Options Insider Radio Interviews

In this episode, Mark is joined by Georgio Stoev, Product Manager for Futures and Listed Options at Saxo Bank. They discuss: Georgio's background in the financial services industry Saxo Bank is diving into options What else does Saxo Bank offer? Who do they partner with? The popularity of options for European institutional investors What percentage of their options flow is European versus American-based? What about warrants? Are options becoming more popular with European investors in general? What are some changes to the European regulatory environment? And more

Mark is joined by Mary Savoie, Executive Director of the Options Industry Council (OIC) and First Vice President, Industry Services for The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). They discuss: Mary's background in the options industry The 25th anniversary of the Options Industry Council What is the origin of the OIC? The mission of the OIC The newly upgraded website, optionseducation.org How does OIC support advisors? The OIC video series And more...

In this episode, Mark is joined by Michael Mollet, Director of Product Development at CBOE and CFE. They discuss: Bitcoin and the potential for listed derivatives What is the proposal? Why now? Partnering with Gemini What exactly is the product they plan to launch? How is settlement determined? What is the timing on releasing this product? Will there be Bitcoin options? What about a Bitcoin VIX? What about other cryptocurrencies? What else is on the CFE horizon?

In this episode, Mark is joined by Rande Howell, Trader Psychologist, who has more than 15 years of practice as a licensed therapist and performance psychology coach. They discuss: What does a trader psychologist do? The thin line between fear/anger and revenge trading Freedom from emotion versus freedom of emotion What attracted him to performance psychology Figuring out a new set of rules Who is Rande's typical client? What is the number one issue people need to overcome? Redefining winning and losing Controlling what you can control gives traders the edge Knowing when to cut your losses Moving out of mediocrity is about performance How do you start managing emotion?

In this episode, Mark is joined by Ed Boyle, CEO of the BOX Options Exchange. They discuss: Why are they launching a new options trading floor? How are they going to incent options order flow? The backlash against new exchanges What will trade on the floor versus electronically? How many firms will make markets? What about the PIP? What can we do to bring people back to market making? The search for the holy grail

In this episode, Mark is joined by Joe Halpern, Founder and CEO of Exceed Investments. They discuss: What is Exceed Investments? The Exceed Defined Shield Investment Fund Is there a standardized methodology for the fund? The obsession with short duration How did they arrive at 12.5% How are they dealing with record low volatility? The volatility in the political sphere On the hunt for yield The use of options by financial advisors Want more information? Check out catalystmf.com or exceedinvestments.com

In this episode, Mark is joined by Jen Nayar, CEO of Vela Trading Technologies. They discuss: Major acquisitions: OptionsCity and Object Trading The whys and hows of the acquisitions How will the brands merge together going forward? Is the smaller, fragmented community cause for concern? Was there much of an overlap between Vela and Object Trading? When will the whole platform come together? Is there more to come?

Mark is joined by Mead Welles, Co-Founder, Chairman and Treasurer of A Leg to Stand On (ALTSO). Mead is also the Founder and CEO of Octagon Asset Management, LLC They discuss: What is ALTSO? Rocktoberfest 2017 is October 5 at City Winery How did it all start? What surprises are in store for this year? How do the Chicago and New York events differ? Any plans for additions to the schedule? New York event is October 26 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Time's Square What are ALTSO's business practices? How has technology helped ALTSO meet their goals? About ALTSO: A Leg To Stand On ("ALTSO") is a non-profit organization providing free orthopedic care including prosthetic limbs, orthotic devices, mobility aids, corrective surgery and rehabilitative care to children in the developing world. Its mission is to offer children who have lost their limbs in traumatic accidents or suffer from congenital disabilities the physical capabilities to access the opportunities and self-esteem earned through education, work and mobility

In this episode, Mark is joined by Arthur Bass, Managing Director Fixed Income Financing, Futures, and Rates at Wedbush. They discuss: Arthur's backgroun in the finance space The recent Fed meeting, no big surprises there Good employment numbers and low inflation...where do we go from here? Will it be a policy error to continue increasing rates Is there too much information coming from the Fed? The Wedbush growth, including KCG, Crossland and EFutures acquisitions And more

In this episode, Mark is joined by Greg Stevens, Vice President of Product Development for Options at Fidelity. They discuss: Greg's winding path through the derivatives space Fidelity's performance in Options Broker Madness Fidelity is so much more than just 401k Three ways to play: mobile, web, and Active Trader Pro Trader tools, including back-testers Commissions, margins, and price improvement Excelling at customer service Does Fidelity offer a virtual trading platform? The resurgence of back-testing More tools for happy options traders Idea generation/trade recommendations Investing in the mobile experience Charging to close shorts? Price improvement: the voodoo of order routing? The decline in options volume What happened to minis? Auctions: yea or nay?

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Eric Cott, Director of Advisor Education, and Emily Sweet, Senior Analyst at Cerulli Associates. They discuss: Merging the Options Industry Conference and the Financial Advisor Conference The survey Cerulli Associates did for the OIC on financial advisors Surprising findings from the survey Downside protection, hedging, and other ways larger advisors are using options How many advisors participated in the survey When there is a dedicated CIO, there is more use of options Improving professional trading tools How many advisors aren't comfortable talking about options with clients? Options as a counterpoint to the robo advisor What about the advisors who previously used options but stopped? The client influence on options is hard to quantify

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Joe Corso, Senior Vice President of Active Trader at E*Trade and Steve Claussen, Vice President and Chief Investment Strategist of Options House. They discuss: The details of the merger of the platforms How will things change for OH clients? Don't forget about the futures Feedback from customers on getting out of positions Why is volume down? The importance of education How does the industry address the market maker situation? The growing concentration of liquidity across a few names Moving towards sector and industry ETFs Millennials in the marketplace

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Barry Star, CEO at Wall Street Horizon They discuss: Barry's background in options What is Wall Street Horizon? Who uses Wall Street Horizon? Finding alpha in moving earnings dates The types of volatility related to the timing of earnings releases How do they get it so right? The impact of social media Don't trade on bad data What are the Wall Street Horizon price points? Which brokers do they work with?

Recorded live (to tape) at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Peter Maragos, Co-Founder and CEO of Dash Financial Technologies. They discuss: His background in the financial space What does Dash do? Joining forces with Liquidpoint Having all the right solutions Will trading floors come back? The shrinking pool of liquidity providers Modernizing the markets Where is the incremental value in multiple exchanges? Reaching out to new customers Huge volume in fewer names

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Shelly Brown, Executive Vice President of Business Strategy at the Miami Options Exchange. They discuss: Rolling out the second exchange for the group How are the early numbers on Pearl? Playing with fees and managing flow What are the points of differentiation for the MIAX exchange group? What can the marketplace do to spur volume? Should the minis make a comeback? The need for public education How to incent market makers to come back to the fold? The concentration of liquidity in just a few names Predatory traders taking over flow Auctions: pro or con?

Recorded live (to tape) at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by JJ Kinahan, Chief Market Strategist at TD Ameritrade. They discuss: The merger with Scottrade Where did the volume go? Is there a tax put under the market? Is the VIX working? Getting millennials into options Maximizing the mobile experience What can we do with stocks that are too expensive?

Recorded live (to tape) at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Jen Nayar, CEO of Vela Trading Technologies. They discuss: Her history in the trading technology space What does Vela do? What is Vela doing to make market data accessible? The trend of bespoke data Keeping one eye on potential competitors The myriad reasons for the slow adoption of cloud-based platforms Enhanced data feeds What are conference highlights? The proliferation of exchanges

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Rob Brogan Vice President of Equity Derivative Services at Flextrade They discuss: What's going on at Flextrade? What does Flextrade do, and who is their typical end-user? What are they doing to counteract the trend of liquidity providers leaving the industry? Optimal data presentation: API or no? Major trends: cloud, mobile, hosted solutions What are highlights from the conference? Complex order books and the communication gap

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Kapil Rathi, Senior Vice President of Options Business Development at CBOE. They discuss: What is Kapil's role at CBOE since the merger? How will the four options exchanges fit together? Thinking outside of the box Is he pro or con on auctions? The pressure on liquidity providers Complex order books and getting them to communicate with each other Innovations coming from CBOE

Recorded live at the 2017 Options Industry Conference, Mark is joined by Matt Amberson, Principal and Founder of ORATS They discuss: His history in the options industry Unique gamma scalping applications for each underlying Is there a secret sauce to options backtesting? Forward testing backtesting Creating your own signals Getting RIAs to use options in their portfolios Getting past the gatekeepers What are the biggest requests they receive for backtesting Ongoing concentration of liquidity in just a few names Does exchange fragmentation perpetuate the liquidity crisis? Auctions: pro or con?