Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from April 2007

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from April 2007

Mad as hell.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
April 1, 2007... I learned early on in writing stories, especially those having to do with regulation, that some of the most vivid, concise and true quotes were found in the dreary offices of the regulators in their "Comment letters" files. These rich nuggets...

Gotta fight for your right: all or nothing on CBOE.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2007... If the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves the rule changes requested by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), roughly 1,330 exercise-right privileges (ERPs) held by members of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) would be...

Clearing the air: CME, CBOT execs defend merger.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2007... The Futures Industry Association (FIA) and major Wall Street banks have cranked up the rhetoric against the concentration of power in the new Chicago mega-exchange that would be formed if the proposed merger between the CBOT and CME goes...

Feinstein swings again: push OTC energy bill.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2007... Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is making another run at increasing the regulation of energy derivatives trading. On Feb. 13, Feinstein re-introduced legislation aimed at preventing manipulation and fraud in OTC energy markets such as oil,...

Wicked Web: SEC unravels insider ring.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2007... On March 1, the SEC charged 14 defendants in an insider trading scheme that netted more than $15 million in illegal profits on thousands of trades, using information stolen from UBS Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. The SEC...

Chartview: CBOE looking up.(Trendlines)(Chicago Board Options Exchange Inc. allocating shares, CBOT Holdings Inc. and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. merger)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... No one knows whether the planned CME/CBOT merger will preclude former CBOT members from taking part in a possible share allocation from a CBOE initial public offering, as described by the CBOE in a rule filing with the SEC. And the SEC probably...

Trigger man nabbed: Man Financial sanctioned.(Trendlines)
April 1, 2007... Six customers of Man Financial Inc. will receive $196,900 in restitution ordered by the CFTC, which also ordered the giant futures commission merchant (FCM) to strengthen its supervisory system for overseeing sales and solicitations by its...

Energy wars continue.(International News)(New York Mercantile Exchange to consolidate with Montreal Exchange)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) is jumping into the global consolidation craze by purchasing a 10% stake in the Montreal Exchange (MX). Through a joint venture agreement, the exchanges also will form a new company, headquartered in...

EEX smear campaign.(International News)
April 1, 2007... The Leipzig-based European Energy Exchange (EEX) has been scrambling to head off an internet-based smear campaign in Germany after users and journalists across the country received Powerpoint and Excel documents purporting to expose weaknesses...

Liffe patent case.(International News)
April 1, 2007... U.K. patent laws are being put to the test in a lawsuit filed by former Liffe employee Pavel Pinkava, who helped develop Euronext. Liffe's credit derivatives market. Pinkava worked in marketing, and helped not only structure the new products,...

24-hour meat and hot dollar.(International News)
April 1, 2007... The CME will extend trading hours of its commodities complex to 23-hours-a-day beginning on June 4. This will include live cattle, feeder cattle, lean hogs, pork bellies and class III milk. Meantime, ICE anticipated taking the Dollar Index and...

Farley takes Nybot reins.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Thomas W. Farley was appointed president and chief operating officer of the New York Board of Trade (Nybot). Previously he was president of SunGard's Kiodex business unit, where he also was chief operating officer and chief financial officer....

Spectrum Global Fund Administration LLC.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Carol Burke has been promoted to chief executive officer at Spectrum Global Fund Administration LLC. The former CBOT executive was previously chief administrative officer and general counsel at Spectrum.

HedgeStreet.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Peter Rosenstreich was named financial market strategist at HedgeStreet. Previously he was a market strategist at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, Denmark.

BIDS Trading L.P.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Richard Levin was named general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary to the board of directors for BIDS Trading L.P.

New York Mercantile Exchange Inc.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. has named Randolf Warsager vice president of marketing. Previously he was a vice president in the Alternative Investments Group at Calyon Financial.

Intercontinental Exchange.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Intercontinental Exchange's new board of directors include: Fred Hatfield, Fred W. Schoenhut, Richard V. Spencer, Terrence F. Martell, Maxine Champion, Christopher A. Dunn, Thomas W. Farley, Hugh R. Lamle, and Jeffrey C. Sprecher.

Asia Business Connections.(Trading Places)
April 1, 2007... Peter Hutton, previously managing director of Sungard Asia Pacific, and Alan Talbot, previously sales manager of Wall Street Systems Asia Pacific, have founded Asia Business Connections, a financial services consultancy in Singapore.

Hedge funds weather storm.(Managed Money Review)
April 1, 2007... When the abrupt correction in U.S. equity markets struck on Tuesday Feb. 27 following the huge sell-off in Asia leading to a one-day 416-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, analysts quickly began looking for scapegoats. And as...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 1, 2007... In Futures March Top Traders feature, the second column in the graphic "Top CTA Programs in 2006," contains the managers' upside STD/downside STD measure. Also, in the same article, in "Raithel: Writing profits," his program returned 11.98% in...

Fuelling the bean rally.(Hot Commodities)
April 1, 2007... Encroaching corn acreage and the developing viability of soybean oil based biodiesel has helped push May beans above $8 per bushel, and traders are eager to see the March 30 planting intentions report to give them some insight as to how many...

Press pot plunge.(Hot Commodities)(coffee stock prices )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... After peaking at $1.33 per lb. in mid December, coffee turned lower and the sell-off appears to be accelerating. "We have had a great deal of producer selling," says James Cordier, head trader at Liberty Trading Group. He says this was an on...

Down with the Dow?(Hot Commodities)(Dow Jones & Company Inc., Dow Jones Futures Service )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Sometimes people need a reminder that markets go down as well as up. And traders won't soon forget the day the Shanghai Stock Index tripped and fell, giving up 9% of its value, and triggered a sell-off that cost the Dow Jones Industrial Average...

FED entrenched at 5.25% funds.(Market Watch)
April 1, 2007... The gaping disconnect between the thinking of the financial markets and the Federal Reserve, which prevailed last fall, has narrowed significantly. But many Fed watchers continue to have trouble coming to grips with this stark reality: If you...

Trading penny-priced options.(Market Strategy)
April 1, 2007... Penny-priced options, introduced October 2006, are gaining acceptance. Currently all exchanges support penny priced increments on 10 stocks and three ETFs. However, some firms, such as Interactive Brokers (IB), support penny-priced increments...

Few bright spots in dollar outlook for 2007: the dollar turned down in 2006 after a mild correction in 2005 and little relief appears in sight. With the Federal Reserve Board expected to keep interest rates steady, or possibly ease them, our trading partners reducing their bond holdings and the twin deficits still looming, what will support the dollar?(MARKETS)
April 1, 2007... From a long-term perspective. the landscape for the embattled U.S. dollar appears bleak. The end of 2006 saw a short stretch of mildly optimistic economic data that provided the dollar with a decent bounce, but the move was short lived, and the...

Tech talk: enhancing carry trades.(MARKETS)
April 1, 2007... Foreign exchange traders often participate in the age-old debate between the benefits of technical analysis vs. fundamentals. Is it better to rely upon news and economic indicators, or do the charts really contain what a trader needs to profit...

Forex contagion and lessons.(Forex Trader)
April 1, 2007... The market moves of Feb. 27, when the Dow suffered its worst day in more than five years, demonstrated the reality of intermarket phenomena and the illusion of a disconnect between fundamentals and technicals in market moves. Those who claim...

Predators and prey in the Dow 30: market activity is often compared to Darwinian principles, but does natural selection really work in the stock market? We can find out by examining the dynamics among the 30 component stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index.(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
April 1, 2007... Ecosystems exhibit cyclical changes and inhabitants adapt or perish. That's true whether you're talking about ones populated by wild animals or financial instruments. Regardless of the venue, the inhabitants compete for a finite supply of...

Finding your focus in forex: when trading currencies, the driving factors change through time and with the time frame you trade. To focus on the right areas, you need to recognize what moves the markets and when it does so.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
April 1, 2007... Most charting services offer traders the choice of looking at charts with different time intervals. What is telling about currency charts is that many come in intervals of minutes such as one-, five-, 10-, etc. If it is a matter of responding...

Understanding options: trade profit depends on what you do after the trade, not when you make it. That's probably even more true with options. By introducing various techniques for protecting profit, we lay the groundwork for more sophisticated methods of trade management.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
April 1, 2007... Options are the least understood and most misused financial instrument. Their value inflates and deflates many times during the day, reflecting traders' expectations of future price moves. But expectations are hard to judge, and the intricacies...

Building your own trading system.(Online Trading)
April 1, 2007... Our first article in this trading system series discussed the pros and cons of building your own trading system versus buying one off the shelf. If you are inclined to build, here are the necessary steps. First you must determine your time...

Get balanced--get milk: commodities are a great way to balance out heavy positions in financials. But just as certain financial futures can be correlated, so can many commodity markets. You need to consider your diversification within the commodity sector.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
April 1, 2007... Portfolio managers, depending on the manager and type of investment firm, usually advise investors to allocate anywhere from 5% to 20% of their portfolios to commodities. The reason is simple: commodities provide diversification. Over time,...

Putting it all together: after covering optimization and "start trade drawdown" in previous installments, we will now integrate the concepts of account size and trader risk tolerance, combining everything into a complete trading program.(TECHNOLOGY & TRADING)
April 1, 2007... In trading, there is no single right answer. Many different trading concepts can make money on any market or basket of markets. The key to being a successful system trader is to take one of these trading concepts and apply good analysis to the...

QuoteTracker.(Software Review)(sales management software)(Product/service evaluation)
April 1, 2007... QuoteTracker T2 API Technologies/TD AMERITRADE 6940 Columbia Gateway Drive Columbia, MD 21046 E-mail: sales@quotetracker.com Web: www.quotetracker.com OVERALL RATING: Excellent LEVEL: Beginner to Advanced. ...

Matching forex platforms to your needs: if you don't know what to look for and what to ask about, choosing a forex trading platform can feel like buying a used car in a foreign land.(FUTURES 101)
April 1, 2007... You hear again and again that the foreign exchange market is the fastest growing and largest market in the world, and that $2 trillion changes hands through the course of each 24-hour trading day. But there is no single, centralized foreign...

SEC wrong again, naturally: the SEC's proposed rule changes regarding accredited investors have existing investors hopping mad. They view the new rules as paternalism of the worst kind and, worse, discrimination against the nearly 99% of us who fail to meet the new standard.(MANAGED MONEY)
April 1, 2007... Not since the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) innocently asked in its prelude to studying the Commitment of Traders report last year, whether the report itself was still necessary, has a regulatory agency been deluged with such...

Joint venture exchanges deliver the goods.(TRADE TRENDS)(Cover story)
April 1, 2007... It has become routine for Americans to trade global financial products like the German DAX or the pan-European Stoxx Indexes, but the bulk of global commodities futures trading remains concentrated in a few stalwarts with subtle differences in...

Do chickpeas have a future?(International Special: INDIA)
April 1, 2007... India's dynamic commodity futures exchanges have become lightning rods in a volatile election year amid rising food prices, raising the specter of a complete ban on futures, even as Parliament debates sweeping reforms to liberalize the...

Sectors & Styles: A New Approach to Outperforming the Market.(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Sectors & Styles: A New Approach to Outperforming the Market By Vincent Catalano, CFA John Wiley & Sons Inc. 198 pages, $60 Readers expecting to find specific strategies to select the best sectors, styles and investment advice...

Commitments of Traders: Strategies for Tracking the Market and Trading Profitably.
April 1, 2007... Commitments of Traders: Strategies for Tracking the Market and Trading Profitably By Floyd Upperman John Wiley & Sons Inc. 224 pages, $80 Successful trading depends on being a step ahead of what everyone else is doing. Most...

Chicago Mercantile Exchange.(EXCHANGES)(Carvill America Inc. manages the newly launched CME-Carvill Hurricane Index)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has launched the CME-Carvill Hurricane Index (CHI). The underlying indexes will be calculated by Carvill, an independent reinsurance intermediary, using publicly available data from the National Hurricane...

The International Securities Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
April 1, 2007... The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has completed the rollout of its second market for options. Approximately 700 options classes now trade in the second market with an aggregate average daily volume for the month of January of more...

The Chicago Board of Trade.(EXCHANGES)
April 1, 2007... The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) announced a new futures contract based on the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index (DJUSRE). The electronically-traded DJUSRE Index futures contract allows participants to capitalize on changes in the real estate...

The HedgeStreet.(EXCHANGES)
April 1, 2007... The HedgeStreet exchange has expanded its home value markets to 10 major metropolitan areas. The new government regulated housing contracts are binary option contracts, $100 in size, with three- and six-month durations benchmarked against the...

eSignal.(TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2007... eSignal has released two enhancements to its Web-based global financial portal: Mobile Quote.com, for traders on the go, and a free dedicated section for United Kingdom financial quotes and business news. Mobile Quote.com enables traveling...

RTS Realtime Systems Group.(TECHNOLOGY)(RTS Realtime Systems Group provides TRUE DMA capability to CME Globex and the New York Mercantile Exchange )(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... RTS Realtime Systems Group now offers TRUE DMA to CME Globex and the New York Mercantile Exchange through the combination of RTD and CME LNet. CME LNet is a customer-managed solution offering 40mb redundant fiber connections to the CME Globex...

Trading Technologies International Inc.(TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2007... Trading Technologies International Inc. will support electronic trading of Nybot's agricultural products through the X_Trader order-entry platform. The gateway supports both IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) Cleared OTC and ICE Futures products....

InterbankFX.(TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2007... InterbankFX now offers Graphical Pattern Scanner (GPS), which has the ability to identify triangles, channels, wedges and head-and-shoulders patterns. GPS is free for InterbankFX customers. www.interbankfx.com. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

SunGard.(SERVICES)
April 1, 2007... SunGard's consulting services business unit has launched a new practice focusing on the energy industry. www.sungard.com.

GL TRADE.(SERVICES)(market data collection services)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... GL TRADE will offer market data collection services to all institutions seeking to publish prices within the framework of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) for the deregulation of listing and order execution for financial...

Mergent Inc.(INDEXES)
April 1, 2007... Mergent Inc. has added to the groups of stocks in its Broad Dividend Achiever Index (DAA), which had a net increase of 14 companies, including Cardinal Health Inc., Kinder Morgan Energy Partners L.P., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Nordstrom...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
April 1, 2007... 2 LTD: BM & F Alcohol OF, iBrX 50 F, CME Dec Weather F, Mar Weather F, Euronext-Liffe May White sugar OF. [TABLE OMITTED] 4 LTD: CBOT Ethanol F. 5 LTD: CME CME $ Index OF, Currencies OF, Rand OF, Pound OF, Euro OF, Live cattle OF,...

Events coming up.(Brief article)(Calendar)
April 1, 2007... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 77-81. MAR Hedge 2007. APRIL 15-17. The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. www.marhedge.com (646) 274-6213. Fund of Funds Business Operations...

Scully: long volatility short risk.(Trader Profile)
April 1, 2007... Richard Scully first became interested in commodities trading growing up on his family's corn and soybean farm in Central Illinois. That experience is what led him to take a position at Paine Webber's futures division in 1983 upon graduation...