Hot Topics in Tech: What do you need to know about financial technology? A technical glitch postponed the start of trading in futures and options contracts on Eurex by more than two hours, the latest in a run of breakdowns by exchanges. Exchanges around the world are avidly wooing high-frequency traders, those controversial speed demons of Wall Street. Despite the often explosive debate over this kind of trading in the U.S., bourses in Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and beyond are trying to lure H...
Aug 05, 2015•56 min
Hot Topics in Tech: NYSE glitch: what happened? A Lesson from the NYSE Outage: Fragmentation Works. Leap second was not a mini Y2K, but more of a tempest in a teapot. No major outages or calamities as a result of the leap second. Derivatives market concerned by trade reporting costs. A Bitcoin technology gets NASDAQ test. The Inbox: Listener questions and comments. Question from SemperFi: Do you guys think it was really a hack that brought down NYSE? NYSE, WSJ, United and Reddit? Seems fishy to ...
Jul 17, 2015•1 hr 3 min
CTO Interview SegmentToday's guest is Ben Londergan, Executive Managing Director, Options Trading and Technology at Convergex.He discusses: Algos: The growing suite of options algos under development at Convergex including Sweep, Capital Commitment, Buywrite, Delta Neutral and much more. Reg SCI: Why is it so important and what impact will it have on the trading technology landscape. Floor vs. Tech: Bringing floor-based tech to the upstairs trading crowd. In this world of sub-second executions w...
Jul 01, 2015•57 min
CTO Interview: Mark and Henry are joined by Thomas Peterffy, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Interactive Brokers. They discuss: The HFT Sector The impact of the HFT sector on the marketplace Thomas' proposal for introducing a random amount of latency into the system Robotic typing and the benefit of leveling the playing field Mid-day auctions Static versus random delays Should developers become registered representatives? Exchange fragmentation Being against HFT vs. being for payment for order flow...
Jun 05, 2015•58 min
In this episode, Mark and Henry are joined live at the Options Industry Conference by Rob Brogan from FlexTrade. CTO Interview: Today's guest is Rob Brogan, Vice President of Options Sales at FlexTrade. They discuss: What is FlexTrade? FlexTrade's work with CBOE What's new at FlexTrade? Smart routing, algos, and more Complex order books Hot Topics in Tech: The jury weighs in on the guy who stole HFT code from Goldman Sachs. Stealing code. TWTR accidentally releases earnings via Tweet and the spe...
May 27, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Hot Topics in Tech: Today's guest is Mark Haraburda, Managing Director at Barchart who gives an overview of Chicago FinTech Exchange 2015. Overheard @FinTechChicago: "Latency will be a historical market structure discussion." - Let's hope they're right! IBM Watson may be a little scary to some participants. Cloud is also scary for many firms. Plans for the future Also of discussion today is: "Flash Crash" arrest lays bare regulatory lapses at all levels. Goldman Sachs makes $20m investment in HF...
May 06, 2015•1 hr
Hot Topics in Tech: How did Bloomberg fix its terminal outage? Virtu or vice? Fund managers face dilemma over speed-trading IPO. Parasite turns on parasite: HFT sues other HFTs for "egregious manipulation" of treasury securities. DE Shaw, Citadel urge CFTC to allow anonymous swaps trades. The Inbox: Listener questions and comments Question from Andrew Hale - How about a segment where you guys review trading apps? I would certainly tune into that. Comment from Joe Riggs - Love the story about the...
Apr 28, 2015•1 hr 4 min
CTO Interview: Today's guest is Vlad Karpel, Former CTO of OptionsXpress and Founder of TradeSpoon. He discusses: An overview of his background in the options market. TradeSpoon: what is it? What makes it unique? The TradeSpoon trade recommendation algorithm. Some of the offerings from TradeSpoon, including: Trade Idea Tool, Options Toolbox, Momentum Scanner, Unusual Options Scanner, Size Scanner, Total Value Scanner, and Tradespoon Scoop. Hot Topics in Tech: Not much love for financial firms in...
Apr 01, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Hot Topics in Tech: OCC to consider tech overhaul. Virtu hopes time can heal HFT furor. Study by CFTC official questions legality of HFT practice. City of London "black book" is called for to track "bad apple" traders. Physicist says it is possible to use ships to facilitate high-frequency trading. The Inbox: Listener questions and comments Question from Anthony J. - Hello Mark and Henry. I very much enjoy the program and your insight into this marketplace. I have a question about options data. ...
Mar 26, 2015•57 min
Hot Topics in Tech: Could Russia use high-frequency trading to crash the markets? NYSE rolls out auctions, and upgrades its technology guts. CFTC commissioner attacks swaps regulation and proposes alternative agenda. Watchdogs home in on financial technology. Casualties mount in high-speed trading arms race. Brokers, synchronize your watches - Regulators want the industry to improve their server-clock synchronizations so they can build the Consolidated Audit Trail.; The Inbox: Listener questions...
Feb 18, 2015•57 min
CTO Interview: Today's guest is Joseph Wesley, Founder & CEO of Vesel Interactive. He discusses: An overview of his background in the derivatives market? What is Vesel? Who is Vesel's end user? How many firms are using the Vesel system right now? How does Vesel generate your derivatives volume reports? Why do firms share their data with Vesel? What safeguards are there against firms under/over-reporting their volume or marketshare? An overview of VolAxe? How easy is it for clients to build t...
Jan 31, 2015•50 min
Hot Topics in Tech: SEC plans to fix data release flaw in Q1 2015. SEC pokes hole in argument it is too slow to get grip on markets. Nobel laureate Stiglitz blocked from SEC panel after faulting high-speed traders. Finally progress on obvious error rules: BATS obvious error filing. Big fund managers form new dark pool equity trading venue. Cyber Security: JP Morgan and Target attack. CME Group fines three firms for automated trading violations. Dark Pools Detente: ICE has unlikely ally on tradin...
Jan 28, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Trading Tech Talk 21: The Best and Worst of 2014 The Best/Worst of 2014: Best - Increased willingness to discuss cyber security in the financial markets. Worst - Post-Flash Boys backlash. Worst - Growing stranglehold of regulation, regardless of cost, impact or unintended consequences. Worst - Continued reduction in tech budgets in 2014. Worst (Best?) - FINRA tightening the leash on algo regulation. Best - Detente on patent disputes in the financial markets. Worst (Best?) - Death of Darkpools? W...
Dec 29, 2014•59 min
Trading Tech Talk 20: Real-Time Risk and Margin in the Cloud CTO Interview: Today's guest is Robert Newhouse, CEO, Victor Technologies. He gives an overview of his background in the derivatives markets, and what he does at Victor Technologies. Enhanced analytics, Difference vs. Hanwick, GPU acceleration, and DJALI application. Hot Topics in Tech: Cyber risk is a top concern, 84% tell DTCC. Financial technology sector complains of lack of bank services. The Inbox: Listener questions and comments ...
Dec 02, 2014•58 min
Trading Tech Talk 19: Can Crazy Math Save the Exchanges? Hot Topics in Tech: Fresh SEC crackdown on "flash crashes." Final approval of Reg SCI. "CFTC is so underfunded that it cannot evolve to handle Bitcoin and modern electronic markets," says Chairman Massad. Formal verification for trading algorithms to improve exchange reliability?Are we in a fintech bubble? The Inbox: Listener questions and comments Question from Neal Dorman - Saw a stat yesterday that an alarming number of millenials do no...
Nov 28, 2014•1 hr 45 min
Trading Tech Talk 18: Spoofing Dark Pools Hot Topics in Tech: Barclay's dark pool trading rises 23% as bank recovers from lawsuit. Dark pools pitched as havens are anything but, T. Rowe says. NYSE pulls reg back from FINRA, leans on tech. Spoofing - everything old is new again - High-speed trader accused of commodity market "spoofing". High-frequency firm said to be finalist to run Nasdaq Price Feed. Expand automated trading safeguards to include brokerages, SEC members say. CME cuts tech jobs. ...
Nov 19, 2014•1 hr 3 min
Trading Tech Talk 17: What Exactly is Best Ex? Hot Topics in Tech: OCC and the U.S. Options Exchanges announce new risk control standards to strengthen industry projections. FINRA approved a series of new rule changes focused on high-frequency trading and algorithmic trading. BABA IPO goes fairly smoothly. Chicago Stock Exchange turns to tech to save itself. Robin Hood app. Yet another attempt at zero commission stock trading. Just what the hell is "Best Ex"? Tabb Group jumps into best ex fray w...
Nov 12, 2014•57 min
Trading Tech Talk 16: Upgrade Dilemmas and Open Source Surprises Hot Topics in Tech: ICE conquest continues with SuperDerivatives acquisition. Wall Street firms push back against Bloomberg's dominance in instant messaging. Dark pool volume not impacted by bad press, regulatory fines & pending litigation. ParFX trials high-speed market makers on their trading platform. Doubts raised over global forex platform. Korea reveals derivatives safety measures. No rush to upgrade OMSs among sell-side ...
Sep 25, 2014•57 min
Trading Tech Talk 15: Virtual Machines Vs. Bare Metal Hot Topics in Tech: MMI gets Chilton as an adviser to an industry group for high-speed traders less than six months after stepping down as a US regulator. Glitch Season Returns - Nasdaq breakdown causes "stuck" orders. CME futures trade resumes after technical glitch - trade begins about four hours late. Big Data - Improving research an going visual. Data visualization demand spikes. TD Ameritrade dispute turns spotlight on US patent legislat...
Aug 29, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Trading Tech Talk 14: End of the Race to Zero CTO Interview Segment: Today';s guest is Dan Sacks, CEO of Actant. He discusses: An overview of his background in the derivatives space. A background of Actant. Actant's key products and consumers Free troubleshooting for your clients How important is speed? What is the use case for Actant's Extstream product? What does Extstream offer that the legion of other risk/analytics platforms do not? How he feels about changing fee schedules? What was the ge...
Aug 21, 2014•1 hr
Trading Tech Talk 13: Algo Hardware and High Speed Networks CTO Interview: Today's guest is James Spooner, VP of Trading Platforms at Maxeler Technologies. In this segment, he discusses: An overview of his background in the financial market, as well an overview of what he does at Maxeler Technologies. If he has seen an increased demand for your products in the wake of Dodd/Frank? How Maxeler Technologies will custom design hardware to meet the specifications of a customer's algorithm His take on...
Jul 29, 2014•56 min
Trading Tech Talk 12: The Markets Are Out of Sync Hot Topics in Tech: Regulators challenged by clock synchronization. Flash Boys continues to spur debate and some change, though the government will ultimately have to address the stock market's structure. Thomas Peterffy, one of the founding fathers of high-frequency trading, has offered the SEC a plan to keep HFTs from taking advantage of investors. Warren Buffett, business partner Charlie Munger, and Bill Gates slammed HFT on CNBC. They are no ...
Jul 23, 2014•1 hr 9 min
Trading Tech Talk 11: The Stealth Options Exchange CTO Interview Segment: Today's guest is Joe Corona, Director of Strategic Planning and Product Strategy at LiquidPoint, LLC. He discusses: An overview of his background in the derivatives markets An overview of LiquidPoint, which is part of ConvergEx Group Who is the typical end user? Is it true that LiquidPoint would be the equivalent of the #7 options exchange if you aggregated all of the flow? What are the main LiquidPoint algo types and what...
Jul 15, 2014•57 min
Trading Tech Talk 10: The Anti-Pit Proposal Hot Topics in Tech: Vesel Interactive - taking a look inside the black box. Industry group believes CME Group should suspend open-outcry trading if Globex crashes and reopen for after-hours session. Can we trust the SECs MIDAS touch? SEC supports plan to move more stock trading onto exchanges, away from private trading venues operated by banks and other firms. The Lightning Round: Minis: the beginning of the end? Dark pools: the same? Flash Boys: Food ...
Jun 25, 2014•59 min
Trading Tech Talk 9: Diving into the Dark Pools Hot Topics in Tech: Exchange leaders take on dark pools. CBOE's Ed Tilly says less dark trades would benefit the market. Meanwhile, CME's Terry Duffy think regulators should look in dark pools. NYSE will pare down the number of customer orders. O'Malia says high-speed trading outpaces CFTC oversight. Goldman under investigation for high-speed trading. UBS launches new trading algo platform. Hedge funds pump liquidity into options markets. The Inbox...
May 30, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Trading Tech Talk 8: the Modern Markets Initiative CTO Interview: Today we have Peter Nabicht, Former CTO at Allston. He discusses: An overview of the Modern Markets Initiative Research at MMI Some of the key takeaways/problems he found in Flash Boys The key tenet of the book that the markets are rigged against the little guy, and that HFT is the culprit His view on a minimum order lifespan and/or a charge for canceling orders, which Blair Hull advocated His view on dark pools, the other focus o...
May 01, 2014•58 min
Trading Tech Talk: The Great Flash Boys Debate Hot Topics in Tech: It’s all HFT, all the time: The recent 60 Minutes interview with Michael Lewis along with his new book Flash Boys has reignited the conversation. My biggest problem with this book is that the material is so dated. It sounds like an OIC panel from 2006. Is HFT hurting the little guy? Is HFT impacting liquidity providers? Has the definition of front running changed? Charles Schwab calls HFT a "growing cancer." The Inbox: Listener Q...
Apr 17, 2014•58 min
Trading Tech Talk 6: Interview with Blair Hull CTO Interview: Our guest on this episode is Blair Hull, Founder of Hull Trading, Founder of Ketchum Trading, and 2014 Sullivan Award recipient. He discusses: The 1987 crash If trading technology leveled the playing field The impact of multiple market centers on trading tech failures If HFT is a detrimental force in the financial markets Hot Topics in Tech: Exchanges are extremely concerned over cyber security. NY Attorney General Erick Schneiderman ...
Apr 07, 2014•1 hr 1 min
Trading Tech Talk 5: 2014 Trading Technology 40 CTO Interview: Our guest today is Jeffrey Kutler, Editor-in-Chief of Risk Professional , the publication of the Global Association of the Risk Professionals (GARP). Jeff is the author of Institutional Investors "2014 Trading Technology 40." He discusses: The criteria went into compiling the "Trading Tech 40" Is the race to zero over or is this just a brief hiatus? Did the growing impact of HFT on the marketplace factor into the Trading Tech 40? How...
Mar 25, 2014•51 min
Trading Tech Talk 4: Cheaters Among Us? Hot Topics in Tech: SEC launching new tech to spot insider trading. The Atlantic says high-frequency trading is "cheating." Is a transaction tax really necessary? The Inbox: Question from Nik Thomas, Sarasota, FL -Thank you for launching this show. It's about time someone really dove into the tech that is underlying all of the products that we love to trade. I know you touched on it briefly on the first episode, but can you devote some time to the growing ...
Mar 10, 2014•1 hr 5 min
