Futures Magazine March 01, 2008
Cover Story
Top Traders of 2007
While the universe of commodity trading advisors had its best performance in recent years in 2007, many of the stalwart long-term trend followers continued to struggle. Campbell & Co., John Henry and
Trading Techniques
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Trading the Nasdaq with Lucas time series
In baseball, pitching is a psychological tug-of-war, a battle of wits. When a power pitcher fires two inside strikes against a power hitter, everyone in the park expects the next one will be low and
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Tricks for overnight success
It’s 4 a.m. An alarm rings in Chicago, and a hand slips out from underneath the covers to turn it off. Economic news from Europe will be announced in 30 minutes and it may spark a trading
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Eight practices for long-term success
When considering best trading practices, it’s easy to discard the idea as too general and simplistic, or to default to the industry’s well-worn cliches. However, for both new and experienced traders,
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The importance of trading size
The Leverage Space Model is a new and superior method for portfolio management that seeks to maximize geometric growth within a given drawdown constraint. This is in stark contrast to more
Forex Trader
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The new carry trade
It is a common misconception that the carry trade is mainly a yen-based phenomenon. This is due to the fact that the Japanese government has kept interest rates near zero for more than a decade, so
Breaking News
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Rogue trader hits Société Générale
How did he do it? That’s the question on everyone’s mind after French bank Société Générale acknowledged rogue trader Jerome Kerviel cost the bank €4.9 billion ($7.2 billion), and the most detailed
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Regulatory rumble
Three days after the Department of Justice dropped a bombshell on the U.S. futures industry in a comment letter to the Treasury Department on regulatory structure, it denied the content plainly
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SEC rules on ERPs
In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled in favor of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in its plea to eliminate former Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) members’ CBOE
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Many questions, few answers
Why did he do it? You would think it was for the money that Jérôme Kerviel took highly risky positions at Société Générale. Though he was eager to get a big bonus, he was hoping for €300,000, not a
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Amex gets bought
The American Stock Exchange (Amex) became the latest exchange to be acquired when NYSE Euronext signed an agreement to purchase it for $260 million on Jan. 17. The transaction is subject to
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Reforms to boost futures
It’s been more than a year since a draconian clamp-down on the trading of commodity futures hobbled one of India’s great success stories (see “Do chickpeas have a future?” April 2007), but in January
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CME/Nymex talk deal
The CME Group Inc. and Nymex Holdings Inc. entered an exclusive 30-day merger negotiation in late January. According to the CME Group, Nymex shareholders would get $36 in cash and 0.1323 of a share
Editor's Note
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Mon Dieu!!
When the news flashed about the rogue trader at Société Générale in France, we wondered: what did he trade and how did he do it — undetected? Little by little we learned that “le rogue” traded equity
Book Reviews
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Get Rich with Options
The only thing not to like about this welcome introduction to options trading is the bombastic title. That aside, “Get Rich with Options” is one of the best trading books published in recent memory.
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Forex Conquered: High Probability Systems and Strategies for Active Traders
The introductory chapter, “The Business of Trading Money,” reviews the forex market in general and looks at how it is affected by monetary and fiscal policy, Federal Reserve changes, employment and
Market Analysis
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Corn energized
Since mid November, corn futures have shot past $5 per bushel, up from less than $4. “It has been a very consistent trend,” says Elaine M. Kub, analyst for DTN. “Ever since harvest, we have been
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Bottom dollar
Considering the 125 basis point cuts to the Fed funds and discount window rates, negative job growth, a paltry 0.6% fourth quarter gross domestic product, and sub-50 services and regular ISM
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Range bound sugar?
Believe it or not, sugar has been more volatile than equities in the early stages of 2008, twice posting ranges in excess of 10% of its total value. In early January, sugar began to rally when a
Managed Money
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Honor roll
Futures has been profiling the top performing commodity trading advisors (CTAs) for nearly two decades, and while there has been this rumor going around of a Futures magazine curse, similar to the
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No jitters trading coffee
Trying to pick the low in the stock market may be more exciting than examining supply/demand fundamentals in coffee, but real investors are looking for returns – not fun. For those willing to tune
Options Strategy
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Using the call ratio backspread
Major market bottoms often are difficult to identify as they unfold. Trading turning points is challenging because market bottoms often occur when sentiment is poor and the headlines are screaming
New For Traders
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New for Traders
CME Group will allow block trades for certain CBOT interest rate products, subject to CFTC approval. Also, CME completed the migration of the e-cbot futures and options on futures contracts on to its
Trader Profiles
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Clarke: Consistently profitable
Clarke Capital Management (CCM) has produced consistently solid returns through its numerous trading programs for more than a decade. While trend following programs have struggled at times in recent
Technology & Trading
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ETF (r)evolution
No longer are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) merely another way to invest in equity or fixed-income indexes. ETFs have evolved, branching into new frontiers that offer traders more ways to participate
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ETF basics
Structure: Registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, ETFs are investment companies. They only sell and redeem shares in large blocks to brokerage houses or institutional investors, which
Futures 101
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Trading can be taxing
So you opened a trading account last year and now it’s time to file your taxes. While tax filing for traders isn’t likely to be painless, there are a few simple steps that can make it less, well,
Industry Trends
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Carbon exchanges gear up
Trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances has become standard activity on European energy desks, with European Climate Exchange (ECX) products acting as the benchmark for prices around the world.
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Beyond Kyoto
In late January, the European Union unveiled two proposed schemes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions once the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012 – and in so doing, created the prospect of
Markets
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Equities hitting the wall in ‘08
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 hit all-time highs on Oct. 11, 2007. But since then, the Dow, S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 have endured huge volatility and losses ranging from
