SuperDerivatives (1999-2014) was an American financial services company. It created the first professional real time option pricing tool delivered over the internet. The option prices generated by SuperDerivatives reflected accurately the prices in the interbank broker market and the company generated worldwide transparency in option pricing and as a result drove the significant growth of the OTC option markets. The company was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange in 2014. [1]
SuperDerivatives Inc. was founded in 2000 by Dr. David Gershon, previously global head of exotic derivatives at Barclays Capital in its headquarters in London, with the idea of generating transparency in option pricing. [2] Gershon had developed his own proprietary model for option pricing which matched accurately to prices of thousands of options that traded in the interbank broker market. While many institutions traded options, the option market was opaque and only the large banks had access to the prices in the interbank market. No known model at that time was able to produce prices close enough to the market.
Gershon aimed to create transparency in option pricing among all financial institutions with the model he invented and in order to achieve transparency in the fastest possible way, he chose to deliver his pricing platform over the internet, which at that time was rather unusual. [3] [2] Dr. Yuval Levy, the London-based CTO of SuperDerivatives, managed all technology and product development of the company since inception until it was sold. In 2001, SuperDerivatives launched the first real time option pricing tool delivered over the internet. Within 2 years most of the banks that traded options around the world used the SuperDerivatives pricing system and the option pricing model was referred to by many as the “benchmark for options”. The availability of the system over the internet opened many new option markets such as in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Turkey, Morocco, Dubai, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Colombia, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia. The users of the system included banks, hedge funds, corporations, brokers, central banks and auditors. The biggest contribution of SuperDerivatives was the fact that the transparency it created enabled many new market makers and takers to participate actively in the Vanilla and Exotic options market and as a result the bid-ask spreads shrunk and the liquidity and volume rose dramatically. Within less than 5 years SuperDerivatives transformed the option market. The pricing tool became a rich platform for all professional derivatives users and In 2003 JPMorgan-Chase rolled out the SuperDerivatives pricing tool to all its traders and sales in the currency business. In 2004, SuperDerivatives started publishing implied volatility data from the OTC markets as a new options mark-to-market service. This was followed by the launch of an independent portfolio valuation service which allowed its customers to obtain the mark-to-market valuation at any cutoff time, around the clock. [4] On October 10, 2010, the company released a cross-asset derivatives pricing, structuring and pre-trade analysis system, called SDX which combined its technology for currency, interest rates, equities, commodities, energy and credit derivatives it had used since 2005. [5] In 2011 SuperDerivatives partnered with FXCM to create a multi-bank trading system for FX options called DCX. [6] On December 12, 2012 the company launched a market data platform called DGX. [7] DGX was a free text data system with self configuration.
SuperDerivatives had nine global offices in Europe, APAC and Americas. In September 2014 it was acquired by InterContinental Exchange.
In September 2014, Intercontinental Exchange announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SuperDerivatives. The acquisition was said to accelerate the expansion of ICE's comprehensive multi-asset class clearing strategy. Terms of the all-cash transaction included a purchase price of approximately $350 million. Completion of the transaction was subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. The transaction successfully completed on 7 October 2014. [1]
In finance, a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the "underlying". Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes, including insuring against price movements (hedging), increasing exposure to price movements for speculation, or getting access to otherwise hard-to-trade assets or markets. Some of the more common derivatives include forwards, futures, options, swaps, and variations of these such as synthetic collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. Most derivatives are traded over-the-counter (off-exchange) or on an exchange such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while most insurance contracts have developed into a separate industry. In the United States, after the financial crisis of 2007–2009, there has been increased pressure to move derivatives to trade on exchanges.
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing in commodities. Commodity markets can include physical trading and derivatives trading using spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Farmers have used a simple form of derivative trading in the commodity market for centuries for price risk management.
The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate is an interest-rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimates what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. The resulting average rate is usually abbreviated to Libor or LIBOR, or more officially to ICE LIBOR. It was formerly known as BBA Libor (for British Bankers' Association Libor or the trademark bba libor) before the responsibility for the administration was transferred to Intercontinental Exchange. It is the primary benchmark, along with the Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor was phased out at the end of 2021, and market participants are being encouraged to transition to risk-free interest rates.
A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against some reference asset defaulting. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments to the seller and, in exchange, may expect to receive a payoff if the asset defaults.
National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange of India, located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is the world’s largest derivatives exchange in 2021 by number of contracts traded based on the statistics maintained by Futures Industry Association (FIA), a derivatives trade body. NSE is ranked 4th in the world in cash equities by number of trades as per the statistics maintained by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) for the calendar year 2021. It is under the ownership of some leading financial institutions, banks, and insurance companies. NSE was established in 1992 as the first dematerialized electronic exchange in the country. NSE was the first exchange in the country to provide a modern, fully automated screen-based electronic trading system that offered easy trading facilities to investors spread across the length and breadth of the country. Vikram Limaye is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSE.
The foreign exchange market is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspects of buying, selling and exchanging currencies at current or determined prices. In terms of trading volume, it is by far the largest market in the world, followed by the credit market.
Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading or pink sheet trading is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges. A stock exchange has the benefit of facilitating liquidity, providing transparency, and maintaining the current market price. In an OTC trade, the price is not necessarily publicly disclosed.
A foreign exchange spot transaction, also known as FX spot, is an agreement between two parties to buy one currency against selling another currency at an agreed price for settlement on the spot date. The exchange rate at which the transaction is done is called the spot exchange rate. As of 2010, the average daily turnover of global FX spot transactions reached nearly US$1.5 trillion, counting 37.4% of all foreign exchange transactions. FX spot transactions increased by 38% to US$2.0 trillion from April 2010 to April 2013.
A currency future, also known as an FX future or a foreign exchange future, is a futures contract to exchange one currency for another at a specified date in the future at a price that is fixed on the purchase date; see Foreign exchange derivative. Typically, one of the currencies is the US dollar. The price of a future is then in terms of US dollars per unit of other currency. This can be different from the standard way of quoting in the spot foreign exchange markets. The trade unit of each contract is then a certain amount of other currency, for instance €125,000. Most contracts have physical delivery, so for those held at the end of the last trading day, actual payments are made in each currency. However, most contracts are closed out before that. Investors can close out the contract at any time prior to the contract's delivery date.
In finance, a currency swap is an interest rate derivative (IRD). In particular it is a linear IRD, and one of the most liquid benchmark products spanning multiple currencies simultaneously. It has pricing associations with interest rate swaps (IRSs), foreign exchange (FX) rates, and FX swaps (FXSs).
Electronic Broking Services (EBS) is a wholesale electronic trading platform used to trade on the foreign exchange market (FX) with market-making banks. It was originally created as a partnership by large banks and then became part of CME Group.
NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a Euro-American multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext and NYSE Arca. NYSE merged with Archipelago Holdings on March 7, 2006, forming NYSE Group, Inc. On April 4, 2007, NYSE Group, Inc. merged with Euronext N.V. to form the first global equities exchange, with its headquarters in Lower Manhattan. The corporation was then acquired by Intercontinental Exchange, which subsequently spun off Euronext.
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is an American Fortune 500 company formed in 2000 that operates global exchanges, clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. The company owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets, and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces. This includes ICE futures exchanges in the United States, Canada and Europe, the Liffe futures exchanges in Europe, the New York Stock Exchange, equity options exchanges and OTC energy, credit and equity markets.
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Markit Ltd. was a British financial information and services company with over 4,000 employees, founded in 2003 as an independent source of credit derivative pricing. The company provides independent data, trade processing of derivatives, foreign exchange and loans, customised technology platforms and managed services. The company aims to enhance transparency, reduce financial risk and improve operational efficiency. Its client base includes institutional participants in the financial marketplace. On 12 July 2016, Markit and IHS Inc. merged in an all-stock merger of equals to form IHS Markit. IHS Markit merged with S&P Global.
dbFX was Deutsche Bank’s online margin foreign exchange trading platform and service for individual and institutional investors including financial institutions, hedge funds, corporations, asset managers, money managers, commodity trading advisors, broker-dealers, brokerage firms, high net worth individuals, and sophisticated and professional traders, which operated from 2006-2011.
Matchbook FX was an internet-based electronic communication network for trading currency online in the Spot-FX or foreign exchange market. It operated between 1999 and 2002.
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ICE Clear Credit LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is a Derivatives Clearing Organisation (DCO) previously known as ICE Trust US LLC which was launched in March 2009. ICE offers trade execution and processing for the credit derivatives markets through Creditex and clearing through ICE Trust™. ICE Clear Credit LLC operates as a central counterparty (CCP) and clearinghouse for credit default swap (CDS) transactions conducted by its participants. ICE Clear Credit LLC is a subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). ICE Clear Credit LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICE US Holding Company LP which is "organized under the law of the Cayman Islands but has consented to the jurisdiction of United States courts and government agencies with respect to matters arising out of federal banking laws."
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