Futures Magazine July 01, 2009
Software Review
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Tradecision 4.6
Trading software is ubiquitous these days. Everywhere you look, someone is selling the latest, greatest software that will be just the tool you need for successful trading. The key to success,
Trading Techniques
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A better risk gauge for options portfolios
Consider a complex portfolio that includes numerous options combinations corresponding to different underlying assets and created under various options strategies. A proper risk management system
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Trading price action in Treasuries
Once you achieve an understanding of price action dynamics, all you need to trade successfully is a five-minute chart and a 20-bar exponential moving average (EMA). This works for scalping trades in
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Options: Taking control of a volatile situation
While many commodity markets are coming off stupendous highs, few have risen, or have fallen, as far as the energy markets. Crude oil prices fell to levels this winter that were unthinkable last
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Order management in electronic markets
Technological victories and hard work on the part of many individuals have led to the resounding success of electronic trading. According to CME Group, electronically executed trading accounted for
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How to hide your hand
Going back to the glory days of the floor, traders executing large orders would often show only a small portion of the order so as not to tip off other traders regarding the ultimate size of the
Forex Trader
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Forex leaderboard reveals opportunities
We certainly have seen powerful movements in currency pairs in the first half of 2009. Some of these moves have been in the thousands of pips. Of course, looking back is easy and the challenge to the
Futures 101
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ABCs of ETFs
Like mutual funds, ETFs give professional and individual investors (including those of more moderate means) the opportunity to own a share in a diversified pool of assets. Unlike mutual funds, ETFs
Industry Trends
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Waving the pan-European regulatory net
While the ESRC is proposed as a new regulator with unprecedented powers and reach, the European System of Financial Supervisors is designed to promote coordination among existing regulators, and is
Markets
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Interest rates and the economy: What's next?
A bomb was dropped on the financial world and the economy at large when the financial sector collapsed in the fall of 2008, and the United States and the rest of the world are still working through
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Mr. Bernanke, meet the bond traders
It’s not getting easier to make monetary policy in an improving but still acutely uncertain economic and financial climate. Things were precarious enough when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
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Tech talk: Who is listening?
The eternal question of “If a tree falls in the woods, does anyone hear” has a strong correlation to how positive data for U.S. Treasuries has been unable to stem the negative trend on U.S.
Editor's Note
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Model behavior
Many moons ago when I was in college, I needed to take some requisite science courses. Science has never been my forte, so the thought of fulfilling these requirements was somewhat daunting. I almost
Book Reviews
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Trading Without Gambling: Develop a Game Plan for Trading Success
Books on trading are numerous. Books on trading that go to the heart of successful trading are few. Link’s book is one of the few. Written in an informal, sometimes humorous, and often personal
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New Insights on Covered Call Writing
New Insights on Covered Call Writing By Lawrence McMillan and Richard LehmanBloomberg PressNew York, New York$39.95, 229 PagesThroughout history, the cycles of the markets have had a tendency to
Market Analysis
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U.S. dollar index bounces
Andrew Wilkinson, senior analyst for Interactive Brokers, says that the sea change of expectations on short-term interest rates and potential change in the Fed’s policy at the beginning of June had a
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Natural gas drops
Paul Flemming, director of power and gas for Energy Security Analysis Inc., attributes the weakness to a big drop in demand, particularly from industrial users. Flemming adds that although producers
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Soybean futures rally
“Because of the late plantings for corn, there’s likely going to be an acreage switch [in July]. We anticipate a transition where end users start to walk away from higher premium old crop supplies
Managed Money
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New CFTC head under fire
While Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) dropped his objection to Gary Gensler’s nomination to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing Gensler to finally take this post,
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Master-feeder structure
The solicitor-managed funds that placed their investors’ money with BMIS were simply investors that opened BMIS accounts in the solicitor-managed fund’s name, giving the latter the same legal status
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Investment fraud: Doing your due diligence
Bernard Madoff created a pyramid scheme so massive that he may ultimately usurp the name Ponzi. Madoff’s enterprise had two essential requirements: first, an ever increasing flow of fresh investor
New For Traders
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New for Traders
CME Group launched clearing services for eight new petroleum swap futures contracts and two new electricity swap futures contracts. CME Group also announced an extension to the block fee waiver and
Breaking News
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PFGBEST buys Alaron
There was a shake-up in the trading world on May 21 when futures commission merchant PFGBEST purchased the customer assets of trading services provider Alaron. Alaron will be formed into ATD, a
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Goldman Sachs joins ELX
Upstart exchange ELX made a splash on June 1 when it announced that Goldman Sachs would become a founding partner. ELX, which is backed by a consortium of financial institutions, received approval
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Regulators: No more Mr. Soft Touch
At the recent Mondo Visione Exchange Forum in London, longtime regulatory consultant Richard Britton read aloud a passage from the 126-page Turner Review (See “Credit Default Swaps: Still the Object
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Credit default swaps clearing battle
So far, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has emerged as the volume winner among exchange efforts to clear credit default swaps (CDS). ICE US Trust, which has the backing of major investment banks,
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End of 60-40 treatment?
The U.S. Treasury’s 2010 revenue proposal, released May 11, included a bombshell for the futures and options industry: the possibility of the end of preferential 60/40 tax treatment for futures and
Profiles in Options
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Santaularia: Negative delta & beta, positive returns
Parrot Trading Partners LLC (PTP) executes its Calendar Condor strategy — a phrase Parrot founder Jes Santaularia coined— to provide investors with diversification and a non-correlated return stream.
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VIX seasonality call spread
Declining volatility usually allows traders to sleep better. However, after last fall’s spike in volatility to its highest level since the Chicago Board Options Exchange created the volatility index
Profiles in Forex
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The Carry Trade: Maximizing risk-adjusted returns
The sub-prime market crisis was the catalyst that caused a rapid unwinding of the carry trade, which in turn precipitated the crash in the stock and commodity markets as fund managers were forced to
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Rene Hartner: Beating the systems fundamentally
Real estate investing paved the way for Rene Hartner’s venture into currency trading. Hartner’s early career was spent working in the engineering world for semiconductor companies in Germany, using
People
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Gensler confirmed as CFTC chair
Gary Gensler was confirmed as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on May 19. He was nominated to head the agency in January. “Gensler will not only maintain the stellar
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Gensler approved as CFTC chair
Gary Gensler was confirmed as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on May 19. He was nominated to head the agency in January. “Gensler will not only maintain the stellar
Trader Profiles
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Future Gate: The yin and yang of trading
Hong Kong native Chris Tam is the cautious, practical type; he gets things done. His partner, New York native John Philippakos, is the creative, passionate type; he comes up with things to do. Since
