About Us

X-Change Financial Access (XFA) is an agency broker/dealer established to provide outsourced execution trade services for listed exchange-traded Derivatives and Futures Options Contracts.

Contact the team

XFA was created by brokers for traders providing unrivalled access to liquidity and “best pricing” for our customers at both Cboe and CME.

XFA maintains membership and floor operations across all major exchanges, including:

Meet the XFA team

XFA distinguishes itself through client service delivered directly from the most senior levels of the firm. We are proud to offer you access to our Executive  Committee on a daily basis, to provide the highest levels of experience working directly on your account. In addition, our large teams benefit from the expertise of our senior leaders, resulting in the ability to share knowledge internally. 

Timothy Hendricks

Founder, Senior Managing Partner

Timothy Hendricks founded XFA in 2001, is a Senior Managing Partner, and takes an active role in defining our vision. With over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry Timothy currently sits on XFA’s Executive Committee, which oversees the strategic initiatives of the firm.

An active member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, now part of CME Group, Timothy has been a driving force in the growth and oversight of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures option product, serving as Chairman of the CME S&P Committee for the past 15 years.

Timothy is also a partner in the firm TH Brokerage, LLC, a leading options brokerage specialist, is active in many charitable foundations and financial services industry associations and serves as a director of several privately owned companies.

Peter Scheffler 

Managing Partner 

Peter Scheffler joined XFA as a Managing Partner in 2002 and serves on the Executive Committee. With over two decades of experience in the financial services industry, he specializes in the brokerage and execution of exchange-traded derivatives on the CME. Peter oversees XFA’s floor operations on CME and directly manages XFA’s S&P 500 options on futures execution desk, which has often been the largest volume producer in the S&P product. Peter began his career with International Futures Options & Associates, LLC, in various positions in the Swiss Franc, Deutschemark and S&P trading pits. He was Vice President of equity-trading floor operations for Cargill Investor Services from 1992 to 1996 and served as Vice President of the CME trading-floor operations for BNP Paribas Brokerage Services from 1996 to 2001.

He has been active on many CME Committees, including the SPX Options Committee, and participates in a variety of community organizations. Peter is also actively involved with St. Anne Catholic School and Parish, Barrington.

William Ellington

Managing Partner

William “Duke” Ellington joined XFA as a Managing Partner in 2003 to create XFA’s equity derivatives business at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe). Duke helped build XFA into one of the largest index and equity options brokerages on the Cboe. Currently, he oversees equity operations on all U.S. Exchanges. In addition to managing XFA Equity Operations, Duke actively fills customer orders directly from the Cboe floor.

Duke began as a floor runner for PaineWebber in 1981. Subsequently, he became the Head of Operations at PaineWebber and UBS creating a significant customer network. Throughout his career, Duke has actively participated in Exchange governance, serving on several Cboe committees including Equity Floor, Index Market Performance and Allocation and Financial Planning and the Cboe Advisory Board, and served as chair of the Cboe Facilities Committee.

Duke has continued his active charity work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Mulliganeers for the past ten years as well as participating in various other charitable organizations.

Bill Looney

Managing Director, Head of Global Business Development

Bill Looney is Managing Director at X-Change Financial Access (XFA), an agency broker/dealer established to provide execution trade services for listed exchange-traded Derivatives and Futures contracts. Bill joined the firm in May of 2019 and is responsible for XFA’s Business Development initiatives and efforts globally. His primary responsibilities include Customer Relationship Management and oversight of the firm’s various Strategic initiatives. Also, in 2019, Bill was appointed by the CBOE Board of Directors to join the CBOE Advisory Board.

Prior to joining XFA, Bill was Vice President and Head of Index Options for Cboe Global Markets. The Index Option business is Cboe’s largest top-line revenue unit. Under his management, the business achieved back to back record results for 2017 and 2018. The product suite includes S&P 500 options, VIX options, Russell 2000 options, and MSCI options. His prior roles at Cboe included managing the firms New York office where he served as lead account manager to all Global Investment Banks. Initially, Bill served in Global Business Development for the Buy-Side customer base.

Before joining Cboe, Bill spent 10+ years in Institutional Equity Derivatives Sales and Trading. He held posts at Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Alliance Bernstein and his account base included Hedge Funds and Asset Managers engaged in directional and volatility-based options trading strategies.

Bill’s career began at Salomon Smith Barney. First in Fixed Income sales and trading on the Treasuries and Agencies desk. Subsequently, he moved into Structured Equity and Index linked product sales and served as an Equity Derivatives strategist to the Smith Barney Wealth management division.

Bill graduated with honors from the George Mason University School of Business. While there, he was an NCAA Division I scholarship athlete on the Men’s Golf Team. Bill currently resides in New Jersey and remains a competitive amateur golfer and is an FAA licensed Private Pilot.