We exploit a unique feature of cryptocurrency markets to provide new evidence on how derivatives impact cash markets. In December 2017, the CME Group and CBOE Global Markets both introduced futures contracts on bitcoin (BTC) against USD, but not on any other cryptocurrency exchange rate pairs....

The rapid growth of exchange traded products (ETPs) has raised concerns about their implications for financial stability. A case in point is the abrupt market crash of short volatility strategies on February 5th 2018. In this paper, we describe this “Volmageddon” event and illustrate the...

We analyze how informed investors trade in the options market ahead of corporate news when they receive private, but noisy, information about the timing and impact of these announcements on stock prices. We propose a framework that ranks options trading strategies (option type, maturity, and...

Cryptocurrencies provide a unique opportunity to identify how derivatives impact spot markets. They are fully fungible, trade across multiple spot exchanges at different prices, and futures contracts were selectively introduced on bitcoin (BTC) exchange rates against the USD in December 2017....