The Daily Chase: Expect the unexpected on Triple Witching Day

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

Freaky Friday: Volatility could be a theme of the day for U.S. equity markets, as today is what’s known as a “Triple Witching Day” on Wall Street — when stock options, market index options and market index futures all expire on the same day, which often leads to unexpected pricing shenanigans. Four times a year, on the third Friday of March, June, September and December, those contracts expire on the same day, which usually means higher trading volumes as traders and algorithms move their positions and often accidentally open up unexpected arbitrage opportunities for those clever enough to spot them. Roughly US$5 trillion worth of securities are set to expire today, just shy of the record volume that moved on last quarter’s similar event. While there’s nothing inherently negative about the expiration of those contracts, considering the risk, equity investors would be wise to take the advice that Julius Caesar was given back in 44 B.C. and “beware the Ides of March.” Here’s hoping things go better for them today than they did for him.

After record run, Bitcoin gives up some gains: Much has been written about the rally in Bitcoin in recent weeks, as the launch of U.S.-listed ETFs holding the cryptocurrency has prompted a rally in its value. The price of a single Bitcoin hit a high of US$73,798 on Thursday, but it has been plunging ever since. As I write this, Bitcoin are changing hands at $67,688 apiece, down by about eight per cent in the last day. I won’t pretend to have any idea which way the crypto market is headed next — or how quickly — but daily swings of almost 10 per cent are par for the course in the crypto market for what laser-eyed HODLers like to tell us is the only truly reliable store of value.

McDonald’s outage no Big Hack: Fast food giant McDonald’s has been hit by a system-wide outage impacting its locations globally on Friday, as a glitch in their system has left customers around the world unable to order in stores and online. The issue rippled from Japan to Australia, New Zealand and several European countries on Friday. The company isn’t saying much about what’s going on, but said in an emailed statement the problem is “being resolved” and makes it clear that whatever is going on is unrelated to any sort of “cybersecurity incident.” BNN Bloomberg has reached out to McDonald’s Canada for a statement.