The CFTC just fined Goldman for failure to properly disclose prices fairly to clients.
And it’s all about a technical issue related to the timing of international swaps.

The CFTC just fined Goldman for failure to properly disclose prices fairly to clients.
And it’s all about a technical issue related to the timing of international swaps.
Somebody gave you an insider tip and you want to use options? Think again.
The SEC sees you coming. Good luck justifying yourself to a jury. The stick will hurt.
Investors are not happy with Infinity-Q, the derivatives hedge fund that had a slight ‘mismarking’ and is now in a wind-down. We’ve learnt a few more things since the announcement.
When you are spoofing gold futures, don’t brag about it in chat rooms.
A few gold futures traders got one year in the clink for market manipulation.
FINRA slapped its largest penalty eve, $70m, to Robinhood for numerous and shocking failings.
That fine will raise the firm’s IPO price.
PwC released its annual Crypto Hedge Fund report; it contains many interesting statistics – fees, size, investor source, strategies, liquidity, performance…
This week saw some really unusual moves, 10Y repo, intraday volatility, stock rotations, A harbinger of more volatility to come?
GameStop’s rally and its short squeeze are more than just market exuberance. Thanks to low-cost trading, employees working from home, and a Fed-induced market rally, retail traders are pushing the market to new highs and enjoying the excitement of the rally. Worse, social media allow them to focus on a few instruments, with wild rallies.
It is only a matter of time before this party is over, for this stock or the market. We should start thinking of the aftermath.
More about Robinhood… Massachusetts’ Enforcement Division filed a complaint about
– its aggressive growth tactics,
– the firm’s outages and disruptions, which were well known and ignored while pushing growth,
– its gamification,
– and insufficient supervision for option trading.
Here is an excellent, albeit a bit lengthy, analysis of the history, regulatory and general situation of Robinhood & its Day Trading business by Bill Singer of Broke and Brokers (http://www.rrbdlaw.com/).
Robinhood has just been fined $65m for overcharging its customers, despite trades being free of charge – the company sells its order flow, and the net result is that traders are overcharged $35m/y.
The firm also mislead its clients in its advertising.
But in the back of these already serious issues, is the question of ”gamification’ of trading, where inexperienced individuals actively day-trade on margin. They end-up facing professional investors, who are much better informed and equipped than them. A previous note (https://lnkd.in/gCjKwtM) showed that most if not all end-up losing money.
This five-year-old article below still remains a good analysis of what ‘gamification’ entails. It is probably fine for school teaching and corporate training, but feeding a “high-octane gambling need” is probably not ideal for financial markets.
Robinhood’s documented bubbles, coupled with many new accounts and likely overpriced markets, could turn pretty ugly pretty fast.