I don't know if it was all exchanges as my stuff is in Chicago via the CME. Can't speak to others. I can imagine if you were trapped in a position. That's why it made sense to at least move the positions so you could liquidate and at least salvage some of your balance. But there should have been some sort of announcement about us cash only guys too. I have heard about 1.29 but at this point, it's all speculation. If I sat down, read everything and then stressed about all the ping ponging that's been going on, I'd probably put my head in the over (oh wait, mine's electric ) but instead, I've resigned myself that I may have lost it all (slight), will get back most of it (probably) and may get it all back (slight). I tried to get it all out Oct 31st via a wire. That failed. Even if I tired the previous Thursday when others tried, their wires were never done, were sent checks instead and those seem to be bouncing. Although I'm pissed as HELL, I'm at peace with what happens because I did the best I could.
Yeah I hear you...the fact that it wouldn't have made any difference trying to wire out on the Thursday makes it a little better I think. I'm not sure there is anywhere to park funds that is safe any more...all the European banks have massive European soveriegn debt and the US banks are up to their eyeballs in short CDS positions. How many banks and brokers will fail if ALL of the PIIGS default and leave the EZ? It won't just be MF Global that is for sure.
I went with Mirus out of Chicago as they seem to have good ratings from what I've gathered. They've also got $500 intraday so since I never trade more than 10 contracts at a time, conceivably I could keep just 5K in there. That of course means 10/1 margin, which is dangerous, but if I can't trade with a 5K account, why the hell would I think I could trade with 100K? If 5K ruins me if <i>that</i> get stolen too, then I've got bigger trading problems. I'll just not park anything other than the bare minium in the brokerage account. The millions that others have locked up? If that was simply a holding place rather than a credit union or Vanguard or Fidelity or whatever, then.....
For Refco clients with segregated accounts, I don't think there was any waiting, as MF Global bought that part of Refco outright and the accounts remained intact. The situation is quite different now with MF Global as the accounts are being liquidated. For Refco clients with non-segregated accounts (like Jim Rogers' hedge fund, which was under an offshore Refco subsidary or something like that), it ended up inlitigation and I'm not sure what the final result was.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...rt-s-permission-to-access-brokerage-cash.html MF Global Commodity Traders Ask Cortâs Permission to Access Brokerage Cash (By Tiffany Kary)- MF Global Inc. commodity traders are seeking court permission to transfer cash out of the brokerageâs accounts, saying they believe MF Global currently has the funds needed to make whole each of the accountholders. Thomas A. Butler Jr., James H. Barton Jr., Stuart Satullo and Adam Loos asked for an order that would let them withdraw 85 percent of their cash or transfer it to another registered future commission merchant, in court papers filed today. The men said they had all liquidated their accounts with the brokerage and held only cash. As customers, they should be given priority over creditors of the bankrupt estate, the group said. âIt also is indisputable that the Trustee, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (âCFTCâ), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group and the Securities and Exchange Commission all believe that MF Global currently holds approximately 88.4% of the segregated funds required to make whole each of the commodity accountholders, including each Movant,â lawyers for the group wrote. Butler, president of Butler Brokerage Corp., is a floor broker at Intercontinental Exchange who said he regularly trades commodity futures contracts on behalf of himself and clients. He had $576,310.54 in his accounts after he liquidated his positions Oct. 31 upon hearing of the bankruptcy, Butler said in court papers. Accounts Satullo had $200,020, Barton had $1.7 million and Loos had $6,000 in their respective accounts as of Nov. 7, according to court papers. MF Global, previously run by Jon Corzine, filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31, listing $39.7 billion in debt and $41 billion in assets and saying it has about $26 million in cash. About $593 million of MF customer funds are unaccounted for, according to a person with knowledge of regulatory probes into the firmâs collapse. In a separate liquidation of its brokerage unit, more than 150,000 customer accounts were frozen that day, of which more than 50,000 were segregated customer commodities accounts. James Giddens, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of the companyâs brokerage, on Nov. 4 won court permission to probe the companyâs directors and officers, lenders and other investors. That probe will focus on customer recoveries. MF Global Inc. customers may have to share some of their cash with other customers unless the money missing from some accounts is found, said Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Giddens Tranfers Giddens has transferred 17,000 accounts to other firms, out of 50,000 commodity accounts heâs seeking new homes for, while releasing almost $1.6 billion in collateral. Many remaining accountholders may have to file claims for their assets, which have to be shared fairly with other claimants. The group of commodity traders said that allowing them and similarly situated former customers to get their money âwill increase the liquidity in the commodities market and therefore furthers the public interest in an efficient market for commodity transactions.â The bankruptcy case is MF Global Holdings Ltd., 11-bk- 15059, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
MF Global Assets Have Left The Building: How, When, Where http://www.forbes.com/sites/francin...assets-have-left-the-building-how-when-where/ CME Is Legally Liable For MF Global Customer Losses http://seekingalpha.com/article/306068-cme-is-legally-liable-for-mf-global-customer-losses Both worth reading
I have written a letter to Judge Martin Glenn, presiding judge over the MF Global court case. I made a request that there be an immediate pro-rate distribution of client funds up to the maximum allowed so that the shortfall may be accounted for. This should be upwards of the 85% figure. I urge others to be very proactive about this as the Trustee's plans currently include a claims process that he admits could drag on for months. This claim process should only be used to recover those funds missing and should not preclude the timely distribution of known client assets on a pro-rata basis.
This is quite a good find...A German site but scrolling news in English with latest MF Global stories:- http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-aktien/mf-global-holdings-ltd.htm