Blockchain, technology migration, fund managers vs. HFTs, and the marriage of social and trading dominated our favorite fintech headlines in February. With the International Blockchain and Fintank CryptoCon conferences kicking off in February, we’re seeing more in-depth conversations surrounding bitcoin, blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies from futures industry leaders and technologists.

Here are our favorite fintech headlines from February 2018:

February 13, 2018

In play for customer data, TD Ameritrade rolls out Twitter trading bot

Tearsheet

TD Ameritrade is blending tweeting and trading into a single customer experience. Since many TD Ameritrade customers are active Twitter users, the Twitter trading bot is an engagement tool that helps the company understand customer behavior patterns, data that can be used for personalized experiences and recommendations.

Personalized marketing is essential to a meaningful online experience and a targeted delivery of messages. We see more and more social market data being used to improve a trading experience as well as provide key sentiment changes that inform trading decisions. For a major player like TD to roll out this technology signifies a larger acceptance of social as a ‘grown up’ component of trading and finance. — Sarah McNabb

February 14, 2018

Highlights from the International Blockchain Conference

By Chuck Mackie – John Lothian News

The Innovation and Development Foundation (IDF) presented the International Blockchain Congress at mHub on February 9 and it was a bit like taking a train trip on Amtrak; it started late, got a little bit later at each stop along the way, and somehow still managed to be rewarding at the same time. The event highlighted how many exciting projects and developments are taking place with blockchain, the dynamic international community that is propelling progress, and just how hard it still is to separate the gold from pyrite at this point.

Can we be on blockchain 3.0 already? The advances in the technology are interesting, as blockchain moves from a simple transfer technology, to smart contracts to a global network technology. –Jim Kharouf

February 20, 2018

Wedbush’s Bob Fitzsimmons Says We’re Just Beginning to Build A Market for Bitcoin

By efutures

John Lothian News’ Jim Kharouf sat down with Bob Fitzsimmons, Managing Director and head of Wedbush Futures, owner of eFutures, at the recent Fintank CryptoCon event to talk about just how well the separate contracts are doing, who is trading them and who wants to get on board.

One thing that is interesting in this interview was the focus and potential for cyrpto miners to become commercial hedgers on the futures markets. We could be seeing a new customer base moving into futures.— Jim Kharouf

February 22, 2018

Crypto Markets Are Young, Hungry and Just Getting Started

By Jim Kharouf, Gate 39 Media

Jim Kharouf talks crypto from a market standpoint, pointing out the challenges and opportunities that lie in this unique space that resides between the wild, wild, west and an infrastructure project that is months, maybe a few years, from becoming a fully integrated asset class. And from the vantage of someone in the crypto space, Wall Street, LaSalle Street and every other mainstream financial industry will eventually be pulled in, passed up, or circumvented by it. In this post, Jim highlights key messages taken from Chicago’s recent CryptoCon event.

One overused journalism cliche is ‘follow the money’. And in this case, it is well worth following DRW in the crypto markets.— Jim Kharouf

February 24, 2018

Opinion: This is your fund manager’s secret weapon to fight high-frequency traders

By MarketWatch

Mutual-fund and asset managers trying to get the best price on a stock purchase or sale face a challenge when HFTs deploy sophisticated pattern-recognition software in search of order-flow information that they can use to their advantage. When an asset manager unintentionally leaves footprints that tip its hand to these HFTs, the price is often impacted to the detriment of the asset manager. This article covers the powerful weapon that asset managers can use against HFTs that exploit order.

A nice look at a study about the markets. Indeed, game theory is a big part of it, even in today’s high speed, algo-driven world.— Jim Kharouf

February 26, 2018

Reflections on a Technology Migration

By NASDAQ

Members of the NASDAQ Market Technology team discuss the success of a large technology migration of replacing legacy trading systems as well as the essential components of having clearly defined goals, speed, and leadership that were integral to the success of this migration.

This is an interesting walk down memory lane with Nasdaq and OMX. It conjures the thought about what the next generation of technology for exchanges will look like. Today we have robust stock, options and futures trading platforms. Exchanges have slowly been diversifying their business models to include more data and analytics services while blockchain continues to make strides. It will be interesting to see if exchanges will continue to be leaders or if a new technology leapfrogs these incumbents in the coming years.— Jim Kharouf

Fintech Exchange 18 | April 26, 2018 | Chicago
We’re excited to be a Lightning Round presenter at FinTech Exchange Chicago where we will share our knowledge, discuss trends, and share our solutions. See you there!

Info at: https://www.fintechchicago.com/