Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from April 2004

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from April 2004

Currency mania.(Editor's Note)
April 1, 2004... A couple months ago, George Soros spoke at the Chicago Council of Foreign Relations. Although not a great orator, he is a great thinker. And the words he does say usually have impact. After his speech, someone asked him at what point was it...

Don't be dumb.(Sound Off!)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Although I am an economist, I enjoyed Howard Simons' article, "It's not the economy, stupid" (March 2004). It is important to state, however, that all major market moves do ultimately have an economic cause and explanation. The problem is...

Color blind.(Sound Off!)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... The color-coded graph "The bigger not the better" on page 39 of the March 2004 issue of Futures does not agree with the stated trends at the top of the graph. Shouldn't the S & P 500 Large Cap be the bottom trend? John L. Meisenheimer, Sr....

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 1, 2004... In our December 2003 Top 50 FCMs article, Cargill Investor Services was not given credit for being a member of the following non-U.S. exchanges: Italian Derivatives Market, Euronext, International Petroleum Exchange, and the London Metal...

The developers of Aberration and I-Master introduce B-Master, a bond futures trading system.(Trade-System, Inc.,)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... B-Master is a trading system that: Is based on Econometric relationships, not typical price trend-following. Avoids the "open equity give back" problem that is typical of trend-following approaches. [check] Is lowly correlated...

There and back again: Europe green lighted to trade Eurex US.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2004... With all the controversy regarding the Eurex US application for contract market status with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)--the comment periods, congressional hearings and public battle with Chicago's futures exchanges--it came...

Liffe living La Vida loca? Liffe targets CME's biggest contract.(Trendlines)(Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Euronext Liffe)
April 1, 2004... When Euronext.Liffe CEO Hugh Freedberg announced the exchange would list futures and options on eurodollars, he said it also would consider dual-listing eurodollars on its U.S.-based exchange, NQLX, at a later time and clear them through a U.S....

FCMs at it again: R.J. O'Brien snaps up Zap Futures.(R.J. O'Brien and Associates Inc., Future Capability Mission)
April 1, 2004... Growth in electronic trading is putting FCMs in direct competition with their introducing brokers, creating redundancies that will eventually need to be eliminated. But while the race for scale has pushed some self-directed traders to abandon...

They call him (the) Flipper: Eurex hunts elusive order book player.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2004... Some time in early January, German debt traders began to notice something peculiar on Eurex: large orders showing up in quiet markets--primarily in the Schatz contract--getting slowly filled, and then suddenly reversing, slamming the market...

Location, location, location.(Americas)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The CBOT has found a use for one of its old floors by leasing its original trading floor to equity option market making firm Peak 6. The floor originally housed the CBOT's core grain markets, then became the floor for Treasury futures after the...

FX First flunked?(Americas)(FX First Inc.,)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... On March 4, the CFTC filed a notice of intent to revoke FX First's CFTC registration. However, the firm is fighting the CFTC's jurisdictional authority, stating its contracts are spot forex and not futures contracts. A federal judge will decide...

Welcome to 1995.(Americas)(Brazilian clearinghouse CBLC has upgraded to Algorithmics Inc.'s 4.4 Algo Market)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Brazilian clearinghouse CBLC has upgraded to Algorithmics Inc.'s 4.4 Algo Market, allowing the CBLC to perform margin and limit calculations now in real-time for the roughly 80,000 trades it handles a day. The exchange says this will reduce...

Going long for kids.(Americas)
April 1, 2004... Futures and Options for Kids, a nonprofit organization, raised more than $175,000 for its annual dinner in February. During the event, CFTC Chairman James Newsome and Charlie Nastro, retired Lehman Brothers Futures managing director, were...

Blast rocks Madrid.(Europe)
April 1, 2004... Meff Deputy CEO Fernando Centelles reported to the Futures Industry Association that no Meff personnel were harmed in the terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11. Meff opened on time and traded its normal schedule despite the attack. ...

London plastics exchange.(Europe)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... With plastics gaining market share, the London Metal Exchange (LME) has been looking at making plastics the first non-metals product in the exchange's 125-year history. In March, the exchange's governing board approved the launch of two futures...

Dubai, Dubai doo!(Europe)(AtosEuronext)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Dubai International Financial Exchange, the first major international exchange to establish in the Middle East, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Euronext, AtosEuronext, LCH. Clearnet and Euroclear, to build its component parts....

China rules.(Pacific Rim)(China Banking Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has implemented interim rules on derivatives business of financial institutions. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] According to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), this is the...

Gordon takes over Rosenthal-Collins.(Trading Places)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG) has brought former CME chairman Scott Gordon aboard as president and CEO. "Throughout my career, most of the time, I have spent either starting up, fixing up or selling operations, and one of the things I'm...

SEC preparing to register hedge funds.(Managed Money Review)(Securities and Exchange Commission)
April 1, 2004... The Securities and Exchange Commission took a step closer to requiring hedge fund managers to register despite differing opinions within the agency. Chairman William H. Donaldson, in a March speech, said the SEC staff is "preparing a proposed...

Corn demanding $3.(Hot Commodities)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The bull corn market that has rallied 70 cents in the first two months of the year appears to have petered out at the $3 level. Analysts, while acknowledging that traders are not wild about $3 corn, believe they will have to get use to it as...

Gasoline topped off on expectations?(Hot Commodities)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... For those experiencing sticker shock at the pump, there may be some seasonal relief in sight. Energy analysts see the price of unleaded gasoline futures correcting from early March contract highs. One week into March, the price of gasoline had...

Sugar flirts with bottom.(Hot Commodities)(prices and rates)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Despite an impressive rally of nearly a full penny, analysts are not convinced that sugar has turned the corner. While noting that sugar has skyrocketed from a low of $0.0554 to $0.0636 in less than a month, Refco softs analyst Ann Prendergast...

Inching toward less accommodation.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2004... The Federal Reserve is apt to keep monetary policy "accommodative" throughout the year, but that's not the same thing as saying it will leave the federal funds rate unchanged all year. Step by incremental step, the Fed has moved toward making...

U.S. job growth the fulcrum of dollar recovery.(Markets)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2004... Despite recent appreciation in the U.S. dollar, analysts don't expect the greenback to hold those gains across the board unless the U.S. economy gets serious about job growth. Without more jobs for constituents, political pressure will remain...

Forex is a knowledge game.(Forex Trader)
April 1, 2004... The game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is reflective of the challenges of forex trading. The game starts with a set of easy questions and progresses to more difficult levels. There are traps along the way. You can reach the next level...

Futures 2004 Guide to e-Forex.(Guide to e-Forex)(Spot Forex)
April 1, 2004... Just over three years ago, the world waited with bated breath for the advent of futures on individual stocks. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000, among other things, legalized trading of these products, which had been...

Forex FCM report.(Guide to e-Forex)
April 1, 2004... While Forex trading is not new to the marketplace, many retail traders are new to forex, and forex brokerage firms that targeted retail traders have been around for some time. Unfortunately, the forex arena hasn't always been the safest for...

e-Forex and forex futures: key differences.(Guide to e-Forex)(Spot Forex)(Electronic Foreign Exchange)(National Futures Association)(Commodity Futures Trading Commission)
April 1, 2004... There are many misconceptions and confusions between currency futures contracts and online forex trading also known as spot forex or e-forex. Both provide a way to speculate on changes in foreign exchange rates, but they aren't exactly the...

Winning the tax trade in e-forex: currency traders face complexities and nuances come tax time. Cash forex can be an accounting nightmare and you face higher ordinary tax rates, unless you 'elect out' of IRC 988 for 60/40 treatment.(Guide to e-Forex)
April 1, 2004... When it comes to trading in currencies, special tax rules apply. There are two distinct types of currency trading and each has profound differences in tax and accounting rules. Currency futures traded on regulated commodities exchanges are...

Where brokers get e-forex quotes: how much for that euro in the window?(Guide to e-Forex)
April 1, 2004... Foreign exchange is the most liquid market in the world, but it's also one of the most decentralized markets. Futures and options have centralized exchanges and clearinghouses that report every trade and the resulting price ticks in these...

Riding intermarket trends in the U.S. dollar: even if you don't trade forex directly, the value of a dollar--that is, how many euros, yen, pounds, swiss francs, and such, you can buy with a fist full of greenbacks--can sometimes affect the markets you watch more than any other variable.(Trading Techniques)
April 1, 2004... Intermarket relationships are among the best sources for market analysis. However, many such relationships must be viewed in the context of the strength of the U.S. dollar to put them in proper context. U.S. dollar strength plays an...

From day-trading stocks to swing trading forex; With intraday moves in the stock market turning sour, this long time stock trader turned to what once was an unlikely target for retail traders: foreign exchange. Here's how he did it.(Trading Techniques)(e-forex)
April 1, 2004... For the last 10 years, the stock market has been a fertile ground for active day traders. The late 1990s provided a market environment in which anyone who could fog a mirror could make money trading. Early 2000-01 left only the more seasoned...

Can the CPI catch your eye? The CME has delved into the market of tradable macroeconomic indicators with CPI futures. Before you consider trading this market, you should carefully consider the economic forces behind the CPI's valuation.(Trading Techniques)(consumer price index)(Chicago Mercantile Exchange)
April 1, 2004... If you cannot add, then do not trade. Before you protest either your virtue or your arithmetic abilities in whichever order you choose, consider the difficulties posed by Fisher's Law, which states that nominal interest rates are the sum of an...

Trading with order flow; the author keeps a copy of Paul Leo's book The Ultimate Technical Trading Software (In Search of the Holy Grail) in a prominent place in his office simply to remind himself that there is a Holy Grail in trading. Actually, there are two: discipline and order flow. Here he covers order flow.(Trading Techniques)
April 1, 2004... Reading order flow is not an exact science. It takes time to learn to read it. But if you've ever exited a position with a small profit only to watch the market surge several more points your way, analyzing order flow will help. If you've ever...

Don't just optimize, diversify: few trading systems are complete without the addition of a diversified portfolio and, in most cases, even more trading systems. By combining markets and systems, we can earn the cumulative profits while incurring more reasonable drawdowns.(Technology & Trading)
April 1, 2004... The classic approach to developing trading systems is to develop a set of trading rules and parameters that work well on one particular market. One of many problems this can create is that the system tests will generate so few trade samples...

Wealth-Lab Developer 3.0.(Software Review)(Wealth-Lab Inc.,)(Product/Service Evaluation)
April 1, 2004... Wealth-Lab Developer 3.0 Wealth-Lab Inc. 4334 N. Hazel, Suite 703 Chicago IL 60613 (773) 860-7350 info@wealth-lab.com WEB SITE: www.wealth-lab.com COST: $650 for a one-time licensing fee. REOOMMENDED MINIMUM...

Sideways satisfaction: the market isn't moving and you know there are some good strategies you can put on with options, but they all may not be suitable for you.(Futures 101)
April 1, 2004... Options offer many opportunities in all kinds of market directions. The market doesn't always have to be moving higher or lower for you to profit. You like the idea of trading options and you know following the trend, even a sideways trend, can...

The iron condor.(Futures 101)
April 1, 2004... One of the most popular options strategies for making money in a sideways market is known as an iron condor, or 4-way. This is the most consistent moneymaker for playing a trading range in stocks, currencies or commodities. The 4-way is...

New markets, added strategies: trading advisors always are hunting for new markets in which to diversify, especially as institutional investment grows and capacity concerns multiply. Exchanges have responded with new products that may provide new opportunities to diversify with markets and strategies.(Managed Money)
April 1, 2004... Adding new markets to a commodity trading advisor's (CTA) system is a great way for a manager to add capacity. Because most diversified programs are developed to work on multiple markets, adding contracts can be the least disruptive way for a...

Trade globally, think locally: the arrival of Eurex and Euronext on American shores has driven down fees and made U.S. markets more tradable, while a global derivatives explosion is creating new regional markets with global reach.(Trade Trends)(Illustration)
April 1, 2004... For all the hype surrounding the launch of Deutsche Boerse's U.S. subsidiary, Eurex US, and Euronext.Liffe's assault on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) flagship eurodollar contract, you would think the rest of the derivatives world had...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... 1 FND: BM & F Alcohol F, Crystal sugar F, May Cotton F. LTD: BM & F Alcohol OF, CME Mar Mid-sized milk OF, Mar Milk F,OF, Euronext-Liffe White sugar OF. 2 LTD: CME Mar Weather F,OF, Live cattle OF, Nybot May Cocoa OF. 6 LTD: BM & F May...

Events coming up.(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 80-85. 13th Annual FIA OpTech Conference. APR 20. Marriott Marquis, New York. (212) 398-1900. www.futuresindustry.org. The 22nd Annual...

Troster: anticipating changes.(Trader Profile)(Christian Troster explains changes in the banking industry and traffic over work stations )
April 1, 2004... When Christian Troster won an investing contest sponsored by a local savings bank in 1988, the institution's director lectured other contestants on the dangers of generating high returns. The kid may have gotten a few lucky breaks, the director...