Options Pros See Opportunity in Retail-Aimed Structured Products

The latest outgrowth of retail trading via exchange-traded and structured products is opening more sophisticated strategies to smaller participants but also offering hedge funds and other large traders opportunities to profit from dislocations in markets.

The massive growth in retail has fundamentally changed the options markets over the past few years, according to speakers Tuesday at the Bloomberg Intelligence Volatility Forum in New York. Total average volume from 13 brokers that handle retail orders increased by 18.5% to 32 million orders a day in the year to June 30 2025.