Been following the GME saga noting connections, and things have gotten pretty interesting. Here's some connections, need new eyes for perspective.

Summary: Gme shorted through ETFs- ICE ETF hub -Jeffery Sprecher ( Loeffler- Bitcoin push) - ICE exchange is also market for energy futures?( TEXAS ERCOT)

Need marketfag advice on what happens

If GME does squeeze again while being shorted through etfs like XRT?

Not a fin guy, but alot of what I've read seems to point to it possibly bringing the entire market down. Now toss in the push to integrate bitcoin into the markets / cos like tesla. Bitcoin at all time high, crash speculated.

*other note, lots of money being moved in pump and dumps in the electric vehicle field

Onto digs…

GME / ETF's / XRT

Original Post:

Okay, we know GME came off the Threshold list on Feb 3rd. That means they covered almost all of their FTD's (fail to deliver). Many of these they bought from us on the open market at high prices, however many people have speculated that it doesn't seem to be enough. We know they stopped many of us from buying and that appears that it may have been collusion to make sure there were enough shares available so that Melvin and friends could buy them to deliver to those they already sold shares they didn't have to. But was that even enough? They were on the threshold list for 39 days straight and they covered it all in just a few days? Maybe. But what if it wasn't enough? Where did they get the rest of the shares they needed? Remember, if they don't deliver in 13 days after the 3 day settlement period is up, then they lose the right to short sell forever. That is why they had to buy at the higher prices and that is the main reason, along with the hype, that the stock price spiked.

Now, we are all hoping that there will be another spike, which would only be true if the short sellers were back in the same situation they were before. Many of us speculate that somehow they found a way to just kick the can down the road, meaning they put off the squeeze to a future date. But the DD on this is lacking.

Also, we have noticed that the price chart for AMC looks identical to the chart for GME, other than the price. No ne can figure out why other than to speculate that it;s just because many people who buy/sell GME are also buying and selling AMC at the same time. This may or may not be true or may be partially true. We don't know for sure.

Now, if they did kick the can down the road somehow, then where did they get the shares to cover? Enter ETF's. There are several ETF's that have GME as part of their portfolio. I have only looked at one. I need you guys to check out the other ones because I am short on time. I checked out a fund whose ticker is XRT. Their chart looks exactly like the GME and AMC chart! And GME is one of their main stocks that make up part of their fund. Coincidence?

Now, there is a thing called an AP which means an Authorized Participant.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/authorizedparticipant.asp

A ETF's AP is allowed to buy the underlying stocks that make up the ETF and then create new shares of that ETF, but they are also allowed to take existing shares of the ETF and liquidate them back into their original stocks. Read this:

https://jacobslevycenter.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ETF-Short-Interest-and-Failures-to-Deliver.pdf

Now, XRT went ON the threshold list on January [edit: 29th] and has remained there to this very day! That is the same day that the hedgefunds supposedly covered most of their short positions and the GME spike started to drop as well as about the same time the brokers stopped letting us buy!

We need to know what happened to the XRT outstanding shares between five days before the 26/27 of January and up to today. We also need to know if the short volume increased during that time and any other relevant information that might show whether or not the Hedgefunds used the ETF's to get the shares they needed to cover their FTD's. If so, they borrowed them from the ETF's, which explains why XRT is now on the threshold list right about when GME came off of it. For context there are thousands of stocks, yet only about 20 are ever on the threshold list at any given day. What are the odds, considering the relationship between XRT and GME, that one would go ON the list right bou tthe same time the other came OFF the list?

My theory is that the HF's used the ETF's that had shares of GME to cover their failed short positions so that GME would come off the threshold list. This would make us all think that the opportunity is over, however the ETF's involved are now in the exact same position that GME was in just before the spike. They just moved the crisis from one place to another.

(Must read more at link)

https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/ljwo3v/serious_researchers_needed_now_i_think_i_know/

https://archive.is/nNEbL

Cont

>>13017112

Cont

More great research on the GME side here

https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/lj1wqv/a_comprehensive_compilation_of_all_due_diligence/

https://archive.is/f6nK1

Now let's look at ICE

INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE

CITADEL / VIRTU FINANCIAL / JP MORGAN / BANK OF AMERICA / BLACKROCK

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has confirmed that Citadel Securities, Virtu Financial, JP Morgan and Bank of America are the first four authorised participants (APs) actively using its ecosystem for exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Speaking to analysts on the institution’s fourth quarter earnings call, ICE chief executive Jeff Sprecher said the onboarding of the four APs signals an important stage for the development of the ICE ETF Hub, as the exchange looks to build liquidity.

“Our first phase is focused on building the network, by adding authorised participants known and the industry as APs, as well as additional ETF sponsors,” Sprecher said. “We now have four APs that are actively using the platform, made up of JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citadel [Securities] and Virtu, marking an important step towards building liquidity in primary trading, which is otherwise known as the ETF create redeem process.”

He added that the majority of BlackRock’s fixed income ETF assets under management – more than 70 fixed income ETFs – are also utilising the platform, which aims to provide market participants with a more standardised and automated process for assembling, and placing creation and redemption baskets.

Earlier this week, ICE confirmed that it has added a FIX API to allow Aps to connect to the ETF Hub to manage create and redeem orders in a more automated fashion. It also rolled out multi-order functionality to allow Aps to submit multiple transactions as one order.

The ecosystem currently supports US-listed domestic equity and fixed income ETFs, but ICE plans to expand this later in the year to support US-listed international equity ETFs. It will also provide connectivity to ICE Bonds trading protocols, including click-to-trade 

https://www.thetradenews.com/citadel-securities-virtu-jp-morgan-bank-america-first-join-ice-etf-hub/

ICE / ELLIE MAE / THOMAS BRAVO (solarwinds->entrust->digicert)

In August 2020, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ellie Mae, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry. The transaction with Ellie Mae, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm, valued Ellie Mae at approximately $11 billion. The deal, following ICE’s taking a majority stake in MERS in 2016, purchasing the remainder in 2018, and acquiring Simplifile in 2019, made ICE and its growing ICE Mortgage Technology a leading provider of end-to-end electronic workflow solutions for the U.S. residential mortgage industry.[46] The transaction completed successfully in September 2020 after regulatory approval.[47]

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/nyse-owner-ice-to-buy-ellie-mae-in-%2411-billion-deal-2020-08-06

>>13017112

>>13017124

ICE / NYSE

The NYSE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, an American holding company that it also lists (NYSE: ICE). Previously, it was part of NYSE Euronext (NYX), which was formed by the NYSE's 2007 merger with Euronext.[8]

JEFFERY SPRECHER (HUSBAND Sen. LOEFFLER)

Jeffrey Craig Sprecher (/ˌsprɛkər/, SPREK-ər, born February 23, 1955) is an American businessman, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1996 he bought the Continental Power Exchange in Atlanta from MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company for $1 plus the assumption of debt, which became the foundation for Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).[9][10]

In the 1990s energy trading was handled manually by "Continental Power Exchange, an electronic energy trading company.[9][10] By 1997 Continental Power Exchange CPEX had "a federated software structure in place, CPEX… ready to expand to more servers as growth demands. CPEX's hardware and server architecture [were] capable of supporting foreseeable changes that may be necessary when the client load arrives. Continental [intended] to stay at least one step ahead of the marketplace."[11]

Sprecher started Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in 2000 as an online marketplace for energy trading in Atlanta.[12]

Shortly after the company approached Enron to be a client, Enron started its own competing electricity trading platform, which dominated the market. Enron's market model was to buy from every seller and sell to every buyer. Wall Street bankers, particularly Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley backed him and he launched ICE in 2000 (giving 80 percent control to the two banks who, in turn spread out the control among Shell, Total, and British Petroleum). When Enron's exchange collapsed in 2001 in the Enron scandal, ICE's business exploded.[8][9]

Since then the company has expanded including the following acquisitions:

• International Petroleum Exchange in 2001[9]

• New York Board of Trade in 2006[9]

• Creditex in 2008

• The Clearing Corporation in 2009

• Climate Exchange in 2010

• NYSE Euronext in 2013

• In November 2013, ICE announced its acquisition of Singapore Mercantile Exchange[13]

• SuperDerivatives in 2014

• Interactive Data Corporation in 2015

>>13017112

>>13017124

>>13017135

BAKKT / ICE / BITCOIN

In August 2018 Intercontinental Exchange announced it was forming a new company Bakkt,[49] which is intended to leverage Microsoft online servers to manage digital assets. Bakkt was said to be working with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Microsoft, Starbucks, and others to create a software platform. The Bakkt ecosystem is expected to include federally regulated markets and warehousing along with merchant and consumer applications. Its first use cases will be for trading and conversion of Bitcoin (BTC) versus fiat currencies. Kelly Loeffler served as Bakkt's CEO until her appointment to the United States Senate.[50]

As an initial component of the Bakkt offering, Intercontinental Exchange's U.S.-based futures exchange and clearing house plan to launch a 1-day physically delivered BTC contract along with physical warehousing in 2019, subject to CFTC review and approval, which was delayed.[51] These regulated venues will establish new protocols for managing the specific security and settlement requirements of digital currencies. In addition, the clearing house plans to create a separate guarantee fund that will be funded by Bakkt.

In December 2018 Bakkt completed its first round of funding, raising US$182.5 million from investors such as Boston Consulting Group, Li Ka-shing's Horizons Ventures, Intercontinental Exchange, Microsoft's venture capital arm, M12, Pantera Capital, PayU, and Naspers.[52] On May 13, 2019, Bakkt announced a firm date for the launch of the platform in July.[53]

In January 2019, Bakkt announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG), to close in February.[54] In April 2019, Bakkt announced that it had acquired Digital Asset Custody Company (DACC). Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.[55] In September 2019 the exchange began trading of bitcoin futures.[56] In February 2020, ICE announced that it agreed to acquire Bridge2 Solutions, a leading provider of loyalty solutions for merchants and consumers. Following the completion of the transaction, Bakkt plans to acquire Bridge2 Solutions from ICE using proceeds from Bakkt's Series B round of funding.[57]

In September 2020, Bakkt announced a new all-time high for trade volume in physically delivered Bitcoin futures contracts. During the September 15th session, this figure amounted to 15,955 BTC (more than $200 million at the time of announcement).[58]

In January 2021, Bakkt announced that it would become a publicly traded company via a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Victory Park Capital (“VPC”). The newly combined company will be renamed Bakkt Holdings, Inc. and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where the business combination between Bakkt and VIH values the combined company at an enterprise value of approximately $2.1 billion.[59] Intercontinental Exchange will retain a 65% economic interest. [60]

BLACKROCK/ ICE /ETF

It’s been a big year for ETFs and investment giant BlackRock is aiming to make next year even bigger for the industry.

BlackRock and NYSE owner ICE are looking to improve efficiency in the ETF market with their new ETF Hub as the industry continues to boom. The hub’s key features, according to the ICE ETF Hub website, include processes to streamline ETF order entries, consolidate issuer data and provide the analytic tools needed while also facilitating fixed income ETF trading.

The latter has been a focus of BlackRock’s Samara Cohen, co-head of iShares Markets and Investments at Blackrock, given the surge in bond ETF trading. In fact, over half of net ETF inflows have gone to bond ETFs in 2019.

“What’s happening is, as lots of asset managers seek to meet the demand of investors to participate in bond ETFs, they’re creating a bunch of, you can think of it as local access roads to create and redeem bond ETFs,” she said Tuesday on CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”

“What the Hub is doing — and it’s really a market utility that has never existed before — is creating a highway to facilitate the manufacturing process for bond ETFs,” she added.

This is particularly relevant given that bond ETF trading, unlike for many ETF groups, has yet to be electronified, another goal Cohen has for the Hub.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/07/ice-etf-hub-a-highway-for-modernizing-etfs-blackrock.html