Futures Magazine September 01, 2006
Trading Techniques
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Getting down to the business of trading
flexible schedule and virtually unlimited income potential. As a result, many people get into trading without knowing exactly what the business entails. Many prospective traders begin buying and
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When opportunity presents itself
One long-term investment strategy for a buyer who is willing to look to other pastures is to exploit the divergence between the U.S. dollar and U.S. stock market. The U.S. dollar is approaching
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Comparing option pricing models
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.
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Finding patterns with the Lucas time series
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.
Breaking News
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CBOE takes on New York
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
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''Lets make a deal
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
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International news
The CBOT and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) are gearing up for the Sept. 25 launch of their Singapore-based venture, the Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange (JADE). The electronic platform will launch
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Grain traders adapt
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
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Gain/RFX deal DOA
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
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Inside the courtships of Euronext
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
Technology & Trading
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Microwave imaging that predicts yields
This technology can objectively calculate changes in growing conditions and yields for major crops at the county-equivalent level throughout the world. This permits independent and objective
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Who offers forex options?
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
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ProphetX3.0
There are a lot of good charting products out there and you can go ahead and add DTN’s ProphetX 3.0 to that list. The features are exactly what you would expect at this level of pricing and the depth
Futures 101
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The real price of discount trading
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
Industry Trends
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Where is an exchange?
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
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Money’s sordid tale of dirty floats, debasement and doom
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
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The opium wars
Unable to compel a modern-day “currency alignment” between gold and silver on China, in 1839 the British navy launched an assault against China to coerce the resumption of the India to China opium
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ICE-Nymex clash
People outside the regulatory community tend to fog over when regulatory issues are discussed in vague, general terms, but the current dispute between ICE Futures and the Nymex shines a bright light
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''Inside no-action letters
In the salad days of open-outcry, U.S.-based futures traders could trade any commodity futures contracts they wanted to anywhere in the world, provided the regulatory agencies of the nation in which
Markets
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How low can the U.S. dollar go?
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
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Fibonacci ratio analysis
A common complaint about Fibonacci Ratio analysis from traders is “which ratio do you use?” Well, if you’re using only a single price leg to determine a market top or bottom, it can be an almost
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Hedging the farm, with options
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
Editor's Note
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Virtual landscape
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
Managed Money
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Hedge fund regulation: what now?
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
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Congressional bills opens up capacity
The Pension Protection Act of 2006, passed by both houses o Congress and awaiting a presidential signature, would increase the amount of money hedge funds can accept from employee benefit or pension
People
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Brown-Hruska leaves CFTC for consultant
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
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Exit strategy
NERA does policy level consulting and provides analysis, research and advice to business, government and the derivatives industry according to Brown-Hruska. “Basically I am going to build a practice
Book Reviews
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The coming collapse of the dollar and how to profit from it
Despite issues particular to early 21st century America, including the war on terrorism, we are in a larger sense, facing an all too familiar drama with recurring chapters. Throughout history, two
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Technical analysis of the currency market
There are numerous bar chart examples that are easy-to-read and illustrate his points well. Schlossberg covers the most common technical analysis tools, including: trendlines, moving averages,
Market Analysis
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Gassed
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
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Wheat overpriced?
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
New For Traders
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Exchange offerings
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
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Indexes and ETFs
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
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Software and Data
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
Trader Profiles
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'Bill Stevens: Everythings relative
“I’m much more interested in the relationship of the options to the futures or the options to each other or one skew to another skew, than I am absolute values,” he says. “That’s where we try to
