Event Summary October 5, 2016

2016 Chicago Trading Technology Summit

The 2016 Chicago Trading Technology Summit on the Convergence of Trading and Financial Technology Innovation was held at the Mid-America Club in Chicago, IL on September 20th.

This is a well-attended conference of industry participants and regulators. Panelists included JPM CISO on Cyber security, Directors of the CME, CFTC and Chicago Federal Reserve attorneys, COO of Northern Trust on Block chain, as well as CEOs and other senior members of algorithmic trading firms.  Topics ranged from new regulations, predicative analytics and machine learning, Blockchain Industry initiatives, cyber security, and other hot topics for the audience.

Topics included the following:

Discussion and debate about what was important to various constituents, especially the tension caused by differing views between traders/investors and regulators (mostly CFTC).   For example, there is a new proposed regulation (Reg AT) which provides, among other things, CFTC access to the source code of trading algorithms without a subpoena (or delay / notice).   There was passionate discussion on both sides of this topic.

Blockchain discussion crossed over from the dedicated session into the regulatory sessions and was very insightful to what the future may bring on this topic.  The struggle between anonymity vs. transparency is both a key operational and regulatory theme.

The former CME director talked about what he says is the hot topic of spoofing which he defined as intentionally entering a bid or offer with intent to cancel or modify before execution. There are several cases which the regulators and Department of Justice have brought that are very concerning for these firms.  They talked about various strategies and software products to monitor for this type of activity within their firms.

The event’s topics and messaging compliments Trexin’s focus on Pragmatic Enterprise Data Management and Next Generation Operational Effectiveness.  Our financial services experts are working with our clients and prospects on industry and technical topics every day.   Please contact us for more information.