Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from December 2007

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from December 2007

Trouble with growth.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
December 1, 2007... Oh what a year for the business! Record volumes, merged exchanges, consolidated futures commission merchants (FCM). Once again it proves, at least in this business for the most part, size matters. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In our yearly...

Embrace and extend: CME going global.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... The CME Group extended its reach into the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres, entering a non-binding equity swap agreement with the Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange (BM & F), and by agreeing to list futures on the Korean Kospi 200 stock...

Bring 'em on! Europe ready on MiFID.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... European securities exchanges say they're ready for the new competition theoretically brought on by the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which came into effect on Nov. 1. The directive's best execution...

Philly stake: Nasdaq buys PHLX.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... Merger activity in the exchange space has picked up, and the Nasdaq Stock Market's (Nasdaq) definitive agreement to acquire the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), announced on Nov. 7, has experts speculating about the deal's possible...

Largest fine ever: BP ends gas pain.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... BP Products North America Inc. (BP) agreed to pay the largest manipulation settlement in the history of the CFTC, totaling $303 million, to settle charges of manipulating and attempting to manipulate the TET propane market. "This case...

Contango relief: Nymex cut costs.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... After reporting record revenues and net income for the third quarter, Nymex Holdings Inc. announced a plan intended to reduce costs and take into account, "the evolving business model of the Exchange." The exchange will raise fees for Nymex and...

Chartview: what is the Fed watching?(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... In the course of an hour, the market's reaction to the most recent Federal Open Markets Committee action--the Oct. 31, 25-basis point cut in the Fed funds rate--went from negative to positive. One analyst noted that the reason for the negative...

CFTC still hanging: court upholds FERC suit.(Trendlines)
December 1, 2007... A November federal court ruling against Amaranth and its lead trader Brian Hunter raised the question of who's really in charge when it comes to regulating energy futures. Both the CFTC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)...

The OMX, Nasdaq, Dubai shuffle.(International News)
December 1, 2007... The complex series of transactions designed to forge cross-holdings between three of the world's most technologically advanced exchanges looks set to wrap up by the end of February, according to Borsa Dubai boss Essa Kazim. The transactions,...

OIC sees options boom.(International News)(Options Industry Council)(Trans-Atlantic Co.)(European Union)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The Options Industry Council (OIC) says that growing harmonization between U.S. and E.U. regulatory procedures, combined with the plethora of trans-Atlantic mergers and joint ventures like the International Securities Exchange's merger into...

MCX, CCX launching Indian carbon.(International News)(Multi-Commodity Exchange)(Chicago Climate Exchange)(Forward Markets Commission)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... The Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) of India and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) have filed contract specifications for India's first carbon offset contract with the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and should begin trading in early 2008,...

Refco round up.(International News)(Grant Thornton L.L.P.)(Refco Group Ltd.)(Thomas H. Lee Partners)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... In October, the Refco Litigation Trust filed a number of lawsuits to recover $433 million on behalf of Refco creditors. The largest suit seeks the return of more than $400 million from former Refco insiders. Also, the Trust filed suit against...

Rado named president of AMEX.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Patricia Rado is now president and chief operating officer at the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). Previously she was vice president, controller and chief accounting officer of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. Also, she was on the AMEX Board...

Kathryn J. Meyer is now executive vice president and chief operating officer for Alaron Trading Corporation.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Kathryn J. Meyer is now executive vice president and chief operating officer for Alaron Trading Corporation. Previously she was president of MNM Financial Ltd. Prior she was president of the CME clearing house.

Barry Isaacson has been promoted to president of the Alaron Futures and Options Division.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Barry Isaacson has been promoted to president of the Alaron Futures and Options Division. Isaacson is an Alaron founder, partner and director and most recently was chief operating officer.

John Gammer is now head of clearing sales at Eurex Clearing.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... John Gammer is now head of clearing sales at Eurex Clearing. Previously he was with LCH. Clearnet. Prior he held global and European management positions in exchange-traded derivatives operations with Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Gail D. Fosler was named president of the Conference Board.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Gail D. Fosler was named president of the Conference Board. Most recently she was executive vice president and chief economist of the organization.

Andrew Haines is now chief information officer for Gain Capital Group LLC.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Andrew Haines is now chief information officer for Gain Capital Group LLC. Most recently he was vice president, application development at Gain.

Richard Thomas is now vice president of coal derivatives for Fimat USA LLC.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Richard Thomas is now vice president of coal derivatives for Fimat USA LLC. Previously he was vice president--coal services for A. E. Bruggemann Inc.

Options Clearing Corporation.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Simon H. Babbs is now 1st vice president, quantitative risk management at the Options Clearing Corporation.

Clive England was appointed director, head of e-commerce for BGC, an inter-dealer brokerage firm.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Clive England was appointed director, head of e-commerce for BGC, an inter-dealer brokerage firm. Previously he was head of data and analytics, Europe, for GFI.

Investment Technology Group Inc.(Trading Places)
December 1, 2007... Peter Goldstein is now managing director and global head of human resources for Investment Technology Group Inc.

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 1, 2007... OptionsXpress Holdings' new chief marketing officer is Paul E. Eppen, Futures regrets the error.

Raising capital.(Managed Money Review)
December 1, 2007... Philip Halpern, former chief investment officer for the University of Chicago endowment, speaking at a panel sponsored by third-party marketer Cole Partners, addressed what institutional investors look for in a manager. Halpern stressed knowing...

Alternately fueled.(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Since early October soybeans have advanced more than a dollar to trade near $10.50 per bushel. "The motivation is the worldwide demand for energy," says Elaine M. Kub, commodity analyst for DTN, and European and Asian buyers are aggressively...

Nasdaq 100 gets technical.(Hot Commodities)
December 1, 2007... It's all about technology with the Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures, which traded at high levels before their 10% sell off at the beginning of November. Analysts say tech stocks are part of the reason for the Nasdaq 100's success and will bolster it...

Flight of the loon.(Hot Commodities)
December 1, 2007... Strength in metals and the energy complex have rocketed the Canadian dollar to extreme levels, exceeding parity with the weakened U.S. dollar in early October. "All the commodities are really strong, and that is a positive for the Canadian...

Trading with support and resistance.(Market Strategy)
December 1, 2007... Support and resistance levels are widely used technical tools and form the basis of most chart patterns. When we mention the support area in trading any market, we understand it as the price at which buyers are expected to enter the market in...

This must be the new world: this year volatility spiked dramatically, and not only in the equities markets. Grains, crude oil and equities have reached record and near-record levels and increasing economic and geopolitical uncertainty will likely keep those markets hot well into 2008.(MARKETS)
December 1, 2007... To a trader, there is no phrase as fraught with danger as "it's different this time." And yet powerful macro-economic forces have given way to an incongruous new reality where crude oil prices and the Dow peacefully co-exist at all time highs,...

Tech talk: seasonal rally.(MARKETS)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... History is a worthwhile subject to study when it comes to commodity prices, if the study is undertaken with the relative relationships understood. For instance there are those worried that the gold rally is running out of gas. At first glance...

Will the dollar find support in 2008?(forex option market)
December 1, 2007... Alower dollar reflects the forces that drive the world economy. The current mix of nearly $100 crude oil and $800 gold are examples of these forces. A year from now we do not know what the mix will be, but we know trading opportunities occur...

All in one: price, volume and open interest; On-balance volume is one of the most useful indicators in the stock market and is particularly effective when used as a diverging indicator. The Price, Open Interest, Volume (POIV) indicator takes this idea one step further and creates an even better tool for today's volatile markets.(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
December 1, 2007... Volume is a powerful indication of market strength. However, in many cases, we can get a better idea of its significance by tracking it over time, in terms of moves in the markets. One method for doing that is On Balance Volume (OBV). The index...

Risk management is key to day-trading; Most traders consider the most important aspect of day-trading last of all: risk management. These simple guidelines will help you embrace risk management and survive to trade another day.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
December 1, 2007... If you want to know something about the fallout from poor risk management, consider this personal account. In 1987, I lost everything. On Oct. 19, 1987, my life was rosy. I was a vice president of a major brokerage firm. The family was...

Predicting equity index reversals: reversal bars indicate the traders who drove the price in one direction are unable to hold ground. While that sometimes portends an upcoming price drop, certain attributes are necessary for reliable forecasts.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
December 1, 2007... A reversal bar on a candlestick chart is any bar with a tail on one end and its close near the other end. A bullish reversal bar has a close near its high, and a bearish reversal bar has a close near its low. The occurrence of a reversal bar...

Market relationships key to price moves: related markets often lead or lag each other. One of the more interesting links is between gold and the Nasdaq 100. By analyzing this, and all the relationships in between, using linear regression channels, day-traders can develop a better understanding of market movements.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
December 1, 2007... The day trader who understands that markets are connected has an edge. This trader can use that edge to avoid being blindsided, zero in on good trades and time trades more precisely. For example, knowing what gold is doing can make you a...

Trading around the globe: as traders, we hear a lot about overseas opportunities. However, there are some important steps you must take to participate in these markets. In this first of a two-part article, we will take a closer look at the Asian markets, examining a few of the hurdles that must be overcome in accessing these markets.(TECHNOLOGY & TRADING)
December 1, 2007... The world of trading has changed considerably in the last 10 years. Not only are new products being traded, many markets trade globally in electronic marketplaces. People from all over the world trade our markets and American investors trade...

High Growth Stock Investor Industry Monitors.(Software Review)(Product/service evaluation)
December 1, 2007... High Growth Stock Investor Industry Monitors P.O. Box 760 Sumner, WA, 98390 (253) 863-2389 Email: support@highgrowthstock.com Website: www.highgrowthstock.com OVERALL RATING: Excellent LEVEL: Beginner to...

Understanding options: traders are faced with a number of choices, from how to analyze markets to how to implement that analysis. One of the most important decisions involves the trading vehicle itself. Many new traders are increasingly turning to options.(FUTURES 101)
December 1, 2007... Options are vehicles to take you where you want to go. As a new trader, do not look to them to tell you where the market is going. You are the driver. Options are simply a tool you can use to exploit your analysis of the market in unique ways....

Europe warms to modern investments: Europeans continue to pour their retirement funds into managed investment schemes, but managed futures are getting just a small slice, and hedge funds find themselves back in the regulatory crosshairs after winning friends and influencing regulators in 2006.(MANAGED MONEY)
December 1, 2007... This time last year, the European Union, with the exception of Germany, was drifting towards the "light touch" model of hedge fund oversight advocated by the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority (FSA). Retail providers across the...

Top 50 brokers.(Cover story)
December 1, 2007... The exponential growth of futures markets is becoming a given, as is the march toward complete market electronification and consolidation in the exchange space and FCM world. Many of the issues causing discord in the futures industry have been...

Opportunity found: 2007's stand-out contracts.(Online Trading)
December 1, 2007... How do chickens and eggs relate to futures contracts? Besides providing the original underlyings for the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, which eventually grew into the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the classic question of which came first is...

Credit Derivative Strategies: New Thinking on Managing Risk and Return.
December 1, 2007... Credit Derivative Strategies: New Thinking on Managing Risk and Return Edited by Rohan Douglas Bloomberg Press $79.95, 224 pages The promotional material for this book notes that it qualifies for 7.5PD credits under the...

The Complete TurtleTrader: The Legend, the Lessons, the Results.(Book review)
December 1, 2007... The Complete TurtleTrader: The Legend, the Lessons, the Results By Michael W. Covel $25.95, 272 pages This is an excellent book for those interested in systematic trading, Richard Dennis, the Turtle "experiment," the Turtle...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
December 1, 2007... 3 LTD: BM & F Dec Alcohol OF, Dec iBrX 50 F [TABLE OMITTED] 5 LTD: CBOT Dec Ethanol F 6 LTD: Nybot Dec Cotton F, Eurex Dec Bobl F, Dec Bund F, Dec Buxl F, Dec Schatz F, Dec CONF F 7 LTD: Nybot Jan Sugar #14 F, CME Dec CME $...

Events coming up.(Calendar)
December 1, 2007... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 85-89. Alternative Investing Summit. DEC. 2-4, 2007. Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California. www.opalgroup.net. Commodities Investment...

Alex Moisseev: navigating the markets.(Trader Profile)(Dighton World Wide Investments AG)
December 1, 2007... Alex Moisseev's trading station in Geneva. Switzerland, reminds him of a cockpit with its six screens, blinking lights and signals only a pilot can understand. "I have all the markets right here," he says. "I can see everything I need...