MIAX VP Kaitlin Meyer: Volatility Is An Asset Class Itself

Kaitlin Meyer is a Vice President of Marketing and Sales at MIAX Exchange Group — an operator of electronic options trading exchange.

Meyer had a notable 11-year tenure at CME Group — the world’s largest derivatives’ operator. During that time, she rose from the position of Analyst to Director as Head of Marketing and Sales.

Attendees of the upcoming Benzinga’s Fintech Deal Day should pay attention to this financial derivatives expert and Booth School of Business alumnus, who will be talking on the topic of "Managing Market Volatility: Effective Risk Management Strategies."

The Fintech Deal Day on Nov. 13 will be followed by the Futures of Digital Assets conference the next day. Both events are held in NYC.

Speaking for Interactive Broker’s podcast, Meyer stated that her focus is on growth and education.

"There are a lot of things going on at MIAX, and my focus is really educating the end-user on the products that we have," she said, referring to MIAX's growing portfolio.

Over the past decade, MIAX has grown from a single options exchange to a group of three options exchanges: an equities exchange, a futures exchange and an international exchange in Bermuda.

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Most recently, MIAX announced a new expansion — MIAX Sapphire, a national securities exchange operating both an electronic exchange and physical trading floor for U.S. options.

As a derivatives specialist, Meyer is particularly interested in volatility.

"I think of volatility as an asset class itself. It is something that has been taking off in the marketplace overall. As often as I say, as you could be trading gold or crude (oil), you know this is just another tool in your toolkit."

Reflecting on protecting from volatility, Meyer believes that the SPIKES Volatility Index (SPK) is a better way for traders to hedge their positions.

"SPX is the input for VIX, but SPY options — which are traded on all exchanges — are the inputs that are used for SPIKES. And one of the key reasons we think that's a better index is that you're using a lot more inputs from all the different exchanges. That helps with any differences, particularly in key events, like FOMC meetings when there might be less pricing going on, but as in SPX, there's a price dragging methodology used in SPIKES that will kind of mitigate any of those kinds of erratic differences that can come into play," she said arguing that it provides a better hedging vehicle for traders who are focusing on S&P500 ETF (SPY).

While acknowledging that the volatility means reverting and that, eventually, we will see it spike, she confessed that she doesn’t know when.

"I don’t think any of us know. Obviously, if we know the answer to that, we can be a lot richer than we are." Meyer concluded.

What better place than Benzinga's Fintech Deal Day & Awards event to learn more about trading platforms and their tools to improve traders' security and user experiences? Join Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets in NYC on Nov. 14, 2023, to stay updated on trends like AI, regulations, SEC actions & institutional adoption in the crypto space. Secure early bird discounted tickets now!

Note: Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), owner of MIAX, is currently engaged in a legal case to prevent the SPIKES Volatility Index from ceasing to trade on MGEX in January 2024.