The Americas
On buy side, equity index options tilted bullish in Q1
Counterparty Radar: Share of notional in short positions hit new low for US life insurers; mutual funds also reported smaller short books
Model risk managers see growing regulatory divergence
Risk Benchmarking study finds most banks expect easing of model risk supervisory scrutiny in the US, but tightening in Europe
SpaceX gives CME’s single-stock futures a much-needed boost
New contracts could take off as IPO bolt-on to S&P 500 contracts
MSIM retools renminbi options wager
Counterparty Radar: US manager rebuilds USD/CNH call book to $15.7bn with strikes closer to spot and cheaper premiums
Red alert: how Nasdaq’s Smarts became surveillance blind spot
Software that looks for shifty trades has been asleep on the job, affecting alerts for hundreds of products
MBS convexity hedging: back with a vengeance, or ghost story?
More bonds now sit with active hedgers but market is split on whether flows can move US rates again
Garage upstart turns Polymarket bets into benchmarks
Belief Systems launches 13 prediction indexes, but faces adoption hurdles
How Pimco, Capital Group funds bet on falling US rates
Counterparty Radar: Inflation hedge would soften impact for Capital Group; Pimco’s swaptions structures targeted modest decline
ETF surge shows ‘worst-of’ autocalls have life in them yet
Assets in older structures have caught up with vol target versions that looked set to dominate
SocGen FX forwards trading rockets with US fund managers
Counterparty Radar: Surge in French bank’s FX forward volumes propels it to second spot in Q1 2026
XTX Markets’ US sales head joins rival IMC Trading
Benjamin Klixball takes up new role at Dutch prop trader in New York
Treasury mulls investing cash in repo. Experts aren’t convinced.
Putting idle cash to work would earn paltry returns and perhaps depress private lending activity, say sceptics
SocGen is getting into the systematic equity dispersion game
New single-stock options index is first step to plugging a gap in the bank’s QIS business
Dollar smiles again, but for how long?
Twitchy investors backed the buck during Iran war, but experts are divided on whether this marks a return of the dollar smile
The challenges facing Fed chair Kevin Warsh
New chair has pledged sweeping change, but can he keep Trump – and the FOMC – onside?
Middle East crisis revives demand for VKOs – with a twist
Equity investors balance fear and optimism by pairing 2022’s best hedge with lookback options
Small bond fund breaks ranks with bumper sovereign CDS bets
Counterparty Radar: Boston Management and Research builds sizeable protection-heavy positions across narrower set of issuers
Wells Fargo tops US banks’ financing of private credit
Bank reports $71bn in loans and commitments, but reporting differences cloud comparisons
The swap futures comeback
CME cross-margining and Reit hedging drive new growth in Eris contracts
Mutual funds are trading inflation like it’s 2022 again
Counterparty Radar: USD CPI notionals hit record levels even before March’s jump in energy prices
Main Street to Wall Street: Kalshi’s bid to go beyond sports bets
Institutional head Andy Ross’s strategy for drawing in investors and charging for ‘wisdom-of-crowds’