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The rapid trades—all at nearly $5,500—occurred in a single Kalshi market. The prediction market says the trades represent normal activity.

Traders on the prediction market Kalshi have made almost one million trades in a single market since August that were in nearly identical amounts, unusual activity that has caught the eyes of federal regulators and traders.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of public trading data found that in recent weeks, more than one-third of trades on a market speculating on the price of the cryptocurrency ether consisted of rapid trades clustered around the same order size—$5,500. Kalshi’s public data doesn’t disclose the identity of traders.

Artificial trading activity that has no economic value, or so-called “wash trading,” can violate commodities and securities trading laws. In a blog post published Tuesday, Kalshi said that wash trading is “explicitly banned in our rulebook,” that it has seen “no evidence” of wash trading, that the trades were real and that the order sizes were a function of its incentives to ensure seamless transactions.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal regulator that oversees Kalshi, is examining the trades, according to a person familiar with the matter. The agency typically reviews data on trading activity before determining whether to open an enforcement investigation. A spokeswoman for the CFTC said the commission “can’t comment on whether an investigation is happening or not.”

The trades took place in one of Kalshi’s markets for perpetual futures, also called perps, which allow users to speculate on the price of an asset without purchasing it.

To encourage some large traders to offer liquidity as market-makers, Kalshi has waived trading fees and provided monthly cash stipends. Some traders are offered an opportunity to purchase Kalshi equity if they hit trading volume targets, according to people familiar with the arrangements.

Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara said in an interview with the Journal that it’s not uncommon for exchanges to try to draw large traders into new markets to incentivize broader adoption. “What’s happening now is what happens with any market that’s trying to kick-start a new product and activity,” she said. “This is very normal.”

Kalshi provided data drawn from trading activity on Crypto.com’s prediction market showing some orders for contracts betting on the prices of ether and bitcoin also fell into regularly-sized tranches. Those orders accounted for less than 15% of total volume across hundreds of markets.

“While we appreciate Kalshi’s instinct to deflect attention, there is no evidence of wash trading on our platform,” said Crypto.com spokesman Al D’Agostino.

Kalshi, which raised $1 billion at a $22 billion valuation in March, introduced perps in May and currently has perps markets for cryptocurrencies and precious metals. It is seeking approval to create similar markets for stock prices, and has emphasized the importance of growing its perpetual futures markets to investors, according to people familiar with the discussions. The company views perps as a potential hedge against an adverse ruling in a suit challenging its ability to offer sportsbetting, which could appear before the Supreme Court next year.

A week after Kalshi launched its cryptocurrency perps, Chief Executive Tarek Mansour appeared on CNBC to share that the markets had exceeded $1 billion in trading volume, including leverage. “The results have been incredible,” he said. “The demand is there.”

In all, the trades at $5,500 accounted for over $5 billion in ether perp volume over the past month, the Journal’s analysis showed.

The trading pattern on Kalshi was surfaced on X by Benoit Dubosson, a former quantitative trader who focuses on crypto.

In its blog post, the company said that “hundreds of distinct traders” participated in the transactions. Kalshi shareholder Jump Trading was one of the parties to the rapid transactions, according to a person familiar with the matter; another participant was crypto trading firm Wintermute. Wintermute didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“Jump uses available self-match prevention tools, trades to make a profit and does not coordinate its trading with anyone,” a Jump spokeswoman said.

Financial experts and former federal regulators said the Journal’s analysis merits further review.

“Normal market-making isn’t really what’s described in this type of conduct,” said Braden Perry, a former CFTC enforcement attorney, who said he hasn’t previously seen a trading pattern of this type.

“What’s going on is definitely unusual,” said Rajiv Sethi, a Barnard College economics professor who has studied prediction markets and wash trading. “There’s no doubt that the data is extremely striking.” Sethi said there could be benign explanations for the activity.

In 2021, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase paid a $6.5 million fine to settle allegations brought by the CFTC including that one of its employees had engaged in wash trading in crypto markets to create a “misleading appearance of liquidity and trading interest.”

Activist Jana Partners Urges Six Flags to Explore Sale

The theme-park company faces pressure following disappointing earnings amid turnaround effort

Activist hedge fund Jana Partners is urging theme-park operator Six Flags Entertainment FUN -0.57%decrease; down pointing triangle to explore a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details

The activist investor on Tuesday called on the company’s board of directors to immediately hire an investment bank to explore a sale, citing its disappointment with Six Flags’ second-quarter earnings, the people said.

Six Flags last month reported that its net loss widened to $202.6 million from a loss of $99.6 million in the prior-year quarter. It had a market value of about $1.2 billion as of Tuesday. Shares are down roughly 42% over the past year.

Six Flags has been working to turn around its business as fewer guests visit its parks. The company sold seven noncore parks to EPR Properties EPR 0.71%increase; up pointing triangle and closed another park in Maryland after the 2025 season.

The context

Jana last fall teamed up with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce for its activist campaign at Six Flags, acquiring a stake of about 9%, valued at $200 million at the time, alongside other investors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

At the time, the activist was pushing Six Flags to make a range of changes including improving its marketing and the experience at its parks and modernizing its technology. It also suggested refreshing leadership and evaluating a potential sale.

Kelce has since agreed to serve as a brand ambassador for Six Flags.

Also last fall, Land & Buildings, an activist focused on real estate, reiterated a previous push for Six Flags to sell or spin out its real estate into a real-estate investment trust.

New York-based Jana, founded by Barry Rosenstein, has had a busy year. The activist investor recently demanded that contact-lens maker Cooper Cos. replace its chief executive and consider selling its core businesses, the Journal reported. Jana earlier this year built a stake in Fiserv and pushed for changes to boost the payments company’s underperforming stock.

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Warburg Pincus and CD&R near deal to buy Canaccord’s UK wealth division

Private equity groups are in advanced buyout talks at £1bn-plus valuation as deals wave sweeps sector

Private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Clayton Dubilier & Rice are in advanced talks to buy Canadian financial services group Canaccord Genuity’s UK wealth business, as a wave of dealmaking sweeps through the sector.

The deal would give Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management UK an enterprise value of about £1bn, according to people familiar with the matter.

The business, which operates in the so-called mass affluent and high-net-worth segment of the market, is majority owned by Canada-listed Canaccord, which has a market capitalisation of C$1.4bn ($1bn). New York-based private credit firm HPS Investment Partners also owns a minority stake.

Canaccord, Warburg Pincus, CD&R and HPS declined to comment. The deal could yet fall apart and other bidders could emerge for the wealth business, said one person familiar with the matter.

The global wealth management industry is consolidating, as groups bulk up to combat pressure from rising regulatory costs and competition from cheaper “DIY” investment sites. Buyers such as private equity firms are attracted to the sector because it offers recurring revenues, is supported by demographic changes such as people living longer and has scalable operating models. 

Earlier this year NatWest beat competition from rival bank Barclays to secure a more than £2.5bn takeover of Evelyn Partners, one of Britain’s biggest wealth managers, itself the result of an earlier merger between Tilney and Smith & Williamson. 

Meanwhile, US-based Corient, backed by Mubadala Capital, has emerged as the largest non-bank wealth manager in the world through a series of acquisitions over the past six years. It has been on a shopping spree in Europe in the past year, buying Stanhope Capital Group, Stonehage Fleming and Bedrock Group.

Canaccord’s UK wealth management business provides financial advice to clients with assets of more than £250,000 or investment management services to clients who have over £250,000 of investable assets. 

The UK and Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Channel Islands made up almost 43 per cent of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management’s global revenues of C$305.1mn in the company’s first fiscal quarter ending in June.

The UK wealth business also accounts for the lion’s share of the assets, with C$81.7bn, compared with C$59.5bn for North America and C$19bn for Australia. 

In the past, Canaccord has embarked on acquisitions to expand in the UK. It bought the investment management business of Adam & Company from Royal Bank of Scotland for £54mn in 2021 and acquired Punter Southall Wealth in 2022. 

The FT reported in November 2024 that Canaccord was working with bankers to run a strategic review of the UK wealth management business and assess its future within the wider group.

Mercedes-Benz aims to close AI gap with China rivals through Wayve deal

German carmaker will integrate start-up’s autonomous driving system into at least one model to be deployed in next two years

Mercedes-Benz has struck a partnership deal with Wayve, the London-based autonomous driving start-up, as the German premium brand seeks to close an AI technology gap with Tesla and software-focused Chinese rivals.

The deal — Wayve’s third — is the latest effort by a traditional carmaker to keep pace with the industry’s costly transition towards more intelligent cars while seeking to retain control over key aspects of the software and vehicle design.

Wayve has already inked partnerships with Nissan and Stellantis, and the three automakers backed Wayve when it raised $1.2bn in February. The start-up also counts Nvidia, Qualcomm and Microsoft among its investors. 

“I think there’s now a deep market conviction” about autonomous driving, Alex Kendall, Wayve’s co-founder and chief executive, told the FT. “I’ve seen automakers go from a year ago being almost sceptical . . . to now a deep belief that this technology works.”

Mercedes-Benz said it planned to integrate Wayve’s autonomous driving system into at least one model that it will deploy in the next two years, offering “advanced urban point-to-point driving assistance”. 

Wayve’s current system delivers “Level 2” advanced driver assistance software — industry terminology for technology that requires active monitoring by a human driver behind the wheel, similar to Tesla’s Autopilot. Like Tesla, Wayve’s technology relies primarily on cameras and computers, which make its software more affordable. 

European carmakers are struggling to catch up with the heavy investments Tesla and Chinese rivals such as Xpeng are making to develop advanced autonomous capabilities.

But some in-house automotive engineers have been reluctant to hand over too much control of core technologies and data to tech giants, especially as software increasingly becomes the key competitive feature in a vehicle. 

Wayve said its AI system allows carmakers flexibility in vehicle architecture and design, while Nvidia has also tried to allay concerns by allowing carmakers to customise its software stack, pitching its technology as open and transparent.

Mercedes-Benz is separately aiming to launch its new CLA model in the US, equipped with its own operating system and “Level 2++” capabilities using Nvidia software, by the end of this year. 

Many carmakers have taken a multipronged approach, hedging their bets with different technology partners in various regions as well as in-house development of autonomous technology.

Nissan will combine Wayve’s software with its ProPilot semi-autonomous system and plans to deliver fully autonomous vehicles for Uber robotaxi services that use Wayve’s system.

But its engineers are separately developing its own “Level 4” system internally, which involves autonomous vehicles driving themselves with no human behind the wheel in limited, pre-mapped areas. 

People close to the company said the Japanese group was divided into two camps: one enthusiastically embracing Wayve’s technology and another worried that the AI operated as a black box, creating liability issues. 

A former senior Nissan executive said its in-house approach of rules-based self-driving systems would still be necessary for more advanced autonomous driving operations because the reason for an accident caused by a car using Wayve’s system could not easily be identified.

Kendall pushed back against black box concerns, saying there were tools in place to measure performance and validate capabilities, while its technology was also compliant with existing regulations.

“It will scale to a much greater degree than what a single automaker can do with an AI they try to build themselves. It’ll be . . . ultimately safer because of that model,” said Wavve’s chief executive.

FT : Airtel Money poised to launch one of London’s biggest IPOs in recent years

African mobile payments group to file paperwork as early as this week as it looks to raise $800mn at $8bn-$9bn valuation

Airtel Money is poised to launch one of London’s biggest listings of recent years, as the African mobile payments company seeks to raise at least $800mn from investors.

The business expects to file paperwork for its initial public offering to the London Stock Exchange as soon as Wednesday, according to two people briefed on the plans who said it was aiming for a valuation of $8bn-$9bn.

Should the flotation proceed, it will be a boost to the UK stock market, which has struggled to attract large new listings.

Airtel Money operates through a network of agents, branches and kiosks across Africa, allowing users to deposit and withdraw cash using their mobile money accounts. It has more than 56mn customers and in the last full financial year reported revenues of $1.36bn. 

Airtel Africa, the Indian-owned telecoms group that holds about 78 per cent of the business, considered a listing in the Middle East, the FT previously reported. However, it ultimately opted for London in part because of geopolitical tensions in the region.

Airtel Africa’s stake after the listing is yet to be determined, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

Airtel Money would be among London’s largest market debuts in recent years. Others have included British fintech Wise, which was valued at almost £9bn in a direct listing in July 2021, and Magnum Ice Cream Company, which was spun off from Unilever last year with a £6.7bn valuation.

Several high-profile listings have been delayed this year. 

Visma, the software group valued at about €19bn, pushed back its planned flotation following a wider sell-off in the sector, while other companies including roadside recovery group RAC and online travel agent Loveholidays also put off their plans.

There have been just seven UK listings this year, raising £577.2mn, according to data provided by the London Stock Exchange. In 2025 there were 23 London IPOs that raised £2.3bn in total.

The number of London-listed companies has also been depleted by a steady stream of takeovers, as private equity groups and foreign bidders snap up publicly traded companies.

UK politicians and policymakers have introduced a series of measures aimed at encouraging businesses to list in London, including a stamp duty exemption for new IPOs and lower free-float requirements to allow founders to keep more of their stakes.

Airtel Money’s decision to list in the UK was partly motivated by its parent company’s experience since its London IPO in 2019, the person with knowledge of the matter said.

Shares in Airtel Africa, which is majority-owned by Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel, are up about 300 per cent on their IPO price, having almost tripled last year.

Airtel Money declined to comment.

Global banks warn UK windfall tax will trigger shift away from London

Chancellor John Healey is looking for revenues in next month’s Budget to compensate for hit from higher borrowing costs due to Iran war

Global banking executives have warned that they will divert investment away from the UK if taxes on the sector are raised, telling Andy Burnham’s government that it risks further damaging London’s position as a financial centre.

Senior bankers said they would no longer choose the UK as their main European hub in the same way as they did before Brexit, according to a survey of US, EU, Asian, African and Middle Eastern lenders with large British operations by the sector’s main lobby group.

The warning shows bankers are becoming increasingly worried about being hit by a windfall tax in next month’s Budget. Chancellor John Healey is looking for revenues to compensate for the hit from higher borrowing costs due to the Iran war.

“I think already we’re very highly taxed,” David Postings, chief executive of bank lobby group UK Finance, told the FT. “To go further than that, really I think would reach a tipping point and would be very risky on the part of the government.”

Bankers outlined two scenarios that would trigger a serious rethink of their operations in the UK: if the tax and regulatory burdens on banks are increased or if stricter immigration rules make it harder to move staff to Britain.

Banks have become a tempting target as their profits have risen.

NatWest, Lloyds Bank, and the UK arms of Barclays and HSBC, the country’s traditional “Big Four” lenders, increased their pre-tax profits by 16 per cent year-on-year to a combined £13bn in the first half of 2026.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said that there was “a mountain of evidence” that banks could afford to pay higher tax, “not least the record £25bn bonus pool they paid out last year”.

However, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, has previously criticised the idea of higher UK bank taxes, warning they could have “adverse consequences” for the sector and the economy in a thinly veiled threat to reconsider its planned £3bn London office.

London-based corporate and investment banks pay tax equal to 46.5 per cent of their profits, already the highest among major US and European financial centres, according to new research by PwC for UK Finance.

If the government raised the corporation tax surcharge levied on the sector back to the level it was before a reduction three years ago, it would push the total tax rate for banks in London above 50 per cent for the first time.

The tax rate for UK banks has already risen above rivals, such as 42 per cent in Amsterdam, 29 per cent in Dublin and 28 per cent in New York, the report said. German government reforms are due to lower the total tax rate on Frankfurt-based banks from 39 per cent to 34 per cent by 2032.

“While international banks continue to value the UK’s deep capital markets, world-class talent pool, legal certainty, optimal timezone, regulatory expertise and global connectivity, these core strengths are facing unprecedented pressure,” said the UK Finance report seen by the FT.

After interviewing executives at 14 international banks that employ 35,000 people in the UK, the report warned: “The accumulation of individually manageable pressures has, over time, weakened the case for locating additional activity in the UK.” 

They also warned the UK risked “falling behind” other countries on AI.

“It is not about anyone saying they will shut down in London,” said Jonathan Herbst, global head of financial services at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, which carried out the survey. “It is more about decisions on where to invest and where to grow. I would say the jury is out.”

Problems the executives identified included high taxes, Brexit, diverging regulation, rising costs, obstacles to moving staff, slow policymaking and costly judicial actions, such as the recent car finance scandal.