We’re happy to review the recent re-release of the documentary “Cancel Crash,” documenting the Stock Market crash of 1987, and how the futures market in Chicago saved the Dow. The story within the story was what was going on the next day, October 20th in Chicago, how three transactions helped saved the markets when no one else was trading.
Category: Managed Forex
14
Nov
2013
Chart of the Week: Bring on the Bitcoin Futures?
With the majority of major currencies being downplayed it’s hard to imagine little Bitcoin, a digital currency grabbing the currency headlines. In less than a month it’s gained around 210% percent…. The more interesting thing to us in the managed futures world, who are semi-starved for a trend, is looking at this parabolic trend in Bitcoin and wishing there were a futures market tracking it so our clients could participate.
23
Oct
2013
The US Dollar/Euro Currency Bat Signal
We don’t know what this “Bat Pattern” in the US Dollar and Euro Currency means so close to Halloween, but it’s got us a little scared/happy (depending on if long or short the Euro). It’s probably a reminder to talk about the Euro’s negative correlation to the U.S Dollar index, and the history of the two.
22
Oct
2013
Devil of a Dilemma: Add the Carry Trade to Trend Following?
We not all that into “foreign exchange portfolio’s” seeing people get too carried away trying to get foreign exchange exposure without really understanding what that is or does. However, Eclipse’s recent paper does a sufficient job highlighting managed futures, and suggests combining FX Trend Following with FX Carry Trade looks better than by themselves. But it comes with the caveat of a higher correlation to the FX Carry Trade during crisis periods.
21
Oct
2013
No, Bloomberg, the managed futures industry is not a scam
Is the managed futures industry a scam? Bloomberg would surely have you think so with the headline “How Investors Lose 89% of Gains from Futures Funds.” Now we couldn’t agree more that the 63 funds (sold by Wall Street) they reviewed are bad for investors. But that’s not the overwhelming majority of the managed futures industry. Check out our complete rebuttal of Bloomberg’s article
02
Oct
2013
Managed Futures Down -0.74% in September; time to Clap if you believe!
Managed Futures is running out of time to turn things around in 2013. Things were looking up halfway through September, but after the fed announcement not to taper, things went downhill from there. We’re starting to feel a little like Cathy Rigby in a Peter Pan play, urging people to ‘Clap if You Believe’ to resurrect good ol’ TinkerBell. But we don’t need the magic of children to resurrect managed futures. We just need some directional volatility to appear.
24
Jul
2013
Commodity “Supercycle” Over?
The Wall Street Journal’s latest headline is claiming, “Investors, Analysts See End of Commodity ‘Supercycle.” We’re wondering if a “supercycle” was here to begin with. Regardless, recent commodity movement isn’t surprising as they typically show volatile short term swings. Here are more takeaways:
23
Jul
2013
Beer, Aluminum, and the Red Sofa
Financial media is all over Miller-Coors’ frustrations claiming London Metal Exchange’s lack of regulations is leading to the banks artificially raising prices. However, what’s catching our eye is the humorous Wall Street Journal article detailing the quirky and bizarre rules, such as traders having to be attached to a red sofa.
09
Jul
2013
PFGBest One Year Later: a Chat with James Koutoulas
There’s no question that after the 1-2 punch of scandals involving PFG and MF Global, the managed futures community toke it upon themselves to advocate for changes. Shortly after the MF Global incident, the Customer Commodity Coalition was formed to conceptualize the frustrations of the customers into visible results. It only seems fitting that on the 1 Year Anniversary of the PFG scandal, we sit down with friend and colleague, James Koutoulas of the CCC and chat.
24
Jun
2013
Forex is Rigged – Institutional Style
We’ve long held that individuals wanting to put money into forex is akin to put your brain on drugs. The latest example is traders at the world’s largest banks rigging the market to make a profit off their customers. But none of it’s illegal.
