Cover Story
By Frederick Ruffy
Sometimes called a hedge wrapper or a fence, the collar is considered a good starting point for new options traders because it can offer a low-risk way to participate in the price increase of an
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Breaking News
By Yesenia Salcedo
In what the International Securities Exchange (ISE) is calling an independent action not related to its battle with the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) over index licensing, the ISE filed a
By Daniel P. Collins
How vital is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) commitment of traders report to futures traders? Judging from the volume of and invective in the responses to the CFTC query to either
By Chris Mcmahon
That the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is investigating the antitrust implications of the proposed merger between the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the CBOT is no surprise. The DoJ’s
Trading Techniques
By Tony Elenbaas
One of the main differences between futures and equity products is that a futures contract is an obligation to buy or sell an underlying instrument at a pre-set price and date while equities are
By Paul D. Cretien
Time is both an advantage and a problem in option trading. Time to expiration acts like gravity — continuously tugging option values toward final price premiums of zero. Those who buy and sell
By Anthony Crescenzi
Most retail traders would be surprised at how little many professional traders on Wall Street know about economic reports. With a little work, anyone can take their knowledge to a level that many on
By Ashraf Laidi
As Federal Reserve monetary policy further cements its impact on currency markets, forex players have no choice but to scrutinize every signal subtlety communicated by policymakers. Yet, at a time
Forex Trader
By Abe Cofnas
Trading activity during the recent Thanksgiving holiday was a classic example of the dynamics forex markets. While U.S. traders were taking holiday time off with the markets closed, global sentiment
Futures 101
By Chris Mcmahon
Because of higher housing prices and increased consumer confidence, the Bank of England was widely expected to temper rejuvenated economic growth with an interest rate hike at its meeting on Nov. 9.
Industry Trends
By Steve Zwick
London Metal Exchange’s (LME) Chief Executive Officer Martin Abbot declared, “We hope to make the LME a household name in the next few months,” in an opening presentation in Chicago late November on
By Steve Zwick
The debate about quote traffic has ebbed and flowed for years, but huge leaps in capacity have banished the days when exchanges would allot bandwidth to members and charge them for overage. Thanks to
By Steve Zwick
These days market makers face a dizzying array of risks and opportunities, being active in scores of correlated markets at any time. It’s common, for example, for a trader to make markets and hedge
Markets
By Carla M. Bauch
While interest rate forecasts lately seem to change with the wind, there is some consensus coming from economists on this year’s economic outlook. The housing slump seems destined to be the main
Editor's Note
By Ginger Szala
In December the New York Board of Trade (Nybot) membership overwhelmingly voted to be acquired by the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). Ironically, Nybot is one of the last U.S. exchanges to shun
Book Reviews
By Leslie N. Masonson
There have been numerous research projects conducted on investor behavior and one universal finding is that many investors act against their own interests. Investors invariably buy high and sell low,
By Nelson Freeburg
Pairs trading is a market-neutral investment strategy that attempts to take advantage of temporary anomalies between related stocks. Ehrman’s text, though not an exhaustive treatment of the subject,
Market Analysis
By Chris Mcmahon
More and more corn is being allocated for ethanol production, and the proof is in the USDA’s ending stocks report, which came in at 935 million bushels. “Anything under a billion is friendly,” says
By Chris Mcmahon
In December, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said he was “closely monitoring developments,” language that has presaged rate increases. But he then waffled about a January hike. A
By Chris Mcmahon
Thomas says demand fundamentals remain unchanged and he expects supplies to remain stable, balancing renewed efforts by the Russians to increase production against violence in Nigeria. “But long
Managed Money
By Daniel P. Collins
The JWH Global Trust commodity pool has been somewhat of a vagabond in recent years moving from Cargill Investor Services to Refco Commodity Management and then into limbo with the Refco bankruptcy,
By Garrett Jones
In developing a market strategy for 2007, it is important to be aware we are currently in what is arguably the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, which began in 1933 with the Great
By Daniel P. Collins
The term commodity trading advisor (CTA) has become a misnomer of sorts. It describes active managers in the futures arena and is a legal definition, but most CTAs — particularly the larger ones
New For Traders
By Chris Mcmahon
The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) has launched side-by-side trading of Comex miNYs, Asian metals and London metals futures contracts on the CME Globex and migrated the gold, silver,
People
By Staff Writer
David Geen has been named European general counsel at The International Swaps and Derivatives Association. Previously he was executive director and senior counsel for Goldman Sachs International in
News
By Steve Zwick
The proposed merger between Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) took a giant step towards reality in December, with Deutsche Boerse calling off its bid for Euronext and regulators from
By Chris Mcmahon
The 977 members of the New York Board of Trade (Nybot) approved their proposed acquisition by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) by 93%, but days before the Dec. 11 vote, Nybot permit holders filed
By Daniel P. Collins
The board of directors of the CBOE on Dec. 12, submitted a rule filing with the SEC declaring that upon the closing of the proposed CME Holdings acquisition of the CBOT, the CBOE exercise rights will
Trader Profile
By Steve Zwick
“Trading is a lot like chess,” says Patrick Weber, 27, who runs the greenhouse gas emissions books for Dresdner Kleinwort out of London and is one of the world’s first full-time emissions traders.
