I don't want to spend too much time on this because it never really gets me anywhere, however, when I started out there were over 250 sites out there offering chatrooms "for a fee". Of those over 40 had 100 + members. Today, there are many less sites. I can only think of a handful that were around when I started that are still here. One thing I am very proud of with our site is that we just about the smallest amount of traffic of any of the major sites, yet there are still only 4 or 5 of them that are larger. Our average member has been with us for over a year, which I says speaks something to the quality of what we do. Brandon
Brandon again who cares? Why are you taking the time to explain yourself to me? Did I somehow come across as interested in the above worthless self-promoting? That above post with your shameless plugged "oh our avg membor with us blah, blah" is nothing more than pathetic spam -- I never asked Brandon... Learn how to trade and maybe you won't have to come onto message boards and spam your cheesey lil room... Like I said lets talk IDEAS! Nobody cares about your lil chatroom... You just made the ignore, congrats!
Single Stock Futures (SSFs) are the only class of futures contract other than Onions to be specifically prohibited by law. On November 8th, 2002 though, all of this will change and the speculative and hedging potential of Futures contracts on individual stocks will be made available to the entire world on the Nasdaq-Liffe, One Chicago and Island Financial markets. There will be many advantages to trading SSFs for the individual traders. Several of the main advantages are as follows: - Low Margin requirements - Fully electronic trading through either a stock or futures account - Unlimited trading opportunities, both long and short - Wide range of trading strategies Single Stock Futures Margin Requirements Unlike other futures contracts where the exchange sets the margin requirements, or in the case of stock margins, which have been set by the Federal Reserve, single stock futures margin requirements are set by the government. The low margin requirement of just 20% of the underlying value of the contract (initial and maintenance margin) will mean that traders will not have to tie up as much capital with their trading as with trading traditional stocks. Individual brokerages, however, may choose to require higher margin than the minimum, so check with your broker for its individual requirements. It is important to recognize that margin requirements for futures differ from those of stocks. In stocks, margin represents a down payment on your position. The rest of the payment is borrowed and as such you pay interest on the loan. In futures, however, you arenât borrowing to buy or sell a stock. Instead your margin provides a performance guarantee, ensuring you will uphold your obligations. Margin requirements on SSFs can be satisfied with cash, margin securities, and open trade equity in other futures accounts. The 20% minimum can also be reduced under certain circumstances, such as calendar or basket spreads in futures market positions, or for certain offsetting positions in stock options and cash securities, provided the security futures are held in securities accounts. Of course, the potential benefits of the margin are not without risks and traders could take large losses if specific news comes out causing a trading halt, or if the SSF gaps unfavorable overnight. In futures trading you can lose more than your initial margin deposit and this fact cannot be emphasized enough. As a result, you should not base the number of contracts you trade on initial margin and if you are new to futures trading you should consult your broker for more information on the risks involved. Fully Electronic Trading Single stock futures are going to be trading on a fully electronic market. The exchanges for SSFs include Nasdaq Liffe Markets (NQLX), a join venture between the Nasdaq Stock Market and the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), OneChicago, which includes the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), and Island Financial Markets. Both the NQLX and OneChicago will be employing market makers dedicated to maintaining a continuous two-sided market with narrow spread and prompt order execution. Additionally, SSFs can be traded from either securities or futures accounts. As a result, traders will not have to worry about opening a new account to take advantage of the opportunities offered by single stock futures. Brandon
Unlimited Trading Opportunities: Long and Short The high volatility of the underlying issues will create dramatic opportunities for gains in the SSF market. Unlike stocks, however, which are limited by the number of outstanding shares available, new futures contracts are created as interest swells. An additional bonus for SSF traders is shorting a single stock future is simple. Unlike in stocks, they are not hindered by the uptick rule, or the need to borrow shares, which may be limited. Short sales on SSFs simply create more open interest without need to go to a securities lending department to borrow shares of a stock. As a result, the advantages are that you can short on an uptick, not worry about whether the SSF is available for shorting, and you can avoid paying the lending rate on short sales. Wide Range of Trading Strategies Any futures contract is viable for only two reasons: Speculation and Hedging, and the SSF market will be no different. In fact, the most exciting opportunities in this market occur with the well-defined relationships certain stocks have vs. each other, and the potential to offset risk. One of the most powerful phenomenons in the market over the last several years has been indexing. The Vanguard S&P500 fund is the worldâs largest. Whatâs interesting is that simply meeting the index for performance is seen as a major victory. There are two major disadvantages to indexing as I see it. First, when issues are indexed, the large run-ups that occur in issues on the day they are indexed forces those prices into the index at a premium, which will very quickly be worked off. Secondly, several stocks in an index can have a dramatically negative effect on the index as a whole. I will use the following example, provided by Nasdaq Liffe, to demonstrate. The S&P499. Tyco was one of the worst performing issues in the S&P500. When Tyco was trading at $14.17 and the SPY was at $85.04, the .362% weighting gives us 2.17 shares of Tyco. Given this, 4602 SPY equities shares can be traded long against 1 TYC futures contract short. What is the advantage of doing this? Well, as we all know TYC was one of the worst performing issues in the S&P, but by removing it from the index we can achieve a relative performance boost. The index lost 19.33% with TYC, but only 18.92% if TYC was removed. While this still results in a loss, for those who must have exposure to equities at all times, this example should show how removing the weaker shares would yield benefits. The above strategy is ideally suited for longer-term equities players, but what do SSFs offer to shorter and intermediate term traders? I feel that the best opportunities will occur in equity spread trading. The NQLX selection algorithm, for example, specifically looked to include stocks that would be ideally matched for pairs trading. Equity spreads tend to be very trendy as they reflect longer-term competitive advantages within an industry. This is where short-term traders can step in and profit. Two companies like AMAT and KLAC, for example, compete in the same industry and there is a natural relationship based upon the competitive advantage one company enjoys over the other. This relationship is dynamic and always changing, but tends to trend very well. Resources For more information on trading single stock futures, I would strongly urge you to check out the following sites, from which the information for this article was compiled: Nasdaq Liffe http://www.nqlx.com/ One Chicago http://www.onechicago.com/ Brandon DISCLAIMER: Trading futures involves the risk of loss, including the possibility of loss greater than your initial investment. Stock futures may not be suitable for all investors. Consult your broker or financial advisor before trading.
Here are a few additional thoughts about SSF's. I havent talked to one bigger name player who is planning on playing them right now. While there certainly is the potential for a viable market to come about, even the most successful contracts take some time to develope and attract the large commercial interests that are required for a market. SSFs are, IMHO, from a regulatory point of view FUBAR from the start with both the CFTC and the SEC claiming oversight. I think that after the initial sizzle wears off volume is going to be limited at best. SSFs are the first futures contract ever to be taxxed as equities (IE. Short Term Cap gains) and no 60/40 advantage. This alone has been enough to keep several of the large players I know to choose to avoid this market. Equities players on the other had have always had a natural "phobia" of futurues trading, and I doubt this will change. Being that they are the first substantial new class of financial instrument to be put to market in some time there will probably be a lot of media balhh blah, but I doubt it all will add up to very much. If SSFs ever do become a viable trading contract, it wont occur for 3 to 5 years. Brandon
LOL! I see nothing has changed here. Same old sleazy sales freaks using every chance they get to sell their crap. If business and their trading was half as good as they claim they wouldn't have the time or the need to be here trying to drum up more greenhorns to bamboozle. It really sucks that short term cap gains tax treatment is actually the case. I was hoping to get a better deal since these are futures contracts.
Since SSF's on the commodity side are regualated by the CFTC and not the SEC, I'll take the other side of your pool.
I was under the impression it was some sort of joint regulation. If it was all CFTC, then I doubt we ever see PDT. The CFTC is very "trader friendly" . Brandon