Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) articles from September 2007

Futures (Cedar Falls, IA) archives from September 2007

On second thought.(the future of Hedge funds )(Editorial)
September 1, 2007... What a difference a few months can make. In June, I heard a speech by Anthony W. Ryan, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, who spoke to the Managed Funds Association about the need for vigilance in protecting the markets...

Membership isn't a privilege? ERP waiting on SEC.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2007... Depending on whom you speak with, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) may have scored some early points in its battle to end exchange-right privileges (ERPs) held by some members of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). And until the...

Credit crunch: subprime flu catching.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2007... Plunge into the financial markets, they say, and you never know who's swimming naked--at least, not until the tide goes out. When the credit tide went out in July and August, it revealed more than a few knickers in the sand. Bear...

Deny, delay, derail: SECandal.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2007... The SEC apparently sandbagged an investigation into insider trading and fired one of its attorneys for aggressively pursuing testimony from the politically connected head of Morgan Stanley, and then tried to cover it up; so says a report...

Non-compliance: NFA suspends Lake Shore.(Trendlines)(The National Futures Association)(Lake Shore Asset Management Ltd.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The National Futures Association (NFA) has suspended Chicago-based Lake Shore Asset Management Ltd.'s NFA membership; and Lake Shore may not solicit participant funds or place trades until it is in complete compliance with all NFA requirements....

Integration update: hammer falls.(Trendlines)(CME Group Inc., CBOT Holdings Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The CME Group announced 380 planned layoffs as a result of integration with CBOT. The CME Group also announced that integration of CBOT products to the Globex electronic platform will occur over two weekends in January, with commodity and...

Chartview: fishing for the next IPO.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2007... Since early 2006, the value of memberships at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) and Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) has more than tripled. Mark G. Bagan, president and CEO of the MGEX, attributes the increase in value to the...

More regs for ICE? CFTC to look at ECMs.(Trendlines)
September 1, 2007... The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded in its report on Excessive Speculation in the Natural Gas Markets that excessive speculation contributed to rising energy prices and that gaps in the available market data made it...

Fin futures okay in China.(International News)
September 1, 2007... China looks set to begin trading futures on the Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 index in September now that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has licensed more than 40 brokerages to trade on the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE),...

Hong Kong weighs commodities.(International News)
September 1, 2007... The government of Hong Kong has commissioned a study on the viability of launching commodity futures on HKEx, beginning with crude oil. The economic need for such a contract is open to debate--but even more questionable is appetite among Hong...

Cargill expands.(International News)
September 1, 2007... Cargill looks set to take full ownership of Hungarian grain and oilseed trading company Agrograin, the former government-owned national exporter, in which Cargill has had a stake since 1995.

Aussies move on carbon cap.(International News)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Australia's federal government looks set to launch a nationwide, mandatory cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emission allowances--despite Prime Minister John Howard's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. As in the United States, regional voluntary...

More dollar palm oil.(International News)
September 1, 2007... Bursa Malaysia says it's launching a dollar-denominated crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract in September to run alongside its successful ringgit-denominated contract--and compete with the dollar-denominated contract running on the Joint Asian...

It's official.(International News)(appointments at Fimat Group)
September 1, 2007... Societe Generale and Calyon in August signed the final merger agreement of the brokerage activities carried out by their respective subsidiaries Fimat and Calyon Financial. The launch of the new entity, to be called Newedge, is scheduled for...

USFE to list commodity binaries.(International News)(U.S. Futures Exchange )(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The U.S. Futures Exchange (USFE), beginning Oct. 15, will launch weekly binary options based on the performance of individual assets. The contracts will allow investors to take positions on the performance of crude oil, gasoline, gold, silver...

Sir Bob Reid to lead ICE Clear Europe.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Sir Bob Reid is now chairman of ICE Clear Europe. Previously he was chairman of ICE Futures. Prior, he was the deputy governor of the Halifax Bank of Scotland, and chairman of London Electricity, British Railways Board and chief executive of...

Paul Swann has been named president and COO of ICE Clear Europe.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Paul Swann has been named president and COO of ICE Clear Europe. Previously he was a managing director at LCH. Clearnet.

Glenn Stevens has been elected CEO of GAIN Capital Group LLC.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Glenn Stevens has been elected CEO of GAIN Capital Group LLC. Previously he was managing director/head of North American FX sales and trading at Natwest Bank and chief FX dealer at Merrill Lynch.

Andrew W. Waldock, is now the principal of Commodity and Derivative Advisors LLC.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Andrew W. Waldock, son of one of the founders of Lind-Waldock, is now the principal of Commodity and Derivative Advisors LLC. Previously he was a branch manager at Lind-Waldock and an independent trader.

Mark Haraburda is now managing director of business development and sales at Barchart.com Inc.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Mark Haraburda is now managing director of business development and sales at Barchart.com Inc. Previously he was director of business development for CBOE Futures Exchange.

Joshua S. Levine has been named CEO at Electronic Specialist LLC.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Joshua S. Levine has been named CEO at Electronic Specialist LLC. Previously he was managing director at Kita Capital Management LLC.

Daniel Darst is now executive director of institutional and partner business for FX Solutions.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Daniel Darst is now executive director of institutional and partner business for FX Solutions. Previously he was executive director for Saxo Bank.

International Capital Market Association.(Trading Places)
September 1, 2007... Paul Richards is now head of regulatory policy and a member of the executive committee at the International Capital Market Association.

SEC adopts anti-fraud rule.(Managed Money Review)
September 1, 2007... The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July voted unanimously to adopt a new anti-fraud rule under the Investment Advisers Act it claims will clarify its ability to bring enforcement actions under the Advisers Act. "This rule...

Crazy Dow.(Hot Commodities)
September 1, 2007... Dow Jones futures have been extremely volatile, the chart shows about one dozen 100-point moves within a half-hour in the second week of August. "The put-call ratio is about the highest it's been since July '04," says Andrew W. Waldock,...

Crude still hot.(Hot Commodities)
September 1, 2007... Despite an $8 per barrel drop in early August, the crude oil market is still in an uptrend, says Thomas N. Hartmann, analyst for Altavest Worldwide Trading. "We've got relatively stable demand and that pressure is not abating despite higher...

Golden opportunity.(Hot Commodities)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... With the U.S. dollar hitting a 10-year low and with a rocky equities market, you might expect gold to explode to the upside. Instead, gold has started tracking stocks and has put in a near-term low, observes Charles Nedoss, senior account...

Options strategy.
September 1, 2007... Question: Is there a way to buy an option that acts like a futures contract but has a known risk? Answer: Yes, it's called an intrinsic option. Intrinsic options have strike prices that are in-the-money. If the December gold futures...

A season to turn.(Market Strategy)
September 1, 2007... September promises to be interesting as several long-term technical setups can create significant moves. The methodology, described in the September 2006 and May 2007 issues, utilizing Fibonacci/Lucas numbers as an important third time element...

Bottom line: has dollar bottomed? The dollar spent most of the year on a fast-track downtrend, but there are a few positive economic signs that the dollar will rebound. The question is, how soon?(MARKETS)(Cover story)
September 1, 2007... The U.S. dollar got slammed in the first half of 2007, especially in July when the euro and pound sterling reached multi-year highs against the dollar. Most of the analysts we spoke with agree the dollar may have set a bottom, but for the...

Tech talk: unwinding the yen carry.(Markets)
September 1, 2007... In a yen carry trade, a trader borrows Japanese yen at low interest rates and invests the principal in a higher yielding currency. As long as nothing happens, the trader earns the interest rate differential (the carry) and is able to repay the...

Trading FX options.(Forex Trader)
September 1, 2007... The spot forex market is a mixed chemistry of price action reflecting global interest rates levels and directions in and between countries. The forces that cause changes in the value of a currency are real but hard to quantify. The challenge...

Put worst trading days behind you: while rigid discipline is usually a good thing for mechanical equity index traders, sometimes it can lead to big losses. One time-based trading strategy, which fares well as a system in its own right, can help when applied as a filter to your existing approach.(EQUITY TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2007... Strict mechanical traders don't allow emotions to contaminate their order execution, but that doesn't necessarily mean they feel comfortable about what they're doing. In some ways, systematic traders are more psychologically vulnerable than...

Arb opportunities in forex: for retail traders, forex arbitrage plays are generally limited to trades measured by seconds. However, with careful analysis of the global risk appetite in shifting currency markets, you can uncover longer-term possibilities.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2007... Exploiting arbitrage opportunities in spot forex markets is a rare enterprise available to retail investors. Trading on the prices of multiple market makers and on firms providing "no dealing desks" can help generate upside potential for the...

Yield curve rotation: after almost two years of inverted U.S. Treasury yield curves, longer term interest rates are beginning to turn higher. Spreads among Eurodollars, T-notes and cash Treasuries may be used to help increase profits and protect against losses during this shift.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2007... During the first week of June 2007, the interest rate market experienced something it hasn't seen for over a year and a half--a significant increase in Treasury yields. Results from this change included large losses in the prices of Treasury...

Scalping option gammas: stuck in a trading rut? Scalping option gammas is an active option position management technique that extracts profits in midstream where you might have thought there weren't any.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2007... Consider this market scenario: Treasury bond futures are in a period of low volatility, with a daily range of half a point or less. The options on these futures are trading at historically low implied volatility. With the futures at exactly...

Taking momentum to the bank: for day-trading techniques, simplicity and discipline are more important than having the latest and greatest black-box trading system. One such day-trading strategy that is effective in both equity and equity index markets is the breakout or momentum trade.(TRADING TECHNIQUES)
September 1, 2007... By definition, day trading is short-term. That is, the entire trading cycle is completed within the course of a single day or trading session. Given that constraint, prices must move quickly to profit. Another way to describe fast moving prices...

Forex, trade and politics: to understand politics, most of the time you just have to follow the money. While central banks manage economies through interest rates, politicians use a variety of methods to influence trade and move markets.(FUTURES 101)
September 1, 2007... You don't need to be an Einstein to understand that everything is relative. Whether we are talking about being early vs. being late, or being cheap vs. being expensive, you need a point of reference to make meaningful qualitative or...

Weathering the storm of risk.(Online Trading)
September 1, 2007... Weather is nothing new, nor is hedging its risk. The over-the-counter (OTC) weather market has been around since 1997, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) weather futures and options contracts have been around since 1999. In the...

Applied Reality Trading System (ART).(Software Review)(TradersCoach.com, Inc.)
September 1, 2007... Applied Reality Trading System (ART) TradersCoach.com, Inc. 10755-F Scripps Poway Parkway, #477 San Diego, California 92131-1027 (800) 695-6188 Info@TradersCoach.com www.TradersCoach.com OVERALL RATING: Good ...

Manipulating a hedge fund blow-up: a year ago the implosion of hedge fund Amaranth was seen as a good news/bad news story. The bad news was it loss more than $6 billion; the good news was that only the poor suckers who were invested in it lost money. A recent congressional report and regulatory action suggests there is more to the story.(MANAGED MONEY)
September 1, 2007... While the huge implosion of hedge fund Amaranth Advisors was a dramatic event--particularly for shareholders--and an embarrassment to the large institutions counted among its investors, it did not shock the industry as the implosion of...

Europe: beyond the big two; The European Union's two dominant futures exchanges have grabbed the bulk of U.S. attention, but as Nasdaq's involvement with OMX and LSE shows, there's a whole lot more going on over there.(TRADE TRENDS)
September 1, 2007... European regulatory agencies often resemble a slow-motion squadron of precision flyers in formation: everyone working towards the same goals, each with an eye on his wingman. There's even an element of elegance in the way they dovetail with...

Jumping Jack O'Bannion: the history of open outcry trading floors is rich and interesting and with those floors becoming endangered, we are publishing some interesting stories. We welcome your anecdotes and may publish them in this semi-regular section. Names have been changed to protect the speculators.(Trading Stories)
September 1, 2007... One of the best pit traders I ever knew was Jack O'Bannion. But Jack was one of the shortest locals at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), and short usually didn't cut it in the pits. In the bond options pit, short couldn't see the action, short...

Redefining the "Top 50 brokers".(My Position)
September 1, 2007... The futures industry is living through one of the most challenging and dramatic evolutions in its history. Consolidations, the fading of open-outcry and technology platform integrations are, only the tip of the iceberg of issues that are...

Contract dates.(Dateline)(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... 3 LTD: BM & F Alcohol OF, Euronext-Liffe Oct White sugar OF, Tocom Aug Crude oil F. [TABLE OMITTED] 4 LTD: CME Aug Weather F, KRX 3 year Treasury bond OF. 6 LTD: CBOT Ethanol F, Eurex Bobl F, Bund F, Schatz F, Buxl F, CONF F. ...

Events coming up.(Calendar)
September 1, 2007... Call the numbers listed for more information. For other seminars, see the classifieds on pages 81-85. Forex Trading Expo. SEPT. 15-16. Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. (800) 970-4355. www.tradersexpo.com. MBF's Clearing Corp.'s...

Khan Noorpuri: perfecting option writing.(Trader Profile)
September 1, 2007... Ansbacher Investment management (AIM) was already one of the oldest and most successful option writing commodity trading advisors in 2002, so there was some risk involved when founding principal Max Ansbacher brought on a partner to revamp the...