in addressing various issues surrounding climate risk disclosure, order execution quality, and the standardization of climate-related disclosures for investors. Chair Gary Gensler has been at the forefront, hosting “Office Hours with Gary Gensler: Climate Risk […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff My wife Cheryl and I leave Thursday after JLN is published to head to Florida. We will be driving for the third consecutive year, heading first to our place in Sarasota, then over to Boca Raton for the FIA International Futures Industry Conference starting Sunday. […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff The CME Group’s February 2024 volume report reflects robust growth and record-breaking performance across various asset classes, driven by increased trading activity and market participation. Interest rate contracts reached a record average daily volume (ADV) of 17.2 million contracts, marking a 6% increase from the […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff It is widely known that I am a progressive. From my days promoting electronic trading to my enthusiasm today for the potential impact of AI, it is apparent. How did I get that way? You could say I was born that way, marching forth. Today […]
Read articleFirst Read Hits & Takes John Lothian & JLN Staff Welcome to March. One of the market issues of the moment is bitcoin halving, an event that occurs approximately every four years whereby Bitcoin miners are rewarded half the amount they were previously rewarded for validating and adding new blocks to the blockchain. Since 2022, […]
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