Options update for 25 April...the pen is mightier tham the sword
Thursday was "media" day at the new floor, but is was orchestrated by Betty to the point that no pictures were allowed. She whizzed several reporters through the place spouting things like 'empowerment' and (wait for it), 'strawmen', but she tried to prevent them from talking to us field hands. Andrew Willis of the Globe managed to shake free and talked to several traders and wrote a generally favourable column on Friday. That single bit of publicity generated over fifty calls from people interested in trading options for a living. Imagine if the exchange had an on-going information and education campaign. We'd have to have a bigger floor! The more people who have to trade to eat means more trading, better, deeper markets, which brings in more clients, which means more trading, and so on and so forth. Is this concept too difficult for the high foreheads at the exchange to grasp? When I went to the CBOE several years ago on an expolatory mission, I was handed a list of about 25 firms that would act as clearing brokers for me. Here in Toronto we have exactly *one*, and that broker's fees reflect the evils of monopolies. The exchange should be jaw-boning members to get them to support the derivative markets by providing clearing for independents. If I weren't so worried about the exchange's 'blueprint' and the crippling changes they want to make to the rules here, I would seriously consider buying a seat and setting up a clearing broker for locals myself.
Fashion note to Andrew Willis: the jackets worn by order traders are selected for their visibility quotient, not out of some warped fashion sense. TD Greenline's lime green and McLeod's tartan are easily picked out in a crowd, which is helpful.
I keep thinking back on the 'no pictures' edict of the exchange to the press. What the hell kind of message do they think they're sending to us? They are so busy getting out of the 'floor' business they don't want anyone to know there still is a vibrant, exciting floor where old-fashioned face-to-face auction trading takes place. If fully computerised "nintendo" trading were the better mousetrap this regime would have you believe, wouldn't the NYSE and the CBOE be there already? The exchange here is on a break-neck pace to turn us into backwater status, and in the meantime they just want to 'warehouse' us until they can eliminate us altogether. Great for morale.
Social notes: (I never thought I'd say that!)...Dave Simmons isn't posting these days because he and his family are 'strolling on the boulevards of Paris'. I told you he was a good trader. (Hmmm, and I'm still at work at the rock-face...). Peter Mac is back and unpacked, and NO COORS was found in his luggage. Must've been Customs who took it.
Technical stuff: Terry, your Cascades calls must have been in a client's hands... there is no automatic exercise for client accounts unless the last sale is .50c in the money. Strange that someone would leave .40c lying on the table, but lucky for you. /The vol on the front month BXM options is indeed 500%. I saw it programmed on the ARM with my own eyes. /There are only a few cicumstances where option volume would be larger than open interest...a new class brought on; a huge cross in a sleepy class; or insider trading on a massive scale. If I saw a situation where volume eclipsed open interest in an established class of options, I would definitely take an interest, and probably buy some. There is only one person or group of people who have truly "inside' information--once they act upon it, it then becomes a question of who has "better" information.
Well, that's all for now. Italian GP is on soon and I have to run out for a cuppa and a sinker.
Happy trading.
Porter
(No pictues, eh? Maybe I'll take some, but I don't know how to scan them and post them. Maybe someone could help me create a web-page (I'll pay for it), and I can get them on there) |
