New for Traders: Week ending November 30

The Miami Options Exchange (MIAX) will launch on Dec. 7 if it receives regulatory approval. MIAX would be the 11th U.S. options exchange.
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) will launch trading in Mini Options on March 18, 2013. ISE is the first exchange to confirm a launch date for the options, which will represent a deliverable of 10 shares of an underlying security. Mini Options will initially be listed on APPL, AMZN, GLD, GOOG and SPY.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved a determination requiring swap dealers to guarantee trades involving six classes of credit default and interest rate at registered clearinghouses.
CME Group Inc. dropped a lawsuit challenging CFTC trade-data reporting rules after the agency withdrew certain requirements governing the routing of trade price and volume information.
The CFTC approved CME’s application to establish its CME Repository Service, a swap data repository. The exchange will waive reporting fees for the service through Set. 30, 2013, including back-loaded trades.
CME Group Inc. and the National Futures Association chose AlphaMetrix360 as their electronic data aggregation services provider. The new partnership is designed to create a system to collect bank balances for depositories holding customer-segregated, secured amount and sequestered funds for futures commission merchants.

The U.S. Treasury Department exempted forex swaps and forwards from Dodd-Frank regulations that will apply to other derivatives. The agency explained the decision by saying that “unlike other derivatives, FX swaps and forwards already trade in a highly-transparent, liquid and efficient market.”
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved CME’s bid to acquire the Kansas City Board of Trade for $126 million in cash.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will launch two new cash-settled forex futures contacts for the Indian rupee (INR)/U.S. dollar and Brazil real/U.S. dollar beginning Jan. 28, 2013. ICE is the first U.S. exchange to launch an INR futures contract.
Bloomberg introduced a new feature allowing clients to trade foreign exchange options using the company’s multi-bank trading platform, FXGO. With the request-for-quote system, users can request and consolidate pricing for any currency option simultaneously.

On Dec. 10, ICE Futures Europe will reopen the daily futures market for the carbon credit Phase II EU Allowances and Certified Emission Reductions, and launch a new daily futures contract for Phase III EU Allowances.

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) will launch trading in spot contracts for United Nations carbon offsets beginning on Dec. 5.
Altegris Clearing solutions announced the creation of the Altegris CTA Challenge, a year-long competition that will recognize the industry’s best commodity trading advisors. All qualified CTAs are eligible. Registration closes on Dec. 10, and the winner will be announced in early 2014.
CME Group will pay a total of $2 million to almost 200 Peregrine Financial Group (PFG) clients who traded on CME exchanges. The cash comes from a CME fund established earlier this year to protect farmers, ranchers and agricultural coops that use the company’s market to hedge their products.

StoneCastle Cash Management, a provider of cash management products for institutional investors, has entered into a definitive agreement with eCD Market to acquire its assets and exclusively license its online CD marketplace. The eCD deposit portal is designed to allow users to easily obtain a large amount of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insurance for cash balances.
Omgeo updated its automated collateral management solution, Omgeo ProtoColl, to meet new Commodity Futures Trading Commission reporting requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants.
ABN AMRO Clearing implemented NASDAQ OMX’s SMARTS Broker automated trade monitoring solution to better identify suspicious trading behavior and ensure compliance across multiple markets.
Technology provider RTS Realtime Systems Group will open new data centers in Shanghai and Tokyo by year-end. As part of the expansion, the firm’s CEO, Steffan Gemuenden, will relocated from Chicago to Singapore in January.

CME Group Inc. increased the credit line to its credit house by two-thirds, to a total of $5 billion, in advance of new regulations that will transfer trades in interest rate swaps and credit default swaps from over-the-counter venues to regulated clearinghouses.
Shareholders approved a proposed $1.6 billion merger between Osaka Securities Exchange Co. (OSE) and Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc. (TSE). TSE bought 66.7% of OSE after a tender offer that ended in August.
Moscow Exchange and Deutsche Börse signed a Letter of Intent agreeing to cooperate on exchange infrastructure, product development and IT, and on regulations governing trading, clearing, settlement and custody, collateral management and market data.
The Spanish Stock Exchange announced the launch of its 70thexchange-traded fund. The ETF, issued by Lyxor, is called the Lyxor ETF Euro Stoxx50 Daily Short and will begin trading on Nov. 21.

Another options exchange nears launch, a new Indian rupee contract and a lot of regulatory action took place this week