Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from January 2008

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from January 2008

Don't Get Fooled Again
January 1, 2008... "Let me begin by making as direct a statement I can before beginning this conversation, which is that this homeowner bailout is simply a horrible idea." Mike Gasior, AFS Seminars For some reason, awhile ago I began receiving Mike Gasior's...

The Dead Pool: Forex Min Cap Increases
January 1, 2008... Having a hard time getting your forex dealer on the phone? Dealers who cannot meet the new $5 million minimum capitalization requirements by Dec. 21 are scrambling to merge, repositioning themselves as software providers or preparing to go out...

Regulatory Scrum: SEC/CFTC Tie Up a No Go
January 1, 2008... Rarely do business leaders who must deal with regulators criticize those regulators so openly, but there is no getting around the lack of respect heaped on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently by those in the futures industry....

For profit: BM & F IPOs.(Trendlines)
January 1, 2008... The Brazilian Mercantile & Futures Exchange S.A. (BM & F) completed its initial public offering in November, and its shares leaped more than 20%, closing on the first day of trading at 24.40 reais; the offering was reportedly the seventh...

Subprime Bailout or Washout: Reprieve for Borrowers?
January 1, 2008... Media coverage of the subprime crisis often centers on confusing new securitized-debt obligations and how mechanisms to price them were so wrong that it led to massive losses for dealers. But behind those bundles of bad debt, and lost in the...

Chartview: moving day.(Trendlines)
January 1, 2008... From a trader's perspective, the merger of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange becomes real in the second week of January when CBOT products launch on Globex. Launch weekend 1 (Jan. 11-13) ...

Exclusive no more: MTS star continues to fade.(Trendlines)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Just a few months after Borsa Italiana executed an option to buy cash bond platform MTS away from NYSE-Euronext, the platform is struggling to keep its lucrative franchise. MTS changed the way European governments manage their debt, by...

ICE storms Chicago.(International News)(Intercontinental Exchange)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced that their primary trade matching engine for all OTC and futures products will migrate permanently from Atlanta to the company's Chicago data center location upon the close of business on Jan. 18,...

Free at last.(International News)
January 1, 2008... The Refco estate has sold its 35% stake in Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM) to Lehman Brothers and Long Ridge Equity Partners and its affiliates for an undisclosed sum. "We are delighted," says Marc Prosser, chief marketing officer,...

NSE retains top SSF spot.(International News)(India's National Stock Exchange)(single-stock futures)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) regained its spot as the world leader in single-stock futures (SSFs) in October, when it traded 24 million contracts, compared to 8.4 million on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. It's not clear that...

IB buys FutureTrade.(International News)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Interactive Brokers Group Inc. bought FutureTrade Technologies and subsidiary FutureTrade Securities in late November. "We were specifically attracted to FutureTrade by its customer base of over 200 institutions, their 40 software...

Eurex and ISE close to final.(International News)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Six months after the deal was announced, Eurex looks poised to merge with the International Securities Exchange (ISE). "We expected [final approval] to take quite some time because of the regulatory process," a spokesperson for Eurex says....

Thain named CEO at Merrill Lynch.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... John A. Thain was named chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch. He was previously chief executive of NYSE Euronext. Prior to that, he was president and COO at Goldman Sachs. "I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead...

Duncan Niederauer replaces Thain.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Duncan Niederauer replaces Thain. He had been NYSE Euronext's president since April 2007.

Gary Katz is now president and CEO of the International Securities Exchange (ISE).(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Gary Katz is now president and CEO of the International Securities Exchange (ISE). He was ISE's COO. David Krell is now chairman.

J. William Twenty is now CFO of Alaron.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... J. William Twenty is now CFO of Alaron. Previously he was COO and CFO of First Continental Trading Group.

UBS Asset Management.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... John Leonard was promoted to co-head of equities at UBS Asset Management.

Yassine Brahim was named CEO of GL Trade.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Yassine Brahim was named CEO of GL Trade. He also manages global sales and client support.

Nasdaq International.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Jeff Singer is now senior vice president and head of Nasdaq International.

BNP Paribas.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Ian Fay was named managing director to oversee energy and natural resources for the Americas at BNP Paribas.

David Ryan is now head of Southeast Asian operations for Goldman Sachs.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... David Ryan is now head of Southeast Asian operations for Goldman Sachs. He was previously a partner and head of the bank's financing group for Asia excluding Japan.

Morgan Stanley.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Walid Chammah and James Gorman have been named co-presidents of Morgan Stanley.

Martin Doyle is the general counsel of Quadriserv Inc. and president of Quadriserv Brokerage Services.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Martin Doyle is the general counsel of Quadriserv Inc. and president of Quadriserv Brokerage Services. Previously he was president and general counsel of OneChicago.

Jorge Bermudez was named chief risk officer at Citigroup.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Jorge Bermudez was named chief risk officer at Citigroup. He succeeds David Bushnell, who retires Dec. 31.

Asia Pacific.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... Sumeet Nihalani is now Dow Jones' senior director of sales for Asia Pacific.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) elected 10 individuals to its board of directors.(Trading Places)
January 1, 2008... The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) elected 10 individuals to its board of directors: Robert Birnbaum, Janet Froetscher, R. Eden Martin, Roderick Palmore, David Fisher, Anthony McCormick, Kevin Murphy, Bradley Griffith, John Smollen and...

Whatever Happened to Diversification?
January 1, 2008... Never has a financial disaster unfolded in such an excruciatingly slow-motion fashion as the subprime debacle and resulting credit liquidity crisis. It was mid-July when several hedge funds either felt the pain of re-pricings in the mortgaged...

Is S & P bull back?(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... In the first week of December, the E-mini S & P had retraced 50% of its fall losses, almost 100 S & P points, putting traders in a holiday mood. "Growth is the key word," says Hector Galvan, senior market strategist for R.J. O'Brien &...

Euro peaks?(Hot Commodities)
January 1, 2008... While the euro lost ground against the dollar in early December, few analysts think it is the start of a greater trend. The news from the Gulf Cooperation Council in early December could have been worse for the U.S. dollar, says Jerry Furst,...

Bargain bin gas.(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Warmer weather, near-record storage levels and a lack of trading volume have dragged the natural gas market down, observes Dean Hazelcorn, trader for Coquest Inc. "After the Amaranth thing, you see a lot less big funds. All you need is that...

Options Strategy
January 1, 2008... Question: How do you reduce the cost of high-priced options when you think the market will make a large move? Answer: The butterfly spread. The high cost of buying an outright call or put option on many markets makes ownership quite...

Testing the Limits of "Resilience"
January 1, 2008... The year ahead will provide a test of the U.S. economy's resilience," about which Federal Reserve officials have so often spoken. The Fed's own flexibility, guts and credibility may also be tested. So far, the Fed has done all that reasonably...

2008 Economic Outlook: Wicked Housing Market Spins Economy; Forced by the Subprime Meltdown and the Resulting Credit Crisis, the Federal Reserve Bank Moved into Easing Mode at the End of 2007. However, the Housing Market Remains Sick and It Appears It's Spread to the Rest of the Economy
January 1, 2008... Despite an increase of 4.9% in gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter, the negatives confronting the U.S. economy are many. First, the United States is facing a significant economic slowdown based on the continuing recession in the...

Tech Talk: T-Bond Analysis
January 1, 2008... The U.S. Treasury bond market has been trading inversely to equities, which are being dragged lower by subprime lending issues and the related credit crunch. When the bonds rally as equity markets drop it is called a flight to quality, when it...

FX Outlook for 2008
January 1, 2008... If 2007 provided any lessons, they were on the emergence of intermarket relationships. No matter what kind of trader you were, currency movements crossed your radar screen. The synchronicity of the dollar/yen pair and the Dow Jones Industrial...

Using Equity DNA to Improve Your Portfolio: With Modern Technology, No Longer Does Portfolio Performance Depend on the Law of Large Numbers to Mediate Volatility. Rather, Stocks Can Be Traded According to Their Individual Tendencies, Even If They Are Merely One Piece of a Complex Puzzle
January 1, 2008... Just as computers forced the evolution of technical analysis tools, such as static simple, moving averages to sophisticated indicators that dynamically adjust to market conditions, technology is again fueling a leap in trading system...

Failed Flags Can Lead to E-Mini Success: Some Aspects of Trading Are Painfully Simple. A Technical Condition Can Be Either Right or Wrong. A Reliable Pattern in the E-Mini S & P 500 Futures Market Is a Flag Formation on a Five-Minute Chart. However, It's When They Fail That You Often Have the Best Chance to Profit
January 1, 2008... A five-minute E-mini S & P 500 chart provides an incredible amount of information. But despite this massive flow of information, simple analysis of its price action is all that is needed to trade successfully. One such strategy is based on...

Smoother Way to Trade Interest Rate Swaps: As Liquidity Grows in Interest Rate Swap Futures, Traders Will Benefit from Improved Hedging and Trading Possibilities. However, to Take Advantage of These Markets, You Need to Understand the Relationships among Futures on Swaps, T-Notes and Eurodollars
January 1, 2008... Electronic, or automated, trading of interest rate swaps has created an easily accessible method for controlling interest rate risk as well as for hedging and speculating on interest rate movements. With increasing volume and improved trading...

Avoiding Common Trading Pitfalls; It Is Customary to Make Resolutions for the New Year. in the Spirit of This Custom, Traders Should Resolve to Avoid Common Pitfalls That Lead to Losing Trades. Thankfully, Many of These Pitfalls Can Be Traced to One Underlying Cause: Emotional Trading
January 1, 2008... Trading is Darwinian. If you evolve the qualities needed to trade profitably consistently, then you survive. If you do not evolve these qualities, you become extinct. The fittest thrive. When I began my journey to trading full-time, an...

Using Market Breadth in Trading Systems: Price Is Such an Important Input for Trading Models That in Most Cases, It's the Only Input. However, Many More Market Statistics Are at Your Fingertips and Can Help Build a Robust System. You Just Need to Know How to Use Them
January 1, 2008... Most traditional trading models use historical price data series as the only data inputs for the rules that decide whether to buy or sell. However, you can build better systems by looking beyond this singular way of thinking. By designing and...

Eurex.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... Eurex launched Eurex SecLend, an electronic marketplace for secured securities lending and borrowing, based on the Eurex Repo markets. The product is designed to help banks and financial service providers improve the performance of their...

New York Mercantile Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) introduced the MACI futures and the Crude Oil BackwardationContango index futures contracts. They will be launched in February. www.nymex.com

Chicago Board Options Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has regulatory approval to launch a new electronic system for trading index and equity Flexible Exchange (FLEX) options. The new system, CFLEX, is the first Internet-based, fully automated electronic...

U.S. Futures Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... U.S. Futures Exchange (USFE) will exclusively license the Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) benchmark SENSEX Index for U.S. dollar-dominated futures trading beginning Feb. 22. The CFTC was appraised before the licensing agreement was signed, and...

OMX and Singapore Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... OMX and Singapore Exchange (SGX) agreed to implement a clearing system that will serve as the clearing platform for SGX derivatives, securities and OTC clearing businesses. www.omxgroup.com

ICE Futures U.S.(EXCHANGES)
January 1, 2008... ICE Futures U.S. implemented Trade At Settlement capability in the ICE electronic trading system for Cotton No. 2 and FCOJ-A futures contract months. Orders to trade a futures contract at the settlement price can be submitted at the start of...

Citi and Saxo Bank.(FOREX)
January 1, 2008... Citi and Saxo Bank will launch CitiFX Pro, an online foreign exchange trading platform. www.citi.com

Trading System Lab.(TECHNOLOGY)
January 1, 2008... Trading System Lab launched the Trading System Lab platform, which automatically creates trading systems, including single market systems, pairs systems, portfolio systems, daytrading systems and options systems. www.tradingstystemlab.com

Trading Technologies International, Inc.(TECHNOLOGY)
January 1, 2008... Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) connected its X_TRADER7 order-entry platform to the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE). The gateway will offer customers access to CCFE futures contracts, including sulfur financial...

International Capital Market.(TECHNOLOGY)
January 1, 2008... The International Capital Market Association launched BondMarketPrices.com, a free online portal providing data on investment grade bonds with a large issue size. The portal offers access to pricing and liquidity information on the global...

Fortis.(OTHER)
January 1, 2008... Fortis announced that its clearing facility, EMCF, can now clear Swiss stocks in addition to Dutch, German, UK and French stocks. www.merchantbanking.fortis.com

Options Industry Council.(OTHER)
January 1, 2008... The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced the addition of a new Virtual Trading System (VTS). VTS screens include strategies such as spreads, straddles and covered calls, and the ability to investigate order types like triggers and...

Dow Jones Indexes.(OTHER)
January 1, 2008... Dow Jones Indexes launched the Dow Jones 2008 Summer Games Index, which measures the performance of the companies that are official partners and sponsors of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. www.djindexes.com

To Be or Not to Be: Binary Options Offer a Pleasingly Simple Way to Participate in Market Moves, but Only Recently Have These Most Basic of Financial Instruments Become Accessible to Retail Traders. Here's What You Need to Know
January 1, 2008... It's win or lose, nothing in between. That's how binary options work. In other words, if you buy a binary option and: A happens by B, then you receive C. A does not happen by B, then you receive nothing. "A" is the event defined by the...

Forbidden Fruits: European Retail Traders Are Enjoying a Golden Age of Product Development That Lets Them Access Major Commodity and Financial Products with Small Amounts of Risk and Lots of Flexibility. Here's a Look at Some of the Nifty Products Proliferating Overseas-And Why They're Off-Limits to American Traders
January 1, 2008... This past July, nearly 2,000 retail traders converged on the upscale Frankfurt suburb of Aschaffenberg, Germany. The draw was Trading Expo--an event formerly known as Futures Expo. One reason for the name change: "Futures aren't really the big...

Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People Are Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game.(Book review)
January 1, 2008... Millionaire Traders: How Everyday People Are Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game By Kathy Lien and Boris Schlossberg John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 406 pages, $39.95 Using a question and answer format, this book offers insight into...

Naked Option.(Book review)
January 1, 2008... Naked Option By Joe Kolman Harriman House 272 pages; $25.00 If you are headed to the beach for a break this winter, or just want a quick read on the train, this is the book to take. Joe Kolman's Naked Option is a fun read,...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... 2 LTD: Euronext Feb Rapeseed Oil OF [TABLE OMITTED] 4 LTD: CBOT Ethanol F, CME Currencies OF, Mexican Peso OF 7 LTD: Euronext-Liffe Corn F 10 LTD: Euronext-Liffe Milling wheat F 11 LTD: ICE Futures U.S./Nybot Orange...

Events coming up.(Conference news)(Brief article)(Calendar)
January 1, 2008... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 61-65. Futures' I-Trade Show. Free, on demand through Feb. 4. Go to www.futuresmag.com. The World Money Show. FEB. 6-9, 2008. Gaylord...

Weldon: Old School Trading
January 1, 2008... The first time Gregory T. Weldon saw the Comex trading floor in 1983, he found himself in awe of the excitement and the physicality of the pit and of how much it reminded him of playing basketball for Colgate. "That's the lane," he remarked,...