by Lisa Abramowicz Trading of exchange-traded funds that focus on junk bonds is soaring while volume in the underlying securities slumps as dwindling dealer holdings prompt investors to seek electronic platforms. Volumes in the two biggest ETFs in June have climbed 22 percent above the six-month average while overall…Read More

Courtesy of MarketsMedia With new trading venues catering to institutional investors ready to enter the fray, market participants say that more fragmentation is not necessarily the solution to cure market imbalances. ‘Fragmentation of the markets is not a good thing for long-term investors,” Manoj Narang, chief executive and founder of…Read More

Good op-ed courtesy of TabbForum re: debate about whether having yet more options exchanges makes sense, or is just plain silly. The Pros and Cons of Options Exchange Proliferation :: TabbFORUM - Where Capital Markets Speak.Read More

Social Media + Financial Services is (so far) an oxymoron. After all, the odds are 10:1 that you're compliance officer will call you a moron if you solicit approval to become socially-engaged in any digital venue. All of that said, the tide always turns, until of course, it comes back…Read More

Whether in effort to placate regulators who have put high-frequency traders in their cross-hairs, or simply in effort to increase revenue via new fees, or maybe even in effort to keep competitive, NASDAQ OMX announced that effective June 1, traders on its three exchanges will be charged a fee for…Read More

Courtesy of James Armstrong at Traders Mag.. Thomson Reuters announced today it is adding a new social media sentiment analysis feed to its machine-readable news product. The service, which already gives users access to news from Reuters and about 50 third-party services, will now provide information from up to 50,000…Read More

[caption id="attachment_372" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Bloomberg LP's Catherine Cowdery Feb 29 Interview w WallachBeth Capital's Andy McOrmond"][/caption] For those gray-bearded former floor brokers who would gallop into an exchange specialist's trading pit and shout, "I'll buy what's offered on the screen!",  and were often dismayed when the specialist yelled back,  "Go…Read More

In a Nov 15 story from CNN: the prospects for social media ETF “SOCL” were pretty much slammed. “NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — A social media exchange-traded fund has made its debut, but experts say to hold off before you “like” and “+1″ it to share it with all of your…Read More

Unbeknownst to too many who traffic in ETFs, the phrases "thinly-traded" and "illiquid" are far from synonymous. Yes, of the now 1300+ exchange-traded funds, 2/3 of the total ETF trading volume is attributed to the top 25 "go-go names." But, whether you're an RIA, a corporate treasurer, a hedge fund…Read More

Here's a wake-up call to critics of the ETF world: two more unrelated and just-published research studies have acquitted the ETF industry of charges leveled by critics who have claimed ETFs are at the root of heightened market volatility. In a newly-released report from the Investment Company Institute, which interrogated…Read More

Its countdown time for all of those following PIMCO's entry into the ETF space; on March 1,  the House that Bill Gross Built is scheduled to debut The PIMCO Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund under the ticker TRXT. Those that click on the link to the fund will be able to…Read More

A joint partnership between Normua Holdings and inter-dealer broker Tradition PLC formalized the launch of the ETF industry's first electronic exchange platform.  Based in London and designed for the European theatre, where ETF transparency is often problematic, "Navesis-ETF" is  intended to provide "qualified customers" the ability to trade ETFs in…Read More