The periodic table
I read with interest, and some dismay, Sam Agini’s great piece in Financial News yesterday about Marcus Ferber writing to ESMA be-moaning periodic auctions. Perhaps the most asinine comment attributed to Mr Ferber is that some such mechanisms are a “blatant attempt to undermine the Mifid II provisions... Read More
History of the World Part III
Those of us who have been in the industry for a while will remember what became known as the “Battle of the Bund” back in the early 1990s.The quick version is that newly formed DTB (now Eurex) managed, in just a few months, to repatriate trading in the benchmark Bund futures contract from London... Read More
ESMA’s first Heisenberg moment
Anyone who has watched the cult TV series Breaking Bad knows that Heisenberg was the clandestine alias adopted by the show’s chief protagonist, Walt White. The ‘original’ Heisenberg was, of course, the brilliant German theoretical physicist who developed his famous Uncertainty Principle.... Read More
Storm in a tea cup
As Storm Eleanor literally howled across the UK last night I woke up wondering if it was some portent to today – Jan 3rd – MiFID II go-live day. But here I am, sat at my desk, and everything seems pretty normal. No one seems to expect huge volumes today though, as traders gently blip the throttles... Read More
Bitcoin futures – the best idea ever?
I read yesterday that Cboe is bringing forward the launch date for its Bitcoin futures contract in a bid to usurp its rivals at the CME. This set me thinking about the likely impact of these contracts on the price of Bitcoin itself. As my good friend John Lothian has always maintained, futures markets... Read More
