Alphacution provides additional evidence - via Robinhood - that option order routing revenue, the primary source of PFOF, is being negatively impacted by retail adoption of 0DTE option trading - as well as emerging indications of a resurgence in crypto trading...
With latest data in hand, Alphacution shows that the zero-day option (0DTE) phenomenon has contributed to long-term declines in aggregate payment for order flow (PFOF) levels thereby causing a ripple of subtle and not-so-subtle impacts in the market ecosystem...
For the longest time, the use of technology gradually removed excess costs and other inefficiencies from financial markets. This evolution wasn't just about speed, although that was a key element. And then advanced quantitative trading techniques, social media techniques, and mobile-first technologies converged. This is Alphacution's view on what's happened since and what that means for the road ahead...
In further preparation for its upcoming case study focused on option market makers, Alphacution identifies a seemingly insignificant shard of evidence that may represent Tower Research Capital's first foray into equity option trading...
Alphacution builds on its ongoing "derivative securities saturation" theme including the combined proliferation of stock options, index options, equity futures options, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and ETF options...
Group One Trading is not participating in the zero-days to expiry (0DTE) option boom. And yet, Alphacution shows how its data yields a pattern that illustrates certain 0DTE impacts on the broader US option market...
Alphacution updates its comprehensive review of retail option activity - including breakdowns by wholesale market maker and retail broker - through June 2023...
Guest Post: Derivatives specialist, Don Dale, shares key missing pieces to the 0DTE option puzzle...
Alphacution found a few grains of new data and used them to estimate the retail share of US equity index volume...
In this 98-page, 115-exhibit, 22,400-word case study, “IMC: International Marketmakers Combination,” Alphacution publishes its findings on global option market maker and equity index option specialist, Amsterdam-based IMC BV and its affiliates, including – most notably – its US-based affiliate, IMC-Chicago, LLC (often known as IMC Financial Markets). Founded in 1989 by two floor traders on Amsterdam’s European Options Exchange, today IMC is one of only three Tier I proprietary trading firms with legacy in the 1980’s – along with legendary option trading houses, Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group, LLP and Amsterdam-based Optiver BV – and one of only eight “prop firms” globally with more than 1,000 employees. Beyond showcasing certain achievements, revenue, risk framework, and trading preferences of IMC, this case study – Alphacution’s 17th such report showcasing the world’s leading technology-enhanced trading firms – also provides context for the boom in zero days to expiry (0DTE) options and its impacts on a constellation of US option market makers… This and related case studies are available to premium and enterprise subscribers or via individual document purchase…
