Miami International Holdings, Inc.

Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) is an exchange holding company that operates and manages Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX), MIAX PEARL, LLC, and MIAX Emerald, LLC (and together with MIAX and MIAX Pearl, the MIAX Exchange Group), the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), and the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
MIAX Options launched on December 7, 2012, MIAX Pearl launched on February 6, 2017 and MIAX Emerald launched on March 1, 2019. With the launch of MIAX Emerald, the MIAX Exchange Group gained access to approximately 80% of the overall U.S. options market volume. The group launched MIAX Sapphire Options Exchange, its fourth options exchange, on August 12, 2024. 
MIAX Options and MIAX Pearl each list about 2,800 multi-listed classes and run on MIAX's in-house developed trading platforms. Miami International Holdings also owns the Bermuda Stock Exchange, which it acquired in 2020. It has invested in nascent bitcoin derivatives exchange LedgerX and partnered with the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) on a volatility futures product. 
The MIAX Exchange Group’s executive offices and National Operations Center are located in Princeton, NJ, with a Miami Operations Center, Annual Meeting and Conference Center, and offices for MIAX Technologies and MIAX Global, two other MIH subsidiaries, located in Miami, FL.
Miami International Holdings was ranked 15th in exchanges by volume in the FIA's 2021 Annual Volume Survey, with 1.3 billion contracts traded, up 61.7 percent from the previous year.
== History ==
In 2008, Miami International Holdings, Inc. formed a foreign limited liability company called Miami Board of Trade, LLC. 
The company had planned to launch a U.S. options exchange as early as July 2009 but did not launch the Miami International Securities Exchange until December 7, 2012, after receiving SEC approval on December 3, 2012. 
The initial focus for the company was to establish its options exchange and then add the MIAX Equities Exchange, with plans to pursue Latin American companies as well as the MIAX Futures Exchange, both pending regulatory approval. 
 
In May 2017, LedgerX announced that its parent, Ledger Holdings, had raised an additional $11.4 in a Series B round led by Miami International Holdings and Huiyin Blockchain Venture Investments. In an earlier announcement on December 16, 2016, Miami International Holdings and LedgerX had said they had agreed that Miami International Holdings received exclusive worldwide rights for ten years to license equity or fixed income products related to LedgerX products for listing on MIAX and MIAX PEARL, the two Miami International Holdings existing at the time. The parties also agreed to pursue technology opportunities at that time.
 
Miami International Holdings announced in May 2019 that it would launch the equity market in Q2 2020. It partnered with Hudson River Trading and CTC Holdings on the exchange and also received backing from exchange member firms such as: IMC, Simplex Trading, Susquehanna International Group's Susquehanna Trading, and Two Sigma Investments, LP. The concept for an equities exchange, which was first floated years earlier, is subject to regulatory approval.
In September 2019, the company partnered with the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) to list and clear futures on the SPIKES Volatility Index. SPIKES, designed by the financial indexing firm, T3 Index, is a measure of the expected 30-day volatility in the SPDR® S&P 500® ETF (SPY), the most actively-traded exchange traded fund in the world. Futures trading started on November 18, 2019, but it was abruptly halted on November 29 in light of otherwise undisclosed discussions between MGEX and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 
In November 2019, the company acquired a majority stake in the Bermuda Stock Exchange. MIH cited the digital asset legislation called the Digital Asset Business Act 2018, or Daba as one of the drivers of the deal. Bermuda Stock Exchange offers capital market instruments such as equities, debt issues, funds, hedge funds, derivative warrants and insurance-linked securities. 
In January 2020, Miami International Holdings announced that Mark Wetjen would join its management as Executive Vice President for Futures and Innovative Products as well as Executive Regulatory Liaison Officer. Wetjen had most recently served as a managing director of Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and earlier was a Commissioner at the CFTC. While at DTCC, Wetjen became an advisor to LedgerX.
In November 2023, MIH said it was building both a physical and electronic trading venue in Miami, including a 38,400-square-foot (3,500-square-meter) options trading pit and offices in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, according to Chief Communications Officer Andy Nybo. MIH launched the electronic exchange, called MIAX Sapphire, on August 12, 2024, and said it would open the physical trading floor in Miami in 2025. MIAX Sapphire will be the first national securities exchange to establish operations in Miami, MIH said.
On September 18, 2024, MIH announced it had entered into a licensing agreement with Bloomberg Index Services Limited to develop a suite of index futures, options on futures, and cash options products based on Bloomberg Indices’ portfolio of benchmarks. MIH will initially offer a number of equity index products which will be exclusively listed and traded on MIH’s exchanges, subject to regulatory approval.
== Products and Services ==
On its website, Miami International Holdings states that its mission is to provide:
*A marketplace that caters to the needs of the customer and trading community
*Competitive pricing based on a low cost operating structure
*Superior customer service
*Outstanding technology
The company has an in-house trading platform. The MIAX platform offers:
*MIAX FIX gateway for orders
*MIAX Express Interface (MEI) offers direct connections to the match engine for high-speed mass quoting
*MIAX Top of Market (ToM) provides low latency access to MIAX market data
*MIAX Clearing Trade Drop (CTD) provides real-time clearing trade content to firms with the same low latency technology.
== Contract Volume ==
Year	Total Annual Volume*	Percent Change
2021	1,338,182,359 	61.72%
2020	827,454,642 	88.04%
2019	440,049,131 	4.45%
2018	421,320,501 	81.4%
2017	232,223,967 	(-) 6.0%
2016	247,112,479 	(-) 2.2%
2015	252,605,427 	87.8%
2014	134,535,972 	241.2%
2013	39,430,903 	--
== Key People ==
*Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
*Douglas M. Schafer, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Director
*Barbara Comly, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
*Lance Emmons, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
*Shelly Brown, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Operations
*Edward Deitzel, Executive Vice President, Chief Regulatory Officer
*Mark Wetjen, Executive Vice President, Futures and Innovative Products; Executive Regulatory Officer, CEO MIAX Futures
== References ==
Category:Holding Companies
Category:Options Exchanges
Category:MarketsWiki Page of the Day