He joins the firm from Deutsche Bank where he served as a currency options trader.

Prior to this, Roberts spent five and a half years at NatWest Markets, most recently serving as a FX derivatives trader.

Elsewhere in his tenure at NatWest Markets, he worked as a US rates strategies.

Roberts announced his appointment in a social media post.

This latest appointment follows that of Olivia Gassner, who was appointed VP, equity electronic sales trader at JP Morgan earlier this month.

Gassner joined the firm from RBC Capital Markets, where she served in the same role for three years prior to the move. 

The post JP Morgan taps Deutsche Bank for new FX options trader appeared first on The TRADE.

Robert Allen, president of FMX Futures Exchange

Having opened on 23 September, the FMX Futures Exchange is the first US interest rate futures exchange to launch with a fully operational, globally connected trading system, allowing for potential capital savings driven by clearing partner LCH’s cross-margin capabilities.

BGC Group and ten global investment banks and market-making firms announced a partnership in April 2024 to create FMX Holdings which includes the exchange, as well as a spot foreign exchange platform, and a US cash treasuries platform.

“We are pleased ION connected to the FMX Futures Exchange. The combination of the FMX Futures Exchange with LCH will provide clients with choice, innovative execution technology, and potentially significant cross-margin capabilities,” said Robert Allen, president of FMX Futures Exchange.

ION supports FMX across its cleared derivatives front-, middle-, and back-office platforms, allowing banks and brokers using ION’s technology stack to offer clients advanced execution capabilities and clearing services on the new exchange from day one.

Read more: Fireside Friday with… ION’s Edoardo Pacenti

“The joint effort with FMX Futures Exchange demonstrates once again the effectiveness of ION’s front-to-back product strategy: the powerful combination of modern, integrated solutions across execution and clearing removes the technical barriers often hindering market readiness and participation,” said Francesco Margini, chief product officer for cleared derivatives at ION Markets.

The post ION connects to FMX Futures Exchange to bolster execution and post-trade clearing appeared first on The TRADE.

The active investment house with $33 billion offers a range of funds that invest in the UK, Europe, the US and around the world, and selected Northern Trust for a range of asset services earlier this year.

Speaking to The TRADE, Sheenagh Dougall, chief operating officer, Artemis, said: “What ultimately informed the decision was what this could do for our clients and how it could enhance their returns.

“Our centralised dealing desk has done a fantastic job for our business and for our clients, but I think we recognise some of the limitations of having a dealing desk in-house in a firm of Artemis’s size where we can’t do that follow the sun method. We are based in the UK, but we have funds that operate in the US and in emerging market space and, potentially, could we do better in those areas and have better coverage?”

Northern Trust will support all trading activity for Artemis’ equity funds under management and all related over-the-counter and exchange-traded derivatives. The appointment follows a review by Artemis of its operating model intended to help align its operational structure with its strategic growth plans.

Four members of Artemis’ dealing team will move to Northern Trust.

Mark Murray, senior partner at Artemis, said: “Outsourcing our equity and derivatives trading to Northern Trust ensures our continued access to global markets, whilst delivering high-quality liquidity and operational scale, further expanding the partnership and strong cultural fit between our organisations.

“We are confident this extension of service delivers the capabilities and operational resilience we require – supporting our focus on providing outstanding returns and service for our investors, as well as our ambitious plans for the continued growth of our business.”

Northern Trust is on an unprecedented run of securing outsourced trading mandates over the past 12 months, signing deals with True Potential, Waverton Investment Management, 2Xideas and Nedgroup. A major mandate was also secured with Rathbones in April 2023.

“We are excited to be partnering further with Artemis to support their end-to-end requirements for global equities and derivatives trading,” said Glenn Poulter, global head of brokerage at Northern Trust.

“The mandate supports Artemis’ focus on growth and complements our existing relationship: driving efficiencies through our global technology architecture, straight-through-processing and an integrated service proposition – from execution to custody – that now supports the complete lifecycle of its investments.”

The post Artemis Investment Management outsources equities and derivatives trading to Northern Trust appeared first on The TRADE.

Chris Jackson, Yorke O’Leary

OptAxe stated that it is launching the new venue to address fundamental shortcomings in FX options trading.

According to the firm, increased fragmentation in FX trading now presents substantial position distribution and coverage challenges, and places constraints on effective price discovery and execution options.

Elsewhere, the Uncleared Margin Rule and other regulatory requirements mandating initial margining for all trades have raised cost for FX options businesses, with bilateral trading margin requirements heavily impacting balance sheets. 

OptAxes’s solution sources and consolidates the best interest available in the market, in real-time. Axe inventory is aggregated by OptAxes into a single platform, acting as a multi-issuer venue rather than a multi-dealer platform, with RFQ and counterparty disclosure at the point of execution.

“OptAxe is a fully centralised, regulated venue for liquidity discovery, dissemination and execution that empowers trading participants with actionable insights from centralised liquidity information,” said Chris Jackson, chief executive and co-founder at OptAxe.

“We automate manual, bilateral processes and consolidate available axe inventory into a single platform, effectively acting as a multi-issuer, not a multi-dealer platform, RFQ-based venue”. 

The FCA authorisation follows a two-year process from participating in the FCA’s Pathway Programme to gaining a full trading venue licence, compliant with all the regulatory obligations of an MTF, from operational resilience to surveillance, trade reporting and regulatory data reporting.

“With OptAxe, all market participants can easily access a centralised source of actionable axe inventory with evidence-based pricing that meets the demands of the trading community today and tomorrow,” said Yorke O’Leary, chief operating officer and co-founder at OptAxe.

The post OptAxe launches new MTF for FX options appeared first on The TRADE.

Broadridge added that it is also expanding its offerings to include other updated regulatory regimes and asset classes, including the Canadian rewrite scheduled for July 2025 and the Hong Kong rewrite slated for September 2025.

“We anticipate that the regulatory wave will continue, and we are proactively working on behalf of our clients to help them meet their compliance requirements,” said Ben Cooling, general manager, regulatory trade and transaction reporting at Broadridge. 

“The upcoming Canadian and Hong Kong rewrites are part of a global initiative aimed at enhancing the consistency and transparency of derivatives reporting, reflecting similar updates by regulators in the United States, Japan, and Europe.”

Read more: Fireside Friday with… Broadridge Financial Solutions’ Chris Perry

Following the addition of the European Money Market Statistical Reporting (MMSR), Broadridge is developing the US equivalent of SFTR for securities lending, the SEC 10c-1, scheduled to go live in January 2026.

The firm’s solution will also be upgraded to cater for major EU and UK Mifid updates scheduled to be implemented over 2025 to 2027, as well as the final updates to CFTC Dodd Frank Reporting.

Broadridge’s solution claims to simplify complex trading requirements, allowing firms to comply with a wide range of local rules, alongside being fully equipped to handle these changes, including the integration of Global Unique Transaction Identifiers (UTIs), Unique Product Identifiers (UPIs), and Critical Data Elements.

The post Broadridge to support OTC derivatives reporting across various jurisdictions appeared first on The TRADE.

Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe

The new options on VIX futures will offer investors an additional tool to help manage US equity market volatility. They complement Cboe’s existing securities-based VIX index options, which are designed to provide similar risk management and yield enhancement capabilities.

The new product uses an option-on-future structure, which could potentially allow more market participants, including those restricted from accessing securities-based options, to trade a VIX options product.

Cboe’s VIX Index options have seen record trading volumes over the past two years, with average daily volumes reaching over 851,000 contracts in 2024, up roughly 60% when compared to 2022.

“Investors have long utilised VIX options and VIX futures to help hedge and manage volatility exposure, and Cboe is proud to expand our volatility product suite at such a critical time,” said Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe.

“The launch will complement our existing volatility offerings, including the recently launched Cboe S&P 500 Variance futures, and enable more investors with the ability to help manage volatility and risk through the election season and beyond.”

Read more: Cboe set to launch new Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures

Cboe Global Markets added that options on VIX futures will have a European-style exercise, PM settlement and physically settle into front-month VIX future.

The contracts will be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and cleared by The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).

The post Cboe Global Markets to launch options on VIX futures next week appeared first on The TRADE.

Designed specifically for institutional investors, the offering provides price improvement, liquidity enhancement, and best execution practices including algo suite integration, and exchange auction mechanisms.
 
Matrix QRX ATS offers blind indications of interest (IOIs), paired crossing orders, and low latency matching to streamline orders of all types while ensuring optimal pricing.

Read more: Cboe director departs to re-join Matrix as head of options execution strategy

“With QRX ATS, Matrix Executions is setting a new benchmark in the trading experience for institutional traders, focused on price discovery, trading cost mitigation, and market efficiency,” said the firm in an announcement on social media.

The post Matrix Executions launches ATS for US listed options appeared first on The TRADE.

The firm is introducing 21 new German single stock options, completing its coverage of all DAX 40 index constituents, as well as six Irish and four Portuguese single stock options.

These stock options mark the first that Euronext has listed on Irish stocks.

The new listings round out the range of options contracts available across Euronext markets to give investors increased access to key assets in Europe through Euronext’s single order book.

Dedicated market makers will ensure onscreen liquidity for investors on the new stocks, according to the firm.

Read more: Fireside Friday with… Euronext’s Anthony Attia

Trading in the new options is powered by Euronext’s Optiq trading platform, which offers access to a large and diverse pool of liquidity.

Clearing will take place through Euronext Clearing, offering risk management and portfolio-wide margin efficiencies.

Euronext added that the expansion of single stock options is designed to deliver greater value to investors by allowing them to trade a broader range of European options on a single platform.

“This growth of our derivatives offer was made possible following the successful completion of the expansion of Euronext Clearing to all markets across the Euronext Group,” said Anthony Attia, global head of derivatives and post-trade at Euronext.  

“It not only allows us to broaden our equity derivatives offering, but also paves the way for future product launches as part of our new strategic plan, which will be announced in November, leveraging the full strength of our integrated pan-European model.”

The post Euronext bolsters European derivatives offering with German, Irish and Portuguese single stock options appeared first on The TRADE.

“We confirm the EU Commission’s investigation and are fully cooperating. We do not comment on ongoing investigations,” said Deutsche Boerse when approached by The TRADE.

Specifically, the inspection relates to potential violations of EU antitrust rules linked to financial derivatives that prohibit restrictive business practices – Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (both include reference to directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any trading conditions). 

The TRADE understands that the alleged actions which led to the raid include undercutting fees to out price competitors, and price dumping.

Unannounced investigations such as these are a preliminary investigatory step, confirmed the regulator, speaking about the process for inspecting suspected anticompetitive practices. 

“The fact that the Commission carries out such inspections does not mean that the companies are guilty of anticompetitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself,” asserted the European Commission. 

There is no legal deadline for completing inquiries into anticompetitive conduct, reminded the watchdog in an announcement today. The duration of the investigation depends on factors including case complexity and the extent to which companies in question cooperate with the EC.

“The Commission officials are accompanied by their counterparts from the relevant national competition authorities of the Member States where the inspections are conducted,” asserted the watchdog in an announcement.

The Commission is also carrying out unannounced antitrust inspections at the premises of other companies active in the financial services sector in two member states, The TRADE understands.

More to follow…

The post European Commission raids Deutsche Boerse over alleged derivatives-related antitrust violations appeared first on The TRADE.

Kenza Medjkane

Ramon Puyane, head of FX trading at IMC, explained: “There’s a lot of volume going through FX options and that’s partly driven through interest rate differentials, central bank diverging policy, and a lot of geopolitical unrest.

“The non-banks can have a look at what’s currently happening in FX OTC, which is historically very voice driven, very manual and see how they can leverage their technology to provide liquidity for the end customer either directly through the banks or through multi dealer platforms, agency brokers, that kind of thing.”

Read more: FX derivatives trading can be streamlined through electronification, but data quality must be assured, say experts

When it comes to how the market sentiment is potentially shifting, John Rothstein, UK managing partner and global chief operating officer at Optiver, asserted that it is the new age traders who are most open to alternative liquidity providers, and thus driving potential change.

“I think some of those folks see alternative liquidity providers as very natural, they see use of technology as very natural and so when they’re looking for partnerships, it makes sense that there’s not as much convincing and that alternative liquidity is something that’s [perceived as] additive and valuable to a market […] we’re sort of seeing a turning point.” 

Puyane agreed, highlighting that as the new generation continues to approach alternative liquidity in an ever more natural way, the rate of adoption is likely to increase soon. 

“It’s like a generational shift so it’s going to take time, but we’ve seen quite a decent growth in a relatively short period of time,” he said.

Speaking about her approach from a trader perspective, Kenza Medjkane, senior FX and rates trader at Total Energies, explained that though the firm currently does not use non-bank liquidity for FX options, this move would “probably be soon”.

“Currently we are using mainly OTC through bank providers, but are more and more thinking about non-bank liquidity providers because they are offering better pricing, competitive pricings and maybe more agile platforms as well.”

Expanding on the aspect of how to access non-bank as opposed to bank liquidity in FX options, and how this would differ, Medjkane explained that for banks this is around 60-70% done via voice, however she added that the alternatives offer “some agile services [and] it’s something we’re looking at more and more”.

The post The new generation is seeing FX options through a different lens appeared first on The TRADE.