Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from September 2006

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from September 2006

Virtual landscape.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
September 1, 2006... When the Chicago Board Options Exchange announced in late July that it was holding a press conference the next day, we were very curious because this definitely was something out of the ordinary. And its announcement proved equally interesting:...

Brown-Hruska joins NERA consulting.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2006... Sharon Brown-Hruska has left her post as a commissioner at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to join NERA Economic Consulting's securities and finance practice. Brown-Hruska served as acting chairman of the CFTC during her most...

Ah, competition: CBOE takes on New York.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2006... When New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Chairman John Thain visited the Chicago Board Options Exchanges (CBOE) last fall he expressed praise and a little envy of the CBOE's hybrid trading model. It would have been hard to predict at the time that...

Man-O-man: let's make a deal.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2006... Man Group plc announced on July 27, that it has bought a 70% stake in the United States Futures Exchange (USFE), the official name of Eurex's U.S. subsidiary Eurex US, and the name it will go by in the future. Man paid $23.2 million for the...

Stick a fork in it ... Gain/RFX deal D.O.A.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2006... The deal to sell the Refco FX (RFX) customer list to Gain Capital Management is dead; and RFX customer trading accounts have been locked as of July 31. Since the Refco bankruptcy proceedings began eight months ago, RFX customers have not been...

Trouble in Paris? Inside the courtships of Euronext.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2006... Don't be fooled by consolidation. The war between exchanges continues, and once more the battlefield could be Europe. The story of how Euronext went to market, and came home with the NYSE as a potential partner has drama and intrigue, and...

Chartview: too little too late?(Trendlines)(New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange Inc.)(electronic trading rights)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The New York Mercantile Exchange board of directors and the Comex governors committee announced in August that they have reached an agreement in principal on Comex member electronic trading rights. The agreement, which would pave the way for...

Side by side hiccup: grain traders adapt.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2006... Just days after the CBOT introduced side-by-side trading in its storied grain complex, electronic trading of those contracts, as well as in financial and metals futures, was halted by technical problems, triggering electronic shutdowns at...

Congressional bill opens up capacity.(Managed Money Review)
September 1, 2006... The Pension Protection Act of 2006, passed by both houses of Congress and awaiting a presidential signature, would increase the amount of money hedge funds can accept from employee benefit or pension plans. The bill does not increase the...

Exit strategy.(Off the Floor)(Sharon Brown-Hruska of NERA Economic Consulting)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... Sharon Brown-Hruska returned for her second stint at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2002. In her tenure she dealt with many vexing issues facing the industry, developed expertise in energy markets and international...

Gassed.(natural gas futures drops)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Natural gas has been an enigma. After rallying to all-time highs at the end of 2005, natural gas futures dropped 66% by July 10, despite the continued bull market in crude oil. And while it rallied more than $3 per mBtu in July, it is not that...

Wheat overpriced?(Hot Commodities)
September 1, 2006... Kansas City hard red wheat and Minneapolis spring wheat crops have suffered drought, late rains and high temperatures, pushing production down and futures prices up. But for Chicago wheat, growing conditions have been just right. "It's...

Cafe Americano.(Hot Commodities)
September 1, 2006... London is running out of coffee, and the bull run on Robusta beans at London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) is dragging the New York Board of Trade's (Nybot) Arabica coffee contract along for the ride, says James...

How low can the U.S. dollar go? The 2005 recovery in the dollar was fueled by steady predictable increases in U.S. interest rates. The dollar however, remained relatively weak and turned lower in 2006. With the Fed now pausing, a slower economy may take away the Fed's remaining bullets.(MARKETS)(Cover story)
September 1, 2006... Last year when Futures looked at the rebounding dollar we asked, "U.S. dollar: Real strength or on steroids?" It was an odd question because despite an impressive rally in 2005, the dollar rebounded less than 30% from the low of the bear market...

Hedging the farm, with options.(Market Strategy)
September 1, 2006... Considering the incorporation of an options strategy along with, or in lieu of, a purely futures-based strategy greatly increases the diversity of choices available to an investor. This added flexibility can enable a trader to protect against...

Multiple day forex trading.(Forex Trader)
September 1, 2006... The rigors of forex trading become very clear when the task is to capture pips on a day-to-day basis. Obtaining 20 pips per day may seem easy, but it is a solid accomplishment. If you can get about 20 pips a day for 20 trading days, that's...

When opportunity presents itself: divergence between a country's stock market and its underlying currency on a yearly time scale creates an ideal arbitrage trade with a buy-and-hold approach.(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2006... The days of double-digit stock returns for small investors with a buy-and-hold mentality are gone. So these days traders need to find alternative methods to beef up returns. The problem is traders still want to pick stocks and don't...

Comparing option pricing models: the Black/Scholes option pricing model is the best-known, but it isn't always the best. Another pricing model, the LLP or log-log parabola, can give useful results too.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2006... The Black/Scholes option pricing model and the log-log parabola (LLP) system are two methods that may be used to compute option price curves and to forecast option prices through the short-term. Although the formulas behind the two models are...

Getting down to business: trading is similar to other businesses. While it often looks a lot easier from the opposite side of the counter, just like any commercial endeavor, there are many unexpected traps that can keep you in the red.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2006... From the outside, trading may seem like the perfect business: no boss, no employees, a flexible schedule and virtually unlimited income potential. As a result, many people get into trading without knowing exactly what the business entails. Many...

Finding patterns with the Lucas time series: trading is a game of probabilities. The Lucas series is another tool that, combined with traditional technical analysis and Fibonacci numbers, can put the probability of winning in your favor.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2006... Financial markets are similar to the World Series. Each game is filled with twists and turns with an uncertain outcome until the final pitch is thrown. Trends work the same in free markets as they do in sports contests. They change. Sometimes...

Microwave imaging that predicts yields: new applications of satellite data can better predict growing conditions worldwide. This can be used to forecast crop production that leads the widely followed government reports.(special sensing microwave imaging )
September 1, 2006... Imagine if you could forecast crop conditions better and faster than the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Well, it's possible using technology known as special sensing microwave imaging (SSMI). This technology can objectively...

Russell Indexes Asia Co. Ltd.(Russell Investment Group established Russell Indexes Asia Co. Ltd)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Russell Investment Group has established Russell Indexes Asia Co. Ltd. to provide clients with data and customer support for Russell Indexes, including Russell U.S. Equity Indexes and the Russell/Nomura Japan Equity Indexes. www.russell.com....

Dow Jones Indexes.(designed indexes)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Dow Jones Indexes (DJI) has designed these new indexes to serve as underlying for mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other products: The BRIC 50 Index, a blue-chip index measuring the performance of companies in Brazil, Russia,...

ProShare Advisors LLC.(EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... ProShare Advisors LLC will launch exchange traded funds based on a short and levered Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Ultra Dow30 ProShares aims to achieve twice the daily returns of the underlying index before fees and expenses; and the Short...

FX AccuCharts.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... FX Solutions has launched a new charting application, FX AccuCharts. FX AccuCharts offers more than 150 technical indicators and oscillators; customizable charting workspaces; instantaneous updates direct from the Interbank forex market;...

SunGard and TradingScreen Inc.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... SunGard and TradingScreen Inc. have launched Decalog, an integrated solution for buy-side traders. Decalog is a front- and middle-office solution for investment management activities at global asset management firms and provides portfolio...

CME E-quotes Wireless.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... eSignal developed a customized streaming quote, charting and news package for Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The CME E-quotes Wireless, is a version of eSignal's Quo Trek customized for CME traders. Features include the quote/portfolio window;...

Orc Software.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... Orc Software now provides direct trading access to FXall and Hotspot FXi, two alternative trading systems for foreign exchange (FX). This allows clients to hedge currency transactions and implement algorithmic trading strategies across asset...

Imagine Software.(SOFTWARE)
September 1, 2006... Imagine Software now offers real-time, live market data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and JASDAQ. www.derivatives.com.

The Chicago Board of Trade.(EXCHANGES)
September 1, 2006... The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) will launch a Global Developing Markets Program to encourage volume growth in countries that have not been active in CBOT markets, www.cbot.com

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc.(EXCHANGES)
September 1, 2006... The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) will offer spread trading for its full-sized, physically delivered benchmark energy contracts on Globex. Nymex also will launch miNY platinum and palladium futures on Globex in August. Both will be...

HedgeStreet and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.(EXCHANGES)
September 1, 2006... HedgeStreet and the Chicago Board Options Exchange launched a new co-branded website and a plug-in for Yahoo! messenger with voice instant messaging users. HedgeStreet has also launched binary options on Non-Farm Payroll contracts, a $100 crude...

ProphetX 3.0.(evaluation of ProphetX 3.0.)(Product/service evaluation)
September 1, 2006... ProphetX 3.0 DTN 11400 Rupp Drive Burnsville, MN 55337 (800) 328-2278; (952) 82-4390 Fax: 952-941-7017 www.dtn.com OVERALL RATING: Good/Excellent LEVEL: Beginner to advanced. PRICE: $260 per month plus...

Who offers forex options?(Online Trading)
September 1, 2006... Forex options trading has been around in rudimentary forms, especially among banks, for many years; but it has not been prevalent in the retail sector. As retail traders become more familiar with both forex markets and options theory, that will...

The real price of discount trading: keeping your trading costs consistently low is a challenge, especially with the bewildering number and wide range of fees, charges and commission rates being marketed. Here we will try to help you be a better shopper.(FUTURES 101)
September 1, 2006... All it takes is a quick flip to the back of this magazine to confirm that the cost of trading is plummeting. Consolidation in the brokerage industry and the rise of internet trading has created an environment of intense competition, pushing...

Hedge fund regulation: what now? When the U.S. district Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia threw out the Security and Exchange Commission's hedge fund registration rule in June, it appeared to be a victory for those funds opposing the rule, but what will come next?(MANAGED MONEY)
September 1, 2006... The hedge fund industry fought tooth and nail against the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) plan to register hedge fund advisors. In the end they lost the fight, and since then the Managed Funds Association (MFA) has aggressively moved...

Where is an exchange? Regulators have responded to the globalization of trading by recognizing foreign regulators, exchanges and market participants on a case-by-case basis. The result is a global latticework of one-off bilateral regulatory arrangements with little in the way of an official governing theme.(TRADE TRENDS)
September 1, 2006... It's only been six years since Ruben Lee wrote his thought-provoking treatise "What is an Exchange?" but you can't help but wonder: If he wrote it today, would the title be "Who, when and where is an exchange an exchange?" He'd have plenty...

Money's sordid tale of dirty floats, debasement and doom: today's floating currency system is just one of many that global trade has operated under. Each previous system broke down after multi-nation wars. This series reviews previous monetary systems and examines history to shed some light on the viability of the current fiat system.(TRADE TRENDS)
September 1, 2006... Marx extolled it as the numeraire. Keynes damned it as a barbarous relic. In the end, Nixon snuffed it. Yet for more than two millennia, gold was matchless among precious metals, valued in multiples against silver, copper or bronze. Rare,...

The Coming Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit From It.(Book review)
September 1, 2006... The Coming Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit From It By James Turk and John Rubino Bantam Dell Pub Group 256 pages, $24.95 Somewhere in the life of any great society, a financial reckoning becomes inevitable. The reason: fiat...

Technical Analysis of the Currency Market: Classic Techniques for Profiting from Market Swings and Trader Sentiment.
September 1, 2006... Technical Analysis of the Currency Market: Classic Techniques for Profiting from Market Swings and Trader Sentiment By Boris Schlossberg John Wiley & Sons Inc. 212 pages, $60 In the last two years there has been a proliferation of...

M0/real GDP.(Sound Off!)
September 1, 2006... Where can I get charting software and a data feed that will give charts with 5-day and 150-day moving averages and Bollinger bands. Derek Wildman, via e-mail Nigel Bahadur, head of research and development at LBRGroup, responds: Just...

Refco FX.(Sound Off!)
September 1, 2006... As a Refco Account Holder, I enjoyed your article "Refco FX to Gain Capital?" (August 2006). Five cents on the dollar would have certainly been better than the Gain offer. I want to echo the statement about "the detrimental effect on U.S. forex...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
September 1, 2006... The chart "Kansas leads the pack," on page 26 of the June markets story should have been labeled "KCBT wheat, weekly." In the special report on Asian markets in the April issue the Korea Exchange's correct acronym should be KRX. ...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... 1 LTD: BM & F Alcohol OF, Nybot Oct Cocoa OF. [TABLE OMITTED] 7 LTD: CME Japan gvmt bond F, Nikkei 225 F,OF, Eurex Bobl F, Bund F, Schatz F, Buxl F, CONF F, Euronext-Liffe Bund F, Schatz F, JGB F. 8 LTD: BM & F Oct Arabica coffee...

Events coming up.(Brief article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 81-85. Burgenstock Annual Meeting. SEPT. 7-10. Burgenstock, Switzerland. www.futuresindustry.org. (202) 466-5460. The Forex Trading Expo....

Bill Stevens: everything's relative.(Trader Profile)
September 1, 2006... When options spread trader Bill Stevens competes in fly-fishing tournaments, he leaves nothing to chance--not even the fly lures. "I tie my own," he says. "And I tell you, when you tie your own flies and then you go and catch a fish on 'em,...