Nadex Appoints Donald Horwitz as Chief Regulatory Officer

The world’s first listed binary options exchange, the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex), has extended its top management. The firm officially announced that Donald L. Horwitz has joined the firm as General Counsel and Chief Regulatory Officer. Mr. Horowitz will report directly to Timothy McDermott who will assume full responsibility as Nadex’s CEO.

The appointment of Mr. Horowitz is a strategic decision made by the exchange that is owned by UK headquartered IG. Mr. Horowitz’s new role will focus on providing counsel and guidance on all regulatory and legal matters within the exchange. The current CEO, Mr. McDermott was appointed in December 2013.

Mr. McDermott commented about the new role in a statement: “As retail traders are becoming more educated in binary options as an investment vehicle, I am excited to step into the position of CEO at this time of strong growth at the exchange. I am certain that Don’s unparalleled experience in the legal and regulatory space will ensure our continued compliance with the constantly evolving regulatory landscape.”

Mr. Horwitz is an experienced professional in the world of financial markets, his most recent position was at the Intellectual Property Exchange International, where he served as a Managing Director and General Counsel and focused on providing strategic advice on all legal, governance and regulatory matters. Prior to that Mr. Horowitz was employed as Managing Director, General Counsel and Chief Regulatory Officer at OneChicago, where he worked in a similar capacity. Additionally, his previous financial experiences include holding various positions for the SEC, Merrill Lynch, BrokerTec Futures Exchange, The Options Clearing Corporation and ABN Amro.

“I am very impressed with the growth that binary options trading have seen at Nadex,” said Mr. Horwitz in the official press briefing. “During a time of increased compliance scrutiny and evolving regulatory frameworks, I am excited to work with the entire Nadex team in maintaining compliance standards and delivering investors an industry-leading binary options Trading Platform .”

Mr. Horowitz also lectures at the Chicago Kent College of Law where he teaches Futures and Derivatives Law. In a comment to Forex Magnates about his future teaching arrangements, he states: “I’m anticipating returning to teaching next spring, depending on my work load at Nadex. If so, I will include material on binary options focusing on the history of the trading vehicle, regulatory status and practical investing opportunities.”

Nadex is fast becoming a viable venue for investors looking to trade in derivatives, the leverage changes in spot FX, adopted after the Dodd-Frank Act was set in stone, has put pressure on the domestic trading environment in the US, with the number of providers and users declining. However, figures from Nadex show that the binary options product is gaining traction.

In April this year, Nadex welcomed two FCMs who joined as market makers on the exchange. Mr. Horowitz spoke about the growth the exchange is witnessing in an emailed statement: “ Nadex has experienced record numbers in terms of trading volume and members of the Exchange and we are in a very exciting growth period at this time. We attribute this to an increased awareness and understanding of what binary options are, which has in turn led to a rise in popularity amongst U.S. traders. We are pleased with the growth to date and we anticipate this will continue to rise based on the trends we are seeing.”

Trading volumes at the exchange jumped 49% for the first quarter of 2014 from figures reported a year earlier.