You are cordially invited to join Chicago QWAFAFEW, along with other co-sponsors CBOE, Chicago CAIA, and Chicago PRMIA for a free event featuring presentations by Joe Gits and Edward Szado.

When: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Where: CBOE 4th Floor, 400 So. La Salle St., Chicago, IL 60605

Topics to be discussed include: 
•  Developing investable and actionable intelligence from analysis of sentiment trends on social media;
•  Utilizing sentiment and options-based benchmark indices showing stock-like returns and bond-like volatility;
•  Analysis of the volatility risk premium and the persistence of "rich” pricing for index options;
•  Review of the performance of dozens of funds that use options-based strategies.

Register: To register for the April 5 event please visit this webpage http://bit.ly/CBOE-Apr5 by the end of the month (space is limited).
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Panel Members:
·  Joe Gits, CFA, CEO and Co-Founder, Social Market Analytics (SMA)
·  Edward Szado, Ph.D., CFA, Assistant Professor of Finance, Providence College.
·  Moderator: Matt Moran, VP, CBOE 
Biographies:
Joe Gits, CFA, is CEO and Co-Founder of Social Market Analytics (SMA), and he is a pioneer in the emergence and growth of quantitative trading systems and alternative data. Prior to launching Social Market Analytics (SMA), he co-founded Quantitative Analytics, Inc. (QAI), a market-leading provider of integrated database solutions for quantitative researchers and traders. Joe integrated QAI’s technology into Thomson Financial (now Thomson Reuters), after its 2007 acquisition. He oversaw the development and maintenance of the content, analytics and APIs that drove historical analytics. Joe earned his MBA from DePaul University and his BA from the University of Iowa. He is a CFA Charterholder.
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Edward Szado, Ph.D., CFA, is Assistant Professor of Finance, Providence College. He is also the Director of Research at the Institute for Global Asset and Risk Management and received his Ph.D. in Finance from the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has taught Risk Management at the Boston University School of Management, Derivatives at Clark University and a range of finance courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is a former options trader and his experience includes product development in the areas of volatility-based investments and structured investment products. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and has consulted for the Options Industry Council, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
 
QWAFAFEW is an informal organization for discussions of quantitative investment topics. QWAFAFEW has active chapters in Chicago, Boston, Hartford, New York, Denver, Princeton, and San Francisco.
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Current Chicago QWAFAFEW Steering Committee members: 

• Adam Cohen, Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
• Barry Feldman, IMCI, LLC
• Ben Johnson, Morningstar, Inc.
• Mark Shore, Shore Capital Research and DePaul University
• Matthew Moran, Chicago Board Options Exchange
• Ram Ben-David, Eckhardt Trading Company

Recent emeritus members: 

• Cindy Tsai, Environment Envisioned, Inc. 
• Peter Carl, William Blair and Company
• Steve Greiner, Charles Schwab

By Mark Shore
Chief Research Officer, Shore Capital Research LLC
Adjunct Professor, DePaul University

Since 2014 when we published “P2P Lending for Institutional Investors and Wealth Managers: An Overview” about investing in peer-to-peer lending, the industry has continued to grow and evolve, so the timing seemed appropriate to provide an updated overview of the industry.

Not only has the lending volume increased, but the types of loans have expanded to include consumer loans, small business loans, student loans, auto loans and real estate loans.

Topics of the paper include:

• MPL Lending Industry Overview
• Growth of Loan Origination
• Evolution of Industry Infrastructure
• MPL: Fixed Income or Alternative Investment?
• Accessing the Asset Class
• How does P2P/MPL behave in a rising interest rate environment?
• Risk and Return of MPL

To download the paper click here​

Follow Mark Shore on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin


Copyright ©2017. Contact Mark Shore for permission for republication at info@shorecapmgmt.com Mark Shore has more than 25 years of experience in the futures markets and managed futures, publishes research, consults on alternative investments and conducts educational workshops. www.shorecapmgmt.com 
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Mark Shore is also an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, where he teaches the only known accredited managed futures course in the country. He is also a Board Member of the Arditti Center for Risk Management at DePaul University.
​
Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.  The opinions expressed are only for educational purposes. Please talk to your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

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The Chicago Chapter of QWAFAFEW Presents:

Prediction Markets: In Elections and the Corporations of the Future  

Chicago QWAFAFEW and the IIT Stuart School's Center for Financial Innovation will present a special election week event on prediction markets. The speakers will be Koleman Stumpf, Professsor of Economics at the Univeristy of Kanasas School of Business, and Adam Siegel, CEO and Co-Founder of Cultivate Labs.

Prediction markets allow realtime information and belief aggregation. The markets for the U.S. presidential elections offer a striking test of prediction markets and their potential limitations, but perhaps only the barest hint of their future applications. 

Koleman Stumpf will address the following questions:

• What are prediction markets and what is the evidence that they work?
• What do we know about political prediction markets?
• How do prediction markets compare to other forecasting mechanisms like raw or smoothed polls?
• Have there been big political prediction market failures?
• How did prediction markets fare during the 2016 election?

Adam Siegel will address the following topics:

• How information overload, technological disruption, and a changing global workforce are forcing fundamental changes in corporate structure
• An overview of how companies are currently using crowdsourced forecasting
• A case study on Shell and how they’re using prediction markets in their Global Exploration group
• How Cultivate Labs expects companies to use prediction markets in the future

Date: Thursday, Nov 10th, 2016
Venue: IIT Sturart School of Business, 565 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL Time: Doors will open at 5:00 pm for conversation, light food and drinks. The event will start at 5:30 pm and officially end at 7:00.

Speaker biographies:
Koleman Strumpf is a Professor of Economics at the University of Kansas School of Business and prior to that at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He is currently associate editor of the Journal of Prediction Markets. Koleman's research spans a variety of applied microeconomics topics including prediction markets, file sharing, tax evasion, and health economics and has been published in journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Economist, NPR, and ABC News. His undergraduate degree is from Stanford University and he has a PhD is from MIT. 

Adam Siegel is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cultivate Labs. He has been working in the crowdsourcing space for 10 years since starting his first company, Inkling Inc., in 2006. Inkling, funded by Y Combinator, focused on crowdsourced forecasting using prediction markets. Cultivate Labs recently acquired Inkling to focus on internal crowdsourcing as a way to optimize the insights and knowledge of current teams.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Adam spent a decade as a management and innovation consultant at Accenture in the Accenture Technology Labs. Adam lives in Chicago, IL and loves spending as much time as possible in cafes drinking overpriced coffee and reading the paper, trailing his 3 year old daughter helplessly as she wreaks havoc, or escaping Chicago to go hiking and camping.

Admission is $15 in advance (or $20 at the door) with light food and drinks provided. Students and unemployed $10. 
TicketLeap (at chicagoqwafafew.ticketleap.com/election-special.)

QWAFAFEW is an informal organization for discussions of quantitative investment topics. QWAFAFEW has active chapters in Chicago, Boston, Hartford, New York, Denver, Princeton, and San Francisco.
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Current Chicago QWAFAFEW Steering Committee members: 

• Adam Cohen, Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
• Barry Feldman, IMCI, LLC
• Ben Johnson, Morningstar, Inc.
• Mark Shore, Shore Capital Research and DePaul University
• Matthew Moran, Chicago Board Options Exchange
• Ram Ben-David, Eckhardt Trading Company

Recent emeritus members: 

• Cindy Tsai, Environment Envisioned, Inc. 
• Peter Carl, William Blair and Company
• Steve Greiner, Charles Schwab

Follow Chicago QWAFAFEW:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/qwafchi    

NIBA (The Forum for Derivatives Professionals) Presents:

NIBA 25th Anniversary Chicago Conference

This One-day program for Derivatives Professionals will focus on business growth, and include the annual NFA IB and CTA Representatives Report to the Membership.

The annual NIBA Chicago conference is the pinnacle event of the year for our association. This year we come together not only for another great conference but also in celebration of our 25th anniversary. This year promises to be better than ever. Speakers range from industry professionals, TV personalities, subject matter experts, and regulators.

Members in attendance will be eligible to participate in this year's iPad Raffle. In addition, Exchange Analytics will be providing complimentary AML and Cybersecurity Training to attendees (limited supply).

There is no cost for NIBA Members to attend the forum which includes an Exhibit Hall, Lunch and a Networking Reception.
 
Topics Include
Compliance Panel
Managed Futures Panel
Compliance Debate
Lunch Speaker: CME Economist
CME GCC Presentation
NFA Rep Panel
FINTECH Panel 
Business Development Panel

Date: Wed Sept 14th
Time: 8am to 5pm
Venue: CME Group World Headquarters
 
Cocktail reception immediately following the event
 
For more information and registration click here
 
About the NIBA
Established in 1991- the National Introducing Brokers Association (NIBA) is one of the foremost, national recognized organizations representing professionals in the future and options industry. Our members include Introducing Brokers, Commodity Traders Advisors, Futures & Options Exchanges, Futures Commissions Merchants and resource providers to the industry.

Chicago QWAFAFEW will hold a meeting focusing on fintech innovation in Chicago and featuring the founders of two cutting-edge Chicago financial technology startups.

Dave Jaberg of GX2 Systems and Euan Sinclair of FactorWave. 

FactorWave brings sophisticated factor-based investing in equities and options to the broader investing public with an exceptional web-based platform. 

GX2 Systems offers traders simultaneous multi-leg trades free from execution or "legging" risk at a streaming quoted price on its innovative platform. 
 
KPMG reports global fintech VC funding will be up 36% over last year’s record at the current funding pace. Chicago’s global prominence in derivative exchanges and its vibrant community of fintech professionals may magnify its role in this wave compared to others.

The meeting offers you a close-up view of two local fintech startups and the opportunity to compare notes and update your expectations about the magnitude of Chicago’s participation in the global fintech innovation wave.  
 
Both speakers will touch on these key themes:

• Conception of the startup idea
• Getting the ball rolling
• Demonstration of key platform functionalities
• Reception of the idea and the product  

There will be generous time for questions and discussion.
 
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Venue: The Chicago Board of Options Exchange, 400 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL
Time: Doors open at 5pm for conversation, light food and drinks. Event begins at 5:30pm and officially ends at 7pm.

Admission is $15 in advance (or $20 at the door) with light food and drinks provided. IIT students will be admitted at no charge. Other students and unemployed $10. 

​Purchase tickets or reserve a seat (space available) via 
TicketLeap (at chicagoqwafafew.ticketleap.com/chicago-fin-tech.)
 
QWAFAFEW is an informal organization for discussions of quantitative investment topics. QWAFAFEW has active chapters in Chicago, Boston, Hartford, New York, Denver, Princeton, and San Francisco.
 
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Current Chicago QWAFAFEW Steering Committee members:

• Adam Cohen, Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
• Barry Feldman, IMCI, LLC
• Ben Johnson, Morningstar, Inc.
• Mark Shore, Shore Capital Research and DePaul University
• Matthew Moran, Chicago Board Options Exchange
• Ram Ben-David, Eckhardt Trading Company

Recent emeritus members:

• Cindy Tsai, Environment Envisioned, Inc.
• Peter Carl, William Blair and Company
• Steve Greiner, Charles Schwab