For years, Americans were pushed offshore to trade perpetual futures while the rest of the world could trade them at home. This spring, U.S. regulators finally opened a compliant path to these markets here. Today, the largest U.S. exchange, CME, went to court to close it.
This is what happens when one company controls a market. By @BetterMarkets' count, CME runs about 92% of U.S. exchange-traded derivatives. When one venue holds that much volume, everyone else carries the cost. Less choice, higher prices.
Perpetual futures are the first genuinely new derivatives product to reach U.S.-regulated markets in over a decade. More competition among exchanges is best for the people who actually use these markets. These products deserve clear rules.
The real question is whether Americans get access to innovative new financial products, or whether one incumbent keeps them locked out. We think they deserve access. As CFTC @ChairmanSelig put it: "Incumbents will always fear the future." But none of us should fear the incumbents.
Demand for global equities is skyrocketing:
Global equity funds have attracted +$210 billion in inflows over the last 6 months, the best 6-month stretch in history.
This represents ~10% of the total assets under management of these funds.
Inflows have QUADRUPLED over the last year and surpassed the meme stock frenzy peak of 2021 by +100%.
Emerging Markets ETFs alone have attracted +$35 billion in inflows year-to-date, on track for its strongest annual intake on record.
Meanwhile, the South Korean ETF, $EWY, has been one of the most actively traded ETFs, accounting for 10-14% of total volume across all 688 global equity ETFs over the last 3 months.
This percentage has more than TRIPLED since the beginning of the year.
Investor appetite for global equities has never been stronger.