Former head of options at the New York Stock Exchange Meaghan Dugan has joined Cboe as head of US options.
NYSE confirmed that Dugan had left the firm in September, but declined to comment further. She had been head of options at the firm since August 2022, before which she was a senior director at the Intercontinental Exchange.
As part of his role as head of markets, Kevin Tyrell now oversees the options division, NYSE has confirmed.
Earlier in her career, Dugan was a director at Merrill Lynch and vice president of electronic trading at Morgan Stanley.
Dugan’s appointment is the latest in Cboe’s expansion of its derivatives team, with recent hires made across the US, EMEA and APAC in sales and market intelligence roles.
Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives, commented: “Customer demand for accessing Cboe’s derivatives markets and products has continued to grow rapidly, and in many ways, our hiring mirrors our customers’ evolving needs: expanding globally, while requiring tailored solutions for individual markets.
“Having local teams on the ground, supported by world-class research and content, is expected to further deepen our customer engagement and grow our global client base.”
Nvidia accounted for one in fourteen of every S&P 500 shares traded last week, as the company reeled from Deepseek’s AI breakthrough.
A new Global Trading visualization shows how trading volume in US chipmaker Nvidia more than doubled in last week, with 433 million shares traded, more than double the previous week’s average daily volume (ADV). The surge was prompted by news that Chinese AI startup Deepseek had released a large language model that could outperform rival US-owned LLMs at less than a twentieth of the cost, undercutting the business case for Nvidia’s expensive graphical processing units (GPUs) which are used to perform AI calculations. The news led to an 18% fall in Nvidia’s share price, with an annualised realised volatility of 140%.
S&P 500 Interactive Treemap
In our visualisation, the chart has two adjustable parameters – the size of rectangles that denote individual S&P 500 stocks, and the colour of the rectangle. For the size, you can choose four options – ADV for the past year, ADV for the week ending 31 January, ADV for week ending 24 January (before the Deepseek news), and market cap. For the colour, you can choose from volatility or return for the weeks ending 31 January and 24 January, as well as the one-year return. Click on an individual rectangle to see the data for a particular stock, and click on the header labels to return to a sector or overall index view.
CME Group has struck a deal with Robinhood to bring its futures products to the platform with significantly discounted execution fees compared to competitors, a move that underscores CME’s strategy to boost trading revenues by attracting retail flow.
The integration will provide Robinhood’s US retail customers with access to futures contracts across five major asset classes, including the four leading U.S. equity indices—S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000, and Dow Jones Industrial Average—along with cryptocurrencies, major FX currency pairs, and commodities.
Robinhood’s new futures offering comes with a notably aggressive commission structure, with execution fees set at just US$0.50 per contract, significantly undercutting competitors such as E-Trade (US$1.50 per contract). This pricing strategy aligns with CME’s broader effort to attract more retail participation, trading off lower per-trade fees for higher transaction volumes. However, Interactive Brokers told Global Trading that Robinhood’s pricing was not competitive compared with its own offering, when volume discounts were taken into account.
Julie Winkler, chief commercial officer at CME Group, highlighted the strategic importance of expanding retail access to futures trading, calling it “an integral step in educating and empowering this new crop of investors.” Meanwhile, JB Mackenzie, vice president and general manager of futures and international at Robinhood, emphasised that launching CME futures marks “a significant step forward in making Robinhood the best place for active traders,” pointing to a newly introduced mobile trading ladder designed for ease of use and efficiency.
Neither CME nor Robinhood, who were approached for comments, have provided further details on the financial arrangements underpinning their partnership, leaving open questions about how CME is providing Robinhood with discounts for the fee reductions. Until now, the business model pursued by Robinhood is dependent on a Payment For Order Flow (PFOF) model to procure its clients with “free” execution, a practice which is legal in the US but banned in other jurisdictions.
In its latest 10-Q filing, dated November 2024, CME reported an increase in transaction and clearing fees of $387 million for the nine months to September 2024, offset by a decrease due to the average rate per contract of US$33 million. This suggests that CME has considerable headroom for further contract rate reductions to attract retail customer flow from Robinhood.
Regulators have found that Robinhood has failed across a broad range of its obligations and provisions of federal securities laws. At the same time, its use of PFOF, and the exposure of retail customers to high-risk trades, have attracted regulatory scrutiny in the past, and most recently the company attracted a US$45 million fine for record-keeping failures.
Backed by buy-side organisations including EFAMA, AFME and Plato Partnership, a report from Market Structure Partners has garnered criticism from exchanges – and raised concerns about losses the buy side could face under the Retail Investment Strategy.
The report sets up a fight between fund organisations and exchanges on the one hand, and a regulatory spat between the European Commission in Brussels and ESMA in Paris.
Verena Ross, chair, ESMA
The Market Structure Partners (MPS) report asserted that European exchanges are increasing their data fees to compensate for poor market conditions, pushing up prices to make a profit amid low trading volumes, reduced market share, greater use of automation and a smaller customer base.
Exchanges cited in the report, including LSEG, Euronext and Deutsche Borse, have called the claims “misleading” and requiring “extensive corrections”, saying that any changes in market data fees have been aligned with the wider market landscape.
Arguments have also been raised that this is an effort by industry associations to detract from the impact the Retail Investment Strategy (RIS) could have on buy-side firms.
The RIS, part of the European Commission’s Capital Markets Union project, intends to improve protection and support for retail investors. It covers marketing, information provisions, disclosures and accessibility, and is expected to be finalised this year and come into play in 2026 or 2027.
ESMA, a commissioner of the MPS report, and the European Institute of Public Administration (EIOPA) have both voiced concerns about the RIS, calling for a simplified initiative and an evaluation of the administrative, human operational and consumer testing costs that it could require.
The claims
In recent years, value transacted on European equity exchanges has declined. The report cites a 17% drop at Euronext between 2020 and 2023, a 29% decline at Deutsche Borse, and a 26.9% decrease at Nasdaq Nordics between 2021 and 2023. However, drops in revenue were minimal relative to these figures, the report said: 0.5%, 12% and 8.8%, respectively.
At the same time, market data revenue as a proportion of total equity revenue was up at all three exchanges. Euronext’s rose by eight percentage points, Deutsche Borse’s by 10 and Nasdaq Nordics’ by four.
LSEG’s Turquoise saw the most drastic decline in trading turnover between 2020 and 2022, the report stated, down 61%. It noted that market data revenue went from 10.5% to 27% of total equity revenue.
These increased revenues have occurred without any changes in the cost of running a trading platform or producing market data, Market Structure Partners said. Instead, profits are coming from complex fee structures that charge for factors such as data consumption method and the number of devices able to access the data.
Thomas Richter, CEO of the German Investment Funds Association (BVI), argued: “Asset managers are legally forced to use stock market prices, benchmarks, credit ratings, and other data from third-party providers. Because of the existing oligopoly market structures with only a few providers per segment, there is a case for competition law authorities. We call for an EU data vendor act that regulates the commercial behaviour of these entities. Because if we don’t, the already considerable cost pressure in the fund industry will intensify even further – also to the disadvantage of the consumers.”
Thomas Richter, CEO, German Investment Funds Association (BVI)
The impact of these structures is more acute for some firms than others; if one customer receives reduced costs, others will have theirs elevated. Market Structure Partners stated that firms competing with traditional stock exchanges have seen the sharpest cost spikes; with prices rising by up to 481% for trading venues and by between 97% and 170% for index providers between 2017 and 2024.
‘User type’ is a critical variable in fee structures, the report said. In response to market participants’ increased use of automation, and the impact this can have on exchanges’ revenues, having a machine handle data in place of a human can be between 35 and 97 times more expensive than it was in 2017, according to MPS.
Limits are also imposed on how exchanges’ market data can be used, the report said, with clauses preventing clients from including it in non-pre-approved projects. This is preventing innovation and market growth, it argued, going against one of the central responsibilities of exchanges in the financial ecosystem and preventing European market competitiveness.
Investment management group The Investment Association warned that the impact is more widespread than the report signals. Galina Dimitrova, director for investment and capital markets, told Global Trading: “The Investment Association has consistently expressed concerns about the escalating costs and complexity of market data our member firms need to purchase from trading venues, index providers and rating agencies. From the largest global asset managers to the smallest investment management firms – all have faced rising prices to acquire business-critical data. This experience is not limited just to the buy-side.
Galina Dimitrova, director for investment and capital markets, The Investment Association
“It is high time we resolve these persistent issues and ensure that the market for wholesale data is fairly priced and accessible to all who need it.”
The counterattack
Exchanges have been quick to offer counter-evidence to MSP’s claims. Both Euronext and Deutsche Borse drew attention to an Oxera report published last September, which found that stock exchange revenues were stable between 2018 and 2023 and minimal increases in market data revenues were the result of regulatory change, inflation and competition for talent. For FESE member exchanges, it added, the majority of exchange revenue still comes from trade execution.
This report also directly opposes MSP’s statement that data dissemination costs are passed on to third parties, with Deutsche Borse highlighting: “DBAG did not pass on all additional costs for market data production and dissemination.”
LSEG has disputed the report’s figures, with a spokesperson stating: “The data presented in the report contains multiple errors and does not accurately present Turquoise’s trading volumes and market data costs. As just one example, the report says that ‘LSEG’ has increased its data fees for private investors by over 150% between 2017-2024. However, market data for retail investors on Turquoise has always been free and there was no change in the LSE data charge for this community over this period. Since January 2025, LSE fees for market data for retail have also been waived.”
A Nasdaq Nordics spokesperson agreed, saying: “The claim that exchange data fees are increasing is misleading; any price increases have been below inflation over the same period, and we are fully committed to fair and transparent pricing.”
On market growth, they added: “We are relentlessly focused on innovation and enhancing the resilience of our world class markets and data services, to ensure they keep up with the accelerating pace and sophistication of trading.”
In a first-of-its-kind enforcement action, FINRA has slapped Apex Clearing Corporation with a US$3.2 million fine for violating Rule 4330—the customer protection rule governing the permissible use of customers’ securities in lending programs.
Unlike the historical enforcement efforts that focused on naked short selling and failures to secure locates, this case targets a fully paid securities lending program designed for retail investors.
Apex Clearing operated a program in which customers’ fully paid or excess margin securities were lent out without the proper safeguards. Under Rule 4330, a member firm must have “reasonable grounds” to believe that borrowing customer securities is appropriate, and must provide specific, clear written disclosures to customers about the risks they face. However, from January 2019 through June 2023, Apex not only entered into lending agreements without a proper determination of customer suitability but also distributed documents to more than five million retail investors that misrepresented the compensation they would receive. They received US$0 fees. In addition, Apex’s supervisory systems fell short, as the firm failed to establish and enforce written supervisory procedures that would ensure compliance with these disclosures and appropriate requirements.
Historically, regulators have focused on short-selling abuses. Naked short selling was first tackled with rule 204 regulation SHO finalised in 2009, where shares are sold without first arranging to borrow them, was for a long time at the forefront of enforcement proceedings. New regulations have been put into place post the Game Stop saga of 2020 to further tighten the regulatory environment surrounding short selling.
In earlier enforcement actions, such as the SEC’s penalties against firms like Goldman Sachs in the mid-2000s and fines imposed on market makers for failing to obtain locates like in the case of Citadel Securities in 2023, the focus was on preventing “failures to deliver.” Those actions addressed the mechanics of short sales by ensuring that firms followed the locate requirement and appropriately marked orders as “short” rather than misrepresenting them. In contrast, the Apex Clearing case is not about naked short selling or the mechanics of executing a short order without securing the shares; rather, it centres on the mismanagement of a fully paid securities lending program that exposed retail investors to undue risks without providing any financial upside.
Bill St. Louis, executive vice president and head of enforcement at FINRA, summed it up: “Member firms must have reasonable grounds to believe that a fully paid securities lending program is appropriate for customers who participate. It is unreasonable to expect a customer to take on risks and the potential financial consequences of securities lending with no financial upside.” This enforcement action serves as a stern reminder that the use of customer securities—when it comes to lending—carries its own set of rigorous disclosure and supervisory requirements, distinct from the rules governing short selling.
Apex Clearing consented to FINRA’s findings without admitting or denying the charges and has since committed to certifying that it has remediated the identified issues.
JPX’s centralised data management platform J-LAKE will scrape information on market participants, listed companies and customers to develop new products.
Through a partnership between JPX Market Innovation & Research (JPXI) and machine learning-driven data hosting and analytics provider Snowflake, insights gathered will be used to create tailored client solutions, the exchange explained. This information will also be accessible to market participants.
Currently, services are developed based on trend analysis, customer interviews and collaborations with existing partner companies. This partnership will allow JPXI to collaborate with new external vendors, startups and platform providers to meet client demands, it said.
The datasets included on the platform will be determined through customer consultations this month, and are expected to be released before the end of March.
Koichiro Miyahara, president and CEO of JPXI, commented: “Our collaboration with Snowflake represents a new channel through which we can offer greater convenience to market participants while expanding the reach of JPXI’s data products to a broader audience.
“We are excited to enter a new partnership that furthers JPX Group’s long-term vision of contributing to sustainable societal and economic development by evolving into a global, comprehensive financial and information platform.”
Hidetoshi Tojo, managing director at Snowflake, added: “By combining JPXI’s J-LAKE platform with Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, we believe that we can create an environment where more market participants can access JPXI’s rich and varied data offerings with more ease, efficiency, and convenience, thereby expanding the potential for innovative data usage.”
Snowflake is used by a number of exchanges to facilitate data dissemination and analysis, with LSEG making historical data for fixed income securities available in December last year. Large banks including State Street and Citi are also clients.
Cross-asset trading technology provider Adaptive has partnered with financial messaging protocols firm Rapid Addition to enhance its FIX solutions.
The firms say they are addressing increasing demands on clients around regulatory change and margin pressures, with the partnership following the pattern of firms collaborating on trading solutions.
Mike Powell, CEO of Rapid Addition, commented: “FIX has been fundamental to enabling the growth of electronic trading, however, counterparty connectivity still creates challenges for many organisations. This partnership means we can help Adaptive’s customers simplify client onboarding and seamlessly integrate order flow when building custom front office trading systems.”
Rapid Addition’s FIX engine supports all versions of the FIX protocol alongside custom rules of engagement, allowing Adaptive to further customise its front-office trading solutions. Through the partnership, the company aims to provide clients with a full order management workflow and counterparty connectivity.
Rapid Addition has previously partnered with workflow automation provider ipushpull to keep users updated with FIX session disconnects and improve notification delivery speed. It has also been active in the digital asset space, working with Chainlink to develop a FIX-native blockchain adapter for institutional trading.
Matt Barrett, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive, added: “By combining our platforms we are enabling our clients to access new sources of liquidity and market data via enterprise-grade FIX capabilities. Our clients can rest assured that they not only have best-in-breed proprietary technology, but also the FIX connectivity needed to streamline counterparty onboarding, adapt to specific client rules, simplify workflows and, ultimately, scale.”
The companies are already connected through Rapid Addition’s use of Aeron, Adaptive’s open-source messaging and clustering product.
The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) plans to follow a US model and demand that hedge funds disclose gross leverage exposures to their prime brokers.
Securities lending is booming along with surging equity markets, prompting concern at the Bank of England about bank exposure to leveraged counterparties. While current Basel rules enshrine netting at the heart of securities financing disclosures, the PRA is looking toward the US, where Securities & Exchange Commission Form PF requires hedge funds to provide a gross leverage exposure measure to lenders and regulators.
Rebecca Jackson, executive director of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) discussed the rapid expansion of prime brokerage services in a speech on 28 January 2025, “As prime brokerage continues to grow, alongside hedge funds, we need to understand what has driven this growth and its implications.”
According to a study from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the largest prime brokers (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan) now serve over 1,000 funds each, compared to just over five hundred for their nearest competitor. According to FSB research, the hedge fund industry itself has also expanded significantly, with assets reaching US$8.5 trillion by the end of 2023—a 21.9% increase year-on-year, marking the fastest growth rate since 2012.
This growth is further demonstrated by data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which reported that as of the end of 2022, US-registered hedge funds held over US$4.5 trillion in gross assets. These funds primarily rely on a few prime brokers who mostly are global systemically important banks, with the largest serving more than 1,000 funds each.
Jackson noted that this expansion has been driven by rising equity prices, the proliferation of sophisticated quantitative trading strategies, and a broader shift in capital allocation toward alternative investments. “One major factor is the continued appreciation in equities, especially in US markets,” she said. “As equity prices increase, the loans required to finance their purchase naturally become larger, as does the gross value of synthetic transactions.”
The FCA’s review found that many prime brokers are extending credit to counterparties without a clear understanding of their risk profiles. “Firms have been all too ready to do business with clients whose risk profiles they do not properly understand and cannot adequately monitor,” Jackson warned.
A key concern is the reliance on net exposure metrics, which can obscure the true scale of risk. “By virtue of netting, these metrics tend to obscure the scale and potential impact of growth trends. They do not provide a meaningful constraint on business growth, allowing firms to ‘reduce’ risk in ways that may not hold up in times of stress.”
Jackson warned banks that the PRA will start requiring SEC-style gross exposure metrics. “We expect to see all prime brokers start using measures of gross exposure and absolute leverage to understand and control this business better”, she said.
The collapse of Archegos Capital Management in 2021 is a reminder of the dangers. The failure of the private office managed by Bill Hwang resulted in billions of dollars in losses for major banks, highlighting the perils of inadequate due diligence and counterparty risk management. “The issue is that new entrants may not have the necessary infrastructure and risk management capabilities to operate effectively in this space,” Jackson cautioned. “Financial history is littered with examples of firms entering new markets without adequate controls, only to suffer catastrophic losses.”
In addition to gross exposure metrics, the FCA is now demanding that should set minimum standards for disclosure frequency, ensure that risk appetite decisions are directly influenced by counterparty transparency, and establish clear governance around exceptions. “We think it is your job to make judgments about your clients based on what they do or do not tell you,” Jackson emphasised. “It is not enough to simply include a disclosure score as one of many marginal factors affecting a client’s credit rating.”
To ensure robust oversight, the FCA expects prime brokers to integrate automated systems capable of monitoring client disclosures on an ongoing basis. These systems should flag missing or outdated data, detect concerning trends, and cross-reference disclosures with internal and external sources. “Good practice relies on automated solutions that can meaningfully analyse data and promptly escalate potential risk changes to senior management.”
Looking ahead, the FCA plans to continue its thematic work on prime brokerage, aligning its expectations with the recently updated Basel guidelines on counterparty credit risk. “The issues I have raised here—entry to new business lines, operational resilience, and decision-making based on adequate information—apply beyond just this sector. Firms must find the time to join the dots across their businesses.”
“We recognise that implementing these frameworks comes at a cost,” Jackson concluded. “But the costs of sub-standard disclosures could be much, much higher.”
Oliver Sung, head of North American equities, Cboe Global Markets
After NYSE’s 22-hour market expansion last year, Cboe Global Markets is going one step further – offering 24-hour trading for stocks listed on the US EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGX).
In October last year, NYSE extended its trading hours to 22 hours – from 1:30 AM to 11:30 PM ET – five days a week. At the time, Kevin Tyrrell, head of markets, said: “As the steward of the US capital markets, the NYSE is pleased to lead the way in enabling exchange-based trading for our US-listed companies and funds to investors in time zones across the globe.”
According to the US Department of the Treasury, foreign investors’ US equity holdings rose by 124% to US$13.7 trillion between 2016 and 2023. At Cboe, between 2022 and 2024 EDGX’s early hours trading sessions, from 4:00AM ET to 7:00AM ET, saw average daily volumes rise by 135%.
Demand for 24-hour trading is domestic, too. The increased presence of retail investors in the market, and the rising power of the brokers servicing them, are pushing traditional exchanges to consider an all-night approach. According to Dmitri Galinov, CEO of 24X National Exchange, as of September 2024, Robinhood was conducting a quarter of trades outside of standard hours.
The global shift towards end-of-day trading is also an incentive, with some market participants believing that removing the market close would eliminate the issue of concentrated liquidity and volatility. However, others warn that it could string out liquidity and diminish trust in the market.
Sylvain Thieullent, CEO of electronic trading firm Horizon Trading Solutions, commented: “Liquidity is likely to be thinner outside of regular trading hours, which can make it difficult for high-speed traders to execute trades at desired prices. Realistically, it is sophisticated algorithms that are able to analyse extensive volumes of data, detecting patterns, and executing trades with split-second precision that will determine who is able to capitalise most from this trend among global exchanges.”
For any exchange planning to offer 24-hour trading, though, current market infrastructure is a considerable barrier. The SEC requires that exchanges report trades and quotes to Securities Information Processors (SIPs) in real-time. As such, exchanges can only run when SIPs are operating – between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM ET. This cuts out a large chunk of the Japan daytime market.
In order for Cboe’s 24/5 plans to be approved, substantial changes will need to be made. Aside from SIP hours, regulatory amendments already in motion around minimum tick sizes and access fee caps, new definitions of round lot sizes and the addition of odd lot quotations to SIPs mean that round-the-clock trading will not be in place anytime soon.
To facilitate real-time pricing in a 24/5 trading environment for APAC and Europe market participants, Cboe intends to increase market data distribution across the regions. An expansion of trading hours will also improve the range of data available through the Cboe One US Equities Feed, it added, which provides consolidated, real-time market data from the group’s four US equities exchanges.
Currently, trading is available on EDGX from 4:00AM ET to 8:00PM ET. Early order acceptance begins at 2:30AM ET. The exchange already provides close-to 24×5 trading for its S&P 500 Index (SPX) options and volatility index (VIX) options and futures markets, the models for which will be used as the format for the equities market.
Cboe Europe has announced several leadership changes within its equities division as it continues to expand its market presence.
Cboe Europe is the largest pan-European trading venue by volume, with a 25% market share in cash equities as of January 2025. The exchange has seen continued growth in its trading services, with its periodic auction accounting for 8.8% of all continuous trading in December 2024, up from 5.3% the previous year.
Cboe BIDS Europe, the firm’s block trading platform, has maintained its position as Europe’s largest block trading venue for 33 consecutive months, reaching a record average daily volume (ADV) of €575 million in 2024.
Alex Dalley has been promoted to head of European cash equities, where he will oversee product development, sales, and execution consulting for Cboe’s European equities business. He will report directly to Natan Tiefenbrun, president of North American and European equities.
Dalley has been with Cboe Europe since 2008, playing a key role in growing the exchange’s equities business. He was previously head of Cboe Netherlands, where he led the firm’s pan-European equities and derivatives exchange operations. Before that, he served as co-head of European equities sales, focusing on client relationship management and business development across continental Europe.
Before joining Cboe, Dalley spent over seven years at the London Stock Exchange, where he was head of exchange trading and membership sales. In this role, he managed exchange trading sales, client relationships, and membership acquisition. He was also responsible for business development of the LSE’s buy-side/sell-side FIX hub and spoke service.
Jerry Avenell, previously co-head of sales for European equities, has been named head of sales for European cash equities. He reports to Dalley.
Avenell has over 20 years of experience in European equities sales and trading. He joined Cboe in 2012 as European co-head of sales following the exchange’s acquisition of Chi-X Europe, where he had worked since 2007 as a business development manager. Before that, he spent eight years at the London Stock Exchange as a primary account manager, where he focused on client acquisition and market relationships. In addition to his role at Cboe, Avenell serves as co-chair of the FIX Global equities committee and previously chaired the FIX EMEA equities advisory committee from 2021 to 2024.
Julie Zhou, formerly director of sales, has been promoted to head of continental European sales, reporting to Avenell. Zhou has been with Cboe since 2016, focusing on expanding the firm’s client relationships across Europe.
Before joining Cboe, Zhou worked at MSCI as an account manager specialising in indices for portfolio replication, structured products, and benchmarking. Before that, she spent six years at Thomson Reuters, where she held various roles in enterprise solutions sales, covering FX aggregation software, real-time data feeds, and trading analytics.
Looking ahead, Cboe plans to launch a dedicated retail liquidity provider scheme and new tariff structures for equities and ETFs in 2025, pending regulatory approval. These initiatives aim to enhance retail order execution by offering execution at or within the European Best Bid or Offer (BBO) free of charge.
We're Enhancing Your Experience with Smart Technology
We've updated our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy to introduce AI tools that will personalize your content, improve our market analysis, and deliver more relevant insights.These changes take effect on Aug 25, 2025. Your data remains protected—we're simply using smart technology to serve you better. [Review Full Terms] |[Review Privacy Policy] By continuing to use our services after Aug 25, 2025, you agree to these updates.
