A collection of stories from SmartBrief publications and around the web…
Given the fun events over at the Nasdaq yesterday, this primer on high-frequency trading from the FT’s Philip Stafford seems pretty prescient. HFT might not have caused the Nasdaq trading halt, but regulators will certainly use yesterday’s events to shine a spotlight on those who CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton oh-so-affectionately refers to as “cheetah traders.”
While CME Group, Eurex, NYSE Liffe and NASDAQ NLX battle it out to grow their share of the European exchange-traded derivatives market, Fidessa’s Steve Grob says the major exchanges would do well to learn from what TOM (The Order Machine) is doing in the Dutch equity options market. “In less than 2 years TOM can claim an effective market share of more than 25% in those contracts in which it competes with NYSE Liffe. I don’t know what they’re smoking in the cafes of Amsterdam these days, but maybe it’s time some of the global exchanges paid them a visit.”
For those who don’t know much (or anything) about the Global Legal Entity Identifier System, HSBC’s Chris Johnson and Hany Choueiri have penned a pretty concise piece that will bring you up to speed.
Cody Boyte over at Axial takes a look at why so many small banks are merging. Ancillary product disadvantages and the burden of regulation play a role, but so does a less-than-obvious factor: management fatigue. “As happens in many industries after crisis or cycle events, some of the owners and executives who fought to save their banks over the last few years are just tired. … Often lacking succession plans, the best option for many banks has been to merge or sell.”