It has been a rollercoaster couple of months for futures commission merchant MF Global and this has been perfectly illustrated in their segregated funds as reported to the CFTC. MF saw their total seg funds explode by 25% to more than $13 billion in February from $10.381 billion in January. MF went from the fifth to the third largest FCM based on seg funds. While higher margins could account for some of this, total seg funds reported to the CFTC increased by less than 10%.
But things began to go south with the rogue wheat trader episode as MF’s seg funds dropped to $9.685 billion in March, representing a drop in total market share to 6.17% from 8.25%. The street reports some business has moved to competitors and that MF has cut staff, though its stock has stabilized.
