Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from May 2008

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from May 2008

Second to none.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... My office has a view looking across the Chicago river at the CME Group building, and I can see the top part of the tower, with Ceres above, of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Though most trading has gone electronic, it's always comforting to...

Customer service center.
May 1, 2008... Subscription inquiries can be made toll-free at (800) 458-1734. Calls accepted between 8:00am-4:30pm CST. If you reside outside the United States, the number is (847) 763-9252. If you receive duplicate or have missed issues, please contact the...

Treasury sparks debate.(BLUEPRINT BUZZ)
May 1, 2008... The U.S. Treasury Department made some waves on March 31 with the release of its "Blueprint for a Stronger Regulatory Structure," and the tsunami for the futures and options industry was its recommendation to merge the Commodity Futures Trading...

Chartview: CME unloads heavy metals.(Trendlines)
May 1, 2008... Just a few days before announcing its definitive agreement to acquire Nymex Holdings, CME Group sold its CBOT metals complex to NYSE Euronext, clearing the way for the possible acquisition of Nymex by taking potential antitrust issues off of...

U.S. Futures Inc.(COMING SOON?)
May 1, 2008... Now that the CME Group and Nymex officials have a definitive merger agreement, the CME Group removed two impediments to the deal by selling the CBOT metals complex to NYSE Euronext for an undisclosed sum on March 14. "We had a decision to...

Broker takes twin hits.(MF!)
May 1, 2008... Things may not be getting much better for MF Global but for now execs and shareholders of the huge futures broker may be satisfied with things not getting worse. In late February, the firm was forced to unwind unauthorized trades placed by Evan...

New clearing landscape.(LONG VERTICAL JUMP)
May 1, 2008... A panel of experts at the Futures Industry Association's annual conference in Boca Raton, Fla. concluded in March that clearing is where the action will be this year, and that is certainly true in Europe where after two decades of a slow drift...

Lyall moves to ICAP.(Trading Places)(Cathryn Lyall)(J. Randy MacDonald)
May 1, 2008... Cathryn Lyall was named COO of exchange projects at ICAP. Previously she was a managing director at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). "Cathryn Lyall brings substantial industry and exchange market experience to this role. She has extensive...

Improve your odds trading gold.(Market Strategy)
May 1, 2008... Gold, gold, gold--that's all you hear about these days. With the volatility in metals, and all commodities for that matter, everyone's a gold trader or wants to be. But even a gold bull could have experienced serious losses in recent years...

Hedge your hedge fund.(Managed Money Review)
May 1, 2008... During the course of the subprime debt crisis that began last summer, we have heard on a number of occasions that this bank or that bank did not have exposure to subprime per se but were hurt by the resultant liquidity crisis. But when markets...

Gassed.(Hot Commodities)
May 1, 2008... With crude oil trading above $110 per barrel and Memorial Day on the horizon, gasoline futures should be poised for take off. But with inventory at a 17-year high and demand dropping for the first time in 17 years, gasoline has failed to keep...

Beans on a tear.(Hot Commodities)
May 1, 2008... After trading near $16 per bushel in early March, May soybeans dipped to below $11.50. Victor Lespinasse, analyst for Grainanalyst.com., attributes the sell-off to profit taking but adds, tight ending stocks and a long growing season will keep...

No European vacation.(Hot Commodities)
May 1, 2008... Since early February, the euro raced from 1.44 to past 1.59, put in a triple top and hit an all-time high on April 10 of 1.5914. "It's been acting like a completely different animal," says trader Michael Weiner, and support and resistance are...

Options strategy.
May 1, 2008... Question: How do you get unlimited profit potential and reduce your initial cost to do so? Answer: A 2-to-1 ratio spread. A two-to-one ratio spread is primarily used when you have at least 90 days until expiration, where you have a...

Extreme market conditions.(Forex Trader)
May 1, 2008... The Federal Reserve Bank's recent activism in the interest of promoting psychological stability makes one wonder about the qualifications of central bankers. Perhaps they need advanced degrees in mass psychology or more accurately,...

Metals: precious little supply.(MARKETS)(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... The price of Gold has surged more than 50% in the past year, even with the recent correction figured in, bringing Platinum and Palladium with it. So, is this the end of fiat currency as we know it, as gold bugs have claimed? Or were commodities...

What goes down ...(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
May 1, 2008... Gann Theory provides helpful strategies for stock and ETF traders. Here, Gann is used to break down a sector index and analyze its component stocks. We'll look at the U.S. housing market, not only to demonstrate the technique but to perhaps...

Idealized models for real profits.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
May 1, 2008... Curve fitting is the bane of system developers, but by embracing the hindsight provided by market prices we can calibrate systems and time frames within them to improve overall returns. Long-time system developer Robert Pardo defines...

Five minutes to fame in the E-mini: trading E-mini futures profitably is difficult and can become nearly impossible when relying on too many time frames and indicators. Here is a relatively simple approach that involves price action and a basic five-minute E-mini chart.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
May 1, 2008... Trading does not have to be complicated. For most traders, if they take time to look carefully at candle or bar charts, they will quickly discover that price action alone is all you need to observe to be successful. As a bar develops, consider...

Silver shining brightly: the metals markets have been booming and are showing no signs of slowing down in 2008. Some of the better opportunities have been in silver, the industrial and precious qualities of which make its story one of the most compelling.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
May 1, 2008... Without a doubt, most investors, if they could, would only employ investment strategies that maximize their profit opportunities, minimize their risk and take little time or effort. Call it human nature. Call it wishful thinking. Call it pure...

Grain bears: waiting for a miracle; The current acreage dilemma for the United States makes grain fundamentals even more critical and ensures a prolonged bull market unless powerful forces intervene.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
May 1, 2008... Commodity markets are caught in a perfect storm and it might take an act of God or Uncle Sam to put them at rest. Here's the landscape that commodities are facing today: An energy policy that mandates 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022,...

Ag fundamentals: old and new; Understanding the fundamentals of ag markets is no longer as simple as following the weather and knowing what USDA reports to watch. Speculative money flows, non-U.S. demand and energy fundamentals often trump the more traditional supply and demand measures.(FUTURES 101)
May 1, 2008... We are entering a new world for agriculture fundamentals. Weather and governmental reports on inventory, planting intentions and other traditional measures of supply and demand used to be the main drivers for agricultural markets, and while...

Alternatives for retail: the amount of money allocated to alternative investments, particularly hedge funds and managed futures programs, has grown immensely over the last decade but unfortunately -- and it is unfortunate -- most retail sized investors do not have access to these alternatives.(MANAGED MONEY)
May 1, 2008... Public commodity pools are basically the managed futures version of mutual funds. They are sold in increments as low as $ 1,000 and there are few restrictions as to who can invest in them. But that is where the similarities end. Public...

2008 public funds returns (through March 31).(Funds Review)(Statistical table)
May 1, 2008... Name of fund Trading Starting Unit Change advisor(s) Date Unit value for started value through 2000 ...

No more second city: Chicago has always been the center of futures and derivatives trading, but the exponential growth of the CME, now coupled with the CBOT, has created a financial services behemoth capable of challenging all comers on the world stage.(TRADE TRENDS)(Company overview)
May 1, 2008... Chicagoans jokingly refer to their hometown as America's second city, but that sort of self deprecation is probably more the norm outside the exchange space. For 160 years Chicago has been the center of futures and derivatives trading, but with...

Contract dates.
May 1, 2008... 1 LTD: CME Frozen pork bellies OF, Butter OF, BM&F Alcohol OF 4 LTD: CBOT Ethanol F 6 LTD: ICE Futures US Cotton F 8 LTD: CME Currencies OF, Mexican Peso OF, BM&A Alcohol F, Jun Arabica coffee OF, Jun Conillon coffee OF 11...

Events coming up.(Brief article)(Calendar)
May 1, 2008... Visit the Web sites listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 70-73 Futures I-Trade show. MAY 6-7, 2008, Online and free. Visit www.futuresmag.com to register. FIA Law & Compliance Division Workshop....

Tom James: a matter of degrees.(Trader Profile)(Occupation overview)
May 1, 2008... When Tom James was nine years old, he swapped a favorite comic book for a copy of the Financial Times. Seven years later, he launched a little business - trading warrants on equities. "That's when I heard about these things called futures...