This morning we saw another brief flurry of high-frequency trading. It won’t make any headlines, and in the end it was more of a blip than anything, but it still made us wonder: how many blips will it take before we see a real response to the HFT algos? Or will it take another flash crash to propel changes?
Category: Macro Commentary
31
Oct
2012
CME’s Duffy: A year later, [futures market] customers are safer than before
While much of the coverage one year after MF Global will focus on what went wrong, there has been progress made on making things right; with new rules, proposals, and reviews all focusing on restoring the unconditional trust in the futures industry’s ability to protect customer funds.
31
Oct
2012
MF Global Anniversary Linkfest
Anniversaries are often use as opportunities to look back, reflect on what happened, and how things have changed in the meantime. With the collapse of MF Global now a full year in the rearview mirror, there’s still plenty that needs to be said, and many questions that have yet to be answered.
25
Oct
2012
German Gold, the Fed, and the Island of Yap
A German court has demanded that the Bundesbank audit its gold reserves held in the Federal Reserve vault in New York. It might seem logical to want to confirm the stocks of gold that they own, but in reality, this is a much thornier issue than it appears.
22
Oct
2012
Afraid? You will be… you will be
Last week, amidst the internet-wide reminiscing about the October 1987 stock market crash, we joined in with our own take on the lessons of that day. However, one of our readers and a blog author himself – Michael Harris – raised a few points of contention with our post. Since there are few things we love more than a good debate, we decided to continue the conversation.
19
Oct
2012
Black Monday 1987 and the 100 foot tall man
Even though it is hard to look anywhere today without seeing a piece on the fateful crash of 25 years ago today, we couldn’t resist getting in on the action. While managed futures were in their infancy back then, but lesson of that day is just as important for CTAs as for any other investor.
18
Oct
2012
Morgan Stanley’s VaR Telling us the Market is Less Risky. Someone tell Google
Value at Risk, or VaR, was blamed in part for JP Morgan’s high-profile trading loss earlier this year. With a record like that, you wouldn’t think that such a model would continue to be emphasized at major financial firms… but of course, you’d be wrong.
17
Oct
2012
The Cost of Scaling Mount Dodd-Frank
The Dodd-Frank plan to reform Wall Street has been the target of much scathing criticism – mainly about how long, complex, and costly the new rules will be. But now that the rules are starting to come into effect, we no longer need to speculate about the costs they will impose – we can see for ourselves.
16
Oct
2012
HFT Banging the Natural Gas Beehive
High frequency trading profits have been tapering off in the equity markets, leading some to say that the industry is on the wane. But these calls might be premature, as HFT activity has already started creeping into the futures markets. Is this the start of a much larger trend, and if so, what might it mean for managed futures?
09
Oct
2012
No Brakes Ahead of the Fiscal Cliff
The term “fiscal cliff” has come to encapsulate the collective fear for the future of the US economy – that we’re careening toward disaster. But recent employment figures suggest that the possibility of careening over the cliff’s edge is not being taken very seriously… yet.
