Financial Markets

The Real Story of Trading Software Espionage
By Rob Iati, Partner, The TABB GroupJULY 10, 2009

Much has been made of the 32MB of Goldman Sachs’ proprietary algorithmic trading code (“trading secrets”) allegedly stolen by Sergey Aleynikov, now portrayed in the financial media as the new Julius Rosenberg, Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen and John Walker all rolled [...]

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Worth reading these 30 pages to get a basic understanding of these markets. Read the  here.

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A consortium of US exchanges have proposed a modified uptick rule. Read the letter to the SEC here

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Interesting testimony from 10 years ago . . note the players who supported minimal regulation of OTC derivatives which largely led to today’s financial armageddon. They are back today !!!!
Testimony of
Richard R. Lindsey, Director,
Division of Market Regulation
Before the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services,
Concerning Regulation of the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Market
and [...]

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2009
Senate Bill Would Regulate OTC Derivatives and Credit Default Swaps
Jim Hamilton
A bill introduced by Senator Tom Harkin would bring all OTC financial transactions and credit default swaps currently traded without federal oversight onto regulated exchanges. The Derivatives Trading Integrity Act, S. 272, would establish stronger standards of transparency and integrity in the [...]

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The BM&F Bovespa (IPA: [bo.'ves.pa]; Portuguese: Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo) is a São Paulo-based stock exchange. It is the second largest stock exchange inThe Americas and the third largest in the world..The BM&F Bovespa is linked to all Brazilian stock exchanges, including Rio de Janeiro’s Boverj (BVRJ), where only government bonds are traded. The benchmark indicator of Bovespa is the 50-stock Índice Bovespa. There were [...]

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Highly recommended reading for any student of the financial markets. Richard Gasparino writes a riveting story. See Recommended Reading for the Amazon link.
King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange by Richard Gasparino.
Some quotes :
John Phelan was an imposing man. He rarely raised his voice but when he [...]

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The above chart shows the prices for the continuous electronic futures contract for crude oil traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the earlier years the prices show the pit equivalent(contract size twice the electronic contract of 500 gals), while the more recent values reflect the electronic mini contract.

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My interest in financial markets include commodities. Shown above is a weekly chart for the electronic futures market for soybeans traded at the CMEGroup in Chicago. Before the electronic markets were introduced about 2 years ago, agriculture products were traded in the pits at the Chicago Board of Trade(CBOT). The CME and CBOT merged in 2007. [...]

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