FIF has scheduled a joint call for the Rule 605 and Rule 606 Working Groups for Tuesday April 29 at 3 pm ET. The Working Group will discuss draft FAQs relating to Rule 606(a) reporting to submit to the SEC. The Working Group will also discuss a draft FIF comment letter on proposed FINRA Rule 6152, which provides for centralized reporting of Rule 605 reports to FINRA.

The Data and Technology Committee will have its next call on Wednesday April 30 at 10 am ET to review capacity, latency and volume data for the prior month for the equity, options, currency, crypto and futures markets. The spotlight presenters will be Henry Schwartz and Maggie White of Cboe, who will discuss options market data.

SLATE Working Group. FIF hosted three calls this past week for the Securities Lending Transparency (SLATE) Working Group. The Working Group continued its review and discussion of a draft letter to the SEC and FINRA relating to the implementation of SLATE. The Working Group discussed sections in the letter relating to termination events, cancels, borrowerType values, fields relating to collateral, fields relating to fees and rebates, the security list, LEIs, and cross-border scenarios. Short Position and Short Interest Reporting. FIF hosted a call for the Short Sales / Reg SHO / Short...

Cboe Global Markets has expanded its S&P product suite with the launch of trading options for S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (EWI), to provide greater investor choice and diversification opportunities. The derivatives and securities exchange network has said that the launch will complement Cboe’s S&P 500 Index (SPX) options.  The expansion comes following increasing conversations around equity index exposure in recent years, as well as growing interest in options to manage US equity market exposure and volatility.

StoneX is set to acquire the global businesses of US clearing broker RJ O’Brien & Associates (RJO). According to a story in The Trade news, the merger is expected to be completed in Q3 2025 and marks an important step for StoneX as it seeks to provide greater access to liquidity in fixed income markets.  StoneX is set to add over 75,000 of RJO’s client accounts following the acquisition, including brokers, commercial and institutional clients and individual investors, who will be given access to a wide range of markets, products and services such as StoneX’s over the...

IEX has firmed up the date for its new options exchange, IEX Options, set to be launched by Q2 2026, pending regulatory approval. The exchange operator said the new venue will align with the needs of options industry participants and tackle risk management challenges in the market. The firm announced the launch of the US options exchange in September 2024, and efforts have already been made to expand IEX’s options team, file the proposed rule book with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and maintain engagement with regulatory authorities and industry...

Nasdaq and Bruce Markets have entered a new data partnership through which Nasdaq will exclusively distribute Bruce Alternative Trading System (ATS) market data. The collaboration marks a major development in after-hours trading, enabling market participants to access Bruce ATS data through existing Nasdaq connections overnight in the United States according to a story in MarketsMedia news. The partnership evolved naturally from an existing relationship between the two companies. Bruce ATS utilizes Nasdaq’s market technology to power its trading system, through a collaboration...

Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Bonds has unveiled a new request-for-quote (RFQ) protocol for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) according to a story in The Trade news.  The offering will allow clients to execute anonymously, due to ICE Bonds sitting in the middle of the transaction. Requests will be transmitted electronically to a wide community of MBS dealers, market makers and investors on the multi-asset class alternative trading system ICE TMC. The functionality is also designed to work alongside ICE Bonds’ existing ‘click-to-trade’ functionality, with the aim of delivering...

FIF wants to thank the attendees of the FIF Event on 4/8. The strong panels and the beautiful venue made for a great evening. The regulatory panel covered a lot of content in a short amount of time and showed how the industry’s willingness to collaborate on these initiatives is beneficial for all. The technology panel taking place at AWS, it was the perfect place to have a discussion on the cloud, importance of low latency, the current digital asset landscape, GEN AI and extended hours trading. Timely topics on both panels. It was great catching up with all of you in the networking section...