Virtu Financial profits as market makers bleed options buyers dry. As the S&P 500 climbed 70 points almost in a straight line to 6,594, the 6,600 call barely benefited. x.com 

Virtu Financial is the biggest beneficiary of volatility, and its chart shows institutional accumulation forming a clean flat base. x.com 

Market makers like Virtu Financial profit from increased volatility, and the US Navy's plan to blockade ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz should bring more of it. Virtu is already up more than 40% over three months, so it is no longer early, but not late either. x.com  x.com 

The coming IPO wave led by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic will create wealth that must flow through exchanges, brokers, wealth and alternative managers and luxury brands, still valued below peaks. Rebalancing, margin loans and estate plans run on the same rails that handled the offerings. SpaceX alone brought about $500M in underwriting fees to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and Nasdaq's fast-entry rule forces index buying within 15 days. In the 1990s this plumbing scaled with the money. x.com  … Show more

MSCI trades at one of its lowest valuations ever, even though its fundamentals keep compounding while the stock has been flat for years. Its index business, which takes a percentage of AUM from ETFs that track its lists, is capital light, high margin and recurring, with high switching costs; so much of Wall Street runs on MSCI indices that they are nearly impossible to rip out. x.com 

CME Group looks attractive after it and peers such as ICE and Cboe fell 20-30% in 30 days on the perceived threat from prediction markets and other retail-driven trading. Some of these high-quality market infrastructure businesses now trade at 15-18x earnings, and CME is the standout favorite. x.com 

Invesco, the company behind QQQ with over $2.2T under management and about $6.4B in annual revenue, should benefit from the largest institutional investment in stock market history flowing into QQQ, SPY and similar funds. At a $10.7B market cap it still trades 50% below its 2000 high, for no good reason. The chart shows a three-decade base with clean institutional accumulation, last year's bullish sweep of two-year lows, and price defending key VWAP supports, setting up a possible breakout. … Show more

Financial tollbooth businesses are a great place to invest because they are embedded in the system, take a cut whenever money moves or decisions are made, and need little capital. S&P Global and Moody's, tied to credit markets, are hard to replace; FICO is strong but more exposed to pricing backlash; CME gains when volatility lifts volumes; LSEG fits too. MSCI is the favorite, with fees spread across trillions tied to benchmarks for durable pricing power, and insider buying near current prices. … Show more