Top Headlines
Why Platforms Need to Offer More Than Just Liquidity – Profit & Loss
In an environment in which liquidity has become increasingly commoditised, how do FX trading platforms offering access to this liquidity differentiate themselves? This was the question put to Jill Sigelbaum, head of FXall, Refinitiv.
UK Swaps Giants Sound Brexit Alarm, Citing Doubt on EU Plan – Bloomberg
UK derivatives clearing giants including a unit of the London Stock Exchange are pushing the European Union to guarantee that they’ll be able to continue serving the bloc’s biggest banks in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
JP Morgan’s New Guide to Machine Learning in Algorithmic Trading – eFinancialCareers
JP Morgan has just released a new report on the problems of ‘applying data driven learning’ to algorithmic trading.
Blockchain: State of Play Among Market Infrastructures – Regulation Asia
What is the state of play of blockchain in relation to
Regulatory News
UK Parliament Claims Right to Brexit Plan B – Financial News (subscription)
Members of Parliament on Tuesday evening voted to adopt an amendment to the exit process, which will enable them to suggest alternatives if the government’s Brexit deal is voted down on December 11
– as is quite likely.
UK Pension Funds May Have to Clear, Post-Brexit – Risk.net (subscription)
The funds are currently exempt from clearing thanks to acarve-out from the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. But once Britain leaves the European Union, UK funds will be considered “third-country” entities – unless regulators strike a deal on equivalence.
Risk Volume Higher in Cash Securities than Futures: CFTC study – Global Investor (subscription)
Swaps markets require the same diversity and flexibility in execution methods as cash, Giancarlo says.
ICE Benchmark Administration Launches Survey on the Use of LIBOR – ICE Benchmark Administration
The purpose of the survey is to identify the LIBOR settings that are most widely used. IBA will use the results of the survey to inform its work in seeking the support of globally active banks for the publication of certain LIBOR settings after year-end 2021. The primary goal of this work would be to provide those LIBOR settings to users with outstanding LIBOR-linked contracts that are impossible or impractical to modify. Any such settings would need to be compliant with relevant regulations and in particular those regarding representativeness.
Crypto News
Fidelity, Nasdaq Ventures Invest in Cryptocurrency Exchange ErisX – Reuters
New cryptocurrency exchange ErisX said Tuesday it raised a total of $27.5 million from investors including Fidelity Investments and Nasdaq Ventures.
Crypto is Not Dead Yet – Financial News
Bitcoin’s value is just under $4,000 and the bears are ready to write its obituary. So it might be surprising that crypto continues to attract former investment bankers who still believe there is big money to be made.
Confirmed: Nasdaq’s Bitcoin Futures Will Launch in ‘First Half’ of 2019 – CoinTelegraph
The world’s second-largest stock exchange, Nasdaq, has confirmed it plans to launch Bitcoin futures in the first half of2019.
XTRD Crypto Trading Platform Taps Avelacom for IT Infrastructure – The Trade Crypto
Cryptocurrency trading platform provider XTRD has called upon Avelacom to provide connectivity and IT infrastructure for low latency access to major crypto exchanges.
Company News
Northern Trust Buys FX Algo Trading Platform – The Trade
Northern Trust has confirmed that it has agreed to acquire a foreign exchange software services provider as it seeks to grow its global FX business. The deal will see Northern Trust gain ownership of BEx, which was established in 2013.
CME, EBS Volumes Flat in November – Profit & Loss
CME Group, which now owns EBS, reported almost no change in trading volumes for November on both the spot FX and derivatives sides of its business. The average daily volume of spot FX traded on EBS was $81.6 billion in November, down 1% month-on-month and 8% year-on-year.
Citi Cutting Legacy Tech – Markets Media
Stuart Riley, global head of technology and operations, Markets and Securities Services at Citi, said new features are added twice a day to products on Citi Velocity, the bank’s institutional platform for trading
Nasdaq Targets Alternative Data with Quandl Acquisition – The Trade
Nasdaq has acquired alternative data provider Quandl as the exchange group diversifies its technology and analytics offering.
Alliance Bernstein Implements ICE Liquidity Indicators – The Trade
ICE Liquidity Indicators will provide the $530 billion asset manager with liquidity
Thomson Reuters to Cut 3,200 Jobs in Next Two Years – Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corp. said on Tuesday that it will cut its workforce by 12 percent in the next two years, axing 3,200 jobs, as part of a plan to streamline the business and reduce costs.
Haagensen to Exit smartTrade – Profit & Loss
Soren Haagensen is leaving smartTrade Technologies, where he has served as director of sales for the Americas since joining earlier this year. Sources say he will be moving to a retail FX firm in the new year.
Market Savvy
Sterling Supported By Rising Odds of No-Brexit – Reuters
Sterling stemmed early losses on Wednesday on a more positive outlook over Brexit, overcoming data showing a
EU Commission Pushes for Wider Use of Euro in Global Markets – Reuters
The European Commission published on Wednesday non-binding proposals to boost the role of the euro in international payments and as a reserve currency to challenge the dominance of the dollar.
Dollar Pressured By Falling US Yields; Recession Fears – Reuters
The dollar edged up on Wednesday but remained under pressure as an inversion in part of the Treasury yield curve caused concern about a possible US recession.
Ex-JP MorganTraders AI Fund Readies for FX Volatility Surges – Bloomberg
An artificial intelligence-driven hedge fund run by two former JP Morgan derivatives traders is betting on currency volatility to rise further in 2019, with China’s yuan and Turkey’s lira their prime targets for money-making opportunities.