Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from September 2003

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from September 2003

Don't bet on it.(Editor's Note)
September 1, 2003... I first heard about "PAM" while getting ready for work. The radio host was understandably appalled by the idea and didn't hold back any criticism. I thought it was a hoax. But when I got to work, the e-mails and phone calls I received...

Anything but average.(Sound Off!)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... I wanted to thank you for the very nice, timely, well-written article in the July 2003 Futures, on page 64, "Trusting the Average" by Yesenia Salcedo. I am sure it helped many readers, as it will me. I have been an active day-trader of the...

Trading in the moment.(Sound Off!)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In the Forex Trader [column] by Abe Cofnas in the June 2003 issue, he says that we need to integrate the big picture with day-trading and also mentions that trading occurs in real time, while analysis occurs over time. Integrating higher...

Corrections.(Sound Off!)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2003... The sources for the charts on pages 51 and 52 of the August issue are "Advanced GET, Trading Techniques Inc." The current trading firm of Mark Rosalbo, the subject of the Trader Profile in the August issue, is Assent Trading. Futures regrets...

CBOT for-profit move delayed again.(Minority Rule)(Chicago Board of Trade)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Despite its focus on its common clearing link with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and switching its electronic matching engine from a/c/e to LiffeConnect, the Chicago Board of Trade's (CBOT) demutualization effort was to be voted on in...

Errant drops in Dow, S&P futures raise eyebrows.(System Or Error?)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Less than two weeks after an apparent large error trade caused the CBOT's mini Dow futures contract to drop more than 500 points and the CBOT to bust all trades in a rule-specified range, the CME had to cancel a series of orders following a...

Chartview: surge prompts LME inquiry.(Trendlines)(London Metal Exchange)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The London Metal Exchange is digging through members' warehouse receipts to find out why cash prices soared to between $50 and $70 per metric ton above the benchmark three-month futures price in July despite adequate warehouse stocks. "You...

Energy firms can't name their price: CFTC.(Gravy Train Out Of Gas)(Commodity Futures Trading Commission)
September 1, 2003... For the energy marketers, it was a sweet deal: The data that composed the indexes on which the market priced the products they bought came from--you guessed it--the energy marketers. While cynical observers might be amused at that relationship...

Backlash from 'terror exchange' no surprise.(Bad Idea)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... When the futures markets bleed over to the front-page, it's not always good P.R. for the industry. Cases in point: futures allegedly caused the '87 Crash, buried Orange County, were behind the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, helped...

Quip and quote.(Trendlines)(beliefs and opinions)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... "I like to think that futures traders are smarter than securities traders." --Peter Borish, senior managing director at OneChicago, when asked why more single stock futures are traded through futures accounts than equities accounts.

All clear for clearing.(Americas)
September 1, 2003... The CFTC has approved the rules for implementing the Common Clearing Link between the CBOT and the CME, and the path for competition has widened. The CBOT self-certified some of its rules and requested the CFTC affirmatively approve the...

From stocks to futures.(Americas)(CyberTrader)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The explosive growth in E-mini products is attracting greater interest among mainstream equity traders, if direct access stock broker CyberTrader's registration as an introducing broker so it can offer the CME's E-mini products to its clients...

Cantor can't.(Cantor Fitzgerald)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Cantor Fitzgerald long has been a hardball operator in derivatives, and its apparent willingness to file a lawsuit against anyone who touches the Wagner Patent has become chuckle-talk at derivatives functions around the world. But its moxie may...

Pass the saki.(Pacific Rim)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Osaka Securities Exchange could not avoid charges from The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission over alleged false equity options trading that occurred between 1998 and 2000 that were organized by recently indicted former VP...

Varlet into software.(Trading Places)(Didler Varlet)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Didler Varlet has turned his interest to Ubitrade, a global software company based in Paris specializing in capital market products. Varlet is Ubitrade's new executive chairman. Varlet, who will share his time between the Paris and Chicago...

Managed futures opening up.(Managed Money Review)
September 1, 2003... Managed futures has a reputation of being an exclusive club in terms of both investors and managers. Most programs are restricted to certain criteria of investors and allocators and tend to deal with only established managers. Things appear to...

All American beef.(Hot Commodities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... News in May of one case of mad cow disease in Canada sent shock waves through the beef industry, but the market seemed to digest the news quickly and cattle prices remained relatively stable after the initial reaction. It wasn't until one...

One step back in mini S&P.(Hot Commodities)(Standard & Poor's)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... After the spring-time rally that took the S&P 500 beyond 100, the market has been mellowing out this summer. E-mini S&Ps have been stuck in a relative narrow channel buffeted by conflicting economic numbers. Solid earnings reports and...

Rates not on one way track.(Hot Commodities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... For those who have been procrastinating or were waiting for interest rates to go just a little lower before they refinanced, all may not be lost. Though 30-year bonds have plummeted more than 18 handles from their 123.02 high, continued...

What happened to $10 gas?(Hot Commodities)
September 1, 2003... The speed at which natural gas inventories went from surplus to deficit last winter was so quick that analysts were calling for $10 natural gas prices to be the norm this heating season. Even the normally non-committal Federal Reserve Chairman...

Yen no friend of dollar's trend.(Market Strategy)
September 1, 2003... The dollar's downward correction of the past year and a half has been largely associated with its development against the European currencies, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar. The same applies to the dollar's modest rebound from its June...

Weak economy--weaker U.S. dollar: a weaker U.S. dollar may be about the only economic stimulus button the administration has left, keeping the dollar on a long-term downside track. Bottom line: the outlook for the value of the dollar is a bet on economic growth.(Markets)
September 1, 2003... Currencies are generally considered to be among the best trending markets, according to trading experts. But just about the time you are ready to agree that the experts have it right, foreign exchange markets tend to zig or zag enough to shake...

eForex going digital.(Forex Trader)
September 1, 2003... It is September and the last quarter of the year is knocking on the door. This is the season for thinking ahead. But when forex traders think ahead, it's usually predicting where the currency pairs will be in the next 30 minutes or few hours....

Balancing fear and greed: when times change, we must adapt. This is perhaps truer for traders who suffer quick penance for wrong decisions. Here's an adaptation of the Equity Tension Index that better mirrors the fluctuations of reality.(Equity Trading Techniques)
September 1, 2003... "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"--John Maynard Keynes The capacity of the human mind to distill relationships and patterns from raw data is at once the cornerstone of productive research and the seductive...

Profiting in a trading range: when you don't have a trend to trade, putting two butterfly spreads together in a dual butterfly strategy gives you many adjustment alternatives to produce profits. Here are the conditions you need.(Trading Techniques)
September 1, 2003... Although several options strategies take advantage of the underlying asset's moving in one direction or another, range trading focuses on assets that remain relatively dormant within a trading range. This strategy allows traders to take...

Cycles and Gann: shaping a trading philosophy: legendary trader W.D. Gann followed a number of astrological cycles that played a key role in how he lived and how he looked at trading. We examine these and his trading rules in this second part on Gann's trading techniques.(Trading Techniques)
September 1, 2003... W.D. Gann was a financial astrologer. Known for his emphasis on cycles, angles and other esoteric methods (see "Deciphering W.D. Gann and his trading methods," August 2003), Gann's numbered cycles in his stock and commodity courses are simply a...

Using futures to gather market intelligence: most people consider only stocks and bonds when they think about financial markets, but futures activity contains a significant amount of unique market information even if you're not trading futures.(Trading Techniques)
September 1, 2003... One of the most important elements of investing is having an accurate assessment of market expectations. If your assumptions regarding market expectations are wrong, an accurate forecast of marker fundamentals won't necessarily translate into...

Will futures follow the road well-traveled? Exploring the current state of online trading of stocks and options provides some important parallels and conclusions for the evolution of futures exchanges and online futures trading.(Technology & Trading)
September 1, 2003... It has been commonplace in U.S. equity and options exchange operations for the exchange to provide a messaging gateway to receive orders and consequently route these orders to specialists or market-makers, depending on the exchange structure,...

FXTrade.
September 1, 2003... Olsen & Associates Seefeldstrasse 233 CH-8008 Zurich Switzerland (416) 593-9436 (U.S. number) www.oanda.com OVERALL RATING: [A] LEVEL: Beginner to professional PRICE: Free with a trading account (FXTrade) or...

Blogging through the trading day.(Online Trading)
September 1, 2003... Most novice as well as experienced traders keep daily diaries, or logs, of their trades to track successes as well as mistakes. Like almost everything else, the notes of some traders are making their way online and being referred to as "web...

Setting up a trading desk: it can be simple--a computer, a connection and a broker--but a serious trader will want to look at all of the aspects of trading before selecting and using specific hardware and software.(Futures 101)
September 1, 2003... It may have been very simple to decide to become a trader, but many more decisions await you as you invest in building a trading desk that suits your needs and trading style. Building a trading desk is an investment because you will want to...

Investors take control with sector programs: while most commodity trading advisors trade a diverse group of markets, more sector-specific managers are popping up. This is less of a move away from diversification as an opportunity to provide sophisticated institutional investors with the ability to design their own hedges for their traditional portfolios..(Managed Money)
September 1, 2003... Perhaps the greatest benefit in investing in managed futures programs is diversification. Typical diversified managed futures programs trade interest rate, currency, agricultural, equity index, energy and metal futures from both a long and...

Today, Europe--tomorrow, the world: while it splits the European market with Euronext, Germany's Eurex is planning to establish a U.S. exchange soon--but analysts say Deutsche Boerse's share price doesn't reflect the news. Do shareholders know something we don't?(Trade Trends)
September 1, 2003... As a trader. Eurex boss Rudi Ferscha specialized in non-directional plays that generated consistent but somewhat boring results--the kind most traders don't have the patience for. And it is that same calculated patience that he's been...

DealBookFX Version 2.0.(Software)(Global Forex Trading rolls out new software)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Global Forex Trading has released DealBookFX Version 2.0, software that offers an automated trading system for the foreign exchange markets. Users are able to pre-program a trading system where orders will be based on the rules of that system....

SciCal.(Software)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SciComp has released SciCal, calibration software for derivatives pricing models to market data. it's designed to help quantitative analysts and risk managers calibrate stochastic volatility pricing models to market data. It runs in Excel or as...

Hotspot FX has released a new Introducing Broker-enhanced trading platform.(Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Hotspot FX has released a new Introducing Broker-enhanced trading platform. The platform, the technology component to Hotspot FX's IB initiative, supports flexible compensation structures, including traditional commission-based compensation or...

www/peacockfutures.com.(Internet)(Peacock Trading launches new website)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Peacock Trading launched a new futures trading Web site at www/peacockfutures.com. The site includes charts, quotes, trading education and online account review. It is geared at helping futures traders keep informed of market happenings and...

iQuant.(Internet)(product introduction)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Advfn, a equity analysis Web site, has launched iQuant, an E-mini buy and sell signal system. The iQuant system generates real-time intraday signals for E-mini S&P 500 futures, provides real-time charting, takes trades in the direction of the...

Dynamic Trading Indicators.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... By Mark Helweg and David Stendahl John Wiley & Sons, New York (2002) 220 pages, $69.95 The implicit promise from the book's sub-title, "Winning with Value Charts and Price Action Profile" is that you, too, can improve your timing of the...

Dateline.(securities)
September 1, 2003... CONTRACT DATES 1 FND: BM&F Conillon coffee F. LTD: BM&F soybeans F, Euronext-Liffe White sugar OF. 2 FND: BM&F Arabica coffee F, Oct Sugar F, Oct Alcohol F, Nybot FCOJ F. LTD: CME Aug Weather F, OF. 3 FND: BM&F Oct Cotton F. ...

Events coming up.
September 1, 2003... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 72-78. Swiss Commodities Futures and Options Association (SCFOA) 24th Burgenstock Annual Meeting SEP. 4-7. Burgernstock, Switzerland....

John R. Taylor: the politics of forex.(Trader Profile)(Interview)(Biography)
September 1, 2003... When John R. Taylor, chairman and CIO of New York-based commodity trading advisor FX Concepts, parlayed his political science degree from Princeton into a job as political analyst at Chemical Bank in 1969, he did not know it would lead to a...

Do the rules of the young millionaires still apply?(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... The markets have changed a lot since the 1970s. Long-time traders say the quick profits from big breakouts are more rare, that trends are less prevalent, that news is instantaneously worked into price. Despite the changes in market behavior,...

Mark Fisher: teaching tomorrow's masters: nature vs. nurture has been as much a question in trading as it has been in child development. One of today's most successful traders is trying to train the youth of today to be the masters of finance tomorrow.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... Mark B. Fisher was so intent on trading that he didn't wait to finish college. Fisher developed his ACD trading system as part of his research at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School while simultaneously putting those...

The timeless blend of sentiment and trend: Two of the most basics concepts of trading are that the majority is usually wrong and that the trend is your friend. Here's how to combine these powerful concepts into a strategy for profits.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... "It is more likely the truth will be discovered by few than by many" --Rene Descartes The math of commodity speculation is simple. About 80% of the participants lose money trading. Only 20% are winners. Nowhere else is there as much...

Money management tactics that can make you a winner: a popular strategy focuses on optimizing returns, but controlling risk and achieving consistency are more important, and taking some profits off the table periodically adds to your chances for trading successfully.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... Money management is one of the most important aspects of your complete trading approach. However, it is such a personal issue--based on highly personal factors such as account size and risk tolerance--that it would he impossible to give any...

Guidelines for option trading success: succeeding at options trading has a lot to do with not screwing up. Trade the right strategies, in the right markets, at the right times, and you'll have a leg up on everyone else.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... The number of "rules" and guidelines that could be laid down for option trading is potentially huge. While this is a review of some of the most important ones, understand that these are by no means complete. Traders should generally guide...

Getting an edge with reduced margin spreads: one of the best-kept secrets in trading is reduced margin spreads. You cannot name a trading method that provides more safety or a greater return on margin than reduced margin spreads, and it's also one of the least time-consuming ways to trade.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... Many of the best, well-capitalized traders trade spreads. That doesn't mean spreads are only for the big money accounts. The opposite is true. Because of perceived lower volatility, exchanges grant reduced margins on certain types of spreads....

The DNA of profitable trading: you should pick a market to trade that fits you as carefully as you would choose a country to live in or a profession. Here's a step-by-step approach to determining which market you should choose.(Secrets Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... Trading profitably, although not easy, is not too complicated when analyzed and stripped down to its components. Knowing the DNA of a profitable trade--identifying and enumerating the basic minimums required in your trading market--can help...

Trading from the printed page.(Books Of The Masters)
September 15, 2003... Someone once said that if given the choice to buy clothes or to buy art that they would buy art. When it comes to traders and the art of the written word, the decision is better posed as such: If given the choice to buy clothes or to tiny...