From Meme Stocks to Zero-Day Options: The Rise of Online Trading and Implications for Financial Systems and Regulations

A Conversation with Massimo Cutuli, Chief Financial Risk Officer, Options Clearing Corporation

Moderated by David Ye, PhD, Faculty Director of Quantitative Finance in MIDS and Mathematics, and a Faculty Affiliate of Duke RESILE

In this conversation, we will explore the explosive growth of online trading since the pandemics, from the stocks and options of big tech companies like NVIDIA to meme stocks like Game Stop, from traditional assets to cryptocurrencies. More recently, we have also seen dramatic growth in so-called zero-day options, which are also dubbed by many as a form of lottery tickets. The key questions for exploration include:

• What are the context and drivers for these trends?
• Who are the key players in these activities?
• What are the risks and impacts to financial markets?
• How financial regulations since 2008 Financial Crisis can help mitigate these risks?

Massimo Cutuli, the Chief Financial Risk Officer of the Options Clearing Corp, which is the largest Clearing House in the world that guarantees options trading. Previously, he was the Chief Risk Officer for Optiver, USA, and has also held the Head of Risk position for Citadel Securities; worked in banking at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Massimo served as a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and London Clearinghouse risk committees. He received a BS in Aerospace Engineering and an MS in Space Science (University of London), an MS in Aerospace Engineering (Cornell University) and MS in Operations Research (Columbia University).

David Ye is currently a faculty member of Data Science (MIDS) and Math Department at Duke University. His current teaching and research focus is Quantitative Finance with a focus on applying Data Science to problems in Finance. Previously, David had over 25+ years of industry experience in a wide range of financial firms including commercial bank, investment bank, custodian/trust bank, insurance company, and central clearing corporation. David has deep experiences in risk management as the Chief Risk Offices for several global companies including Nomura (Americas), State Street Global Markets and Guardian Life Insurance.

Boxed lunch for the first 30 attendees.

This event is co-sponsored by Duke MIDS, Duke Department of Mathematics, & Duke RESILE