Chicago tops for trading: Trader Monthly
(Reuters) — Da bears. Da bulls. Da traders. Chicago is the "greatest trading city in the world," according to a survey by Trader Monthly magazine.
The magazine, which is aimed at professional traders and hedge fund managers, ranked 50 cities in an effort to find the ultimate place to live and trade.
The rise of electronic markets had theoretically leveled the global playing field, making it possible to fire off winning trades while enjoying a poolside cocktail in Tahiti.
Still, Chicago, hog butcher to the world and stacker of wheat, beat out the glamorous, the glitzy, the exotic and the tax havens to take the top prize.
London, New York, Dubai and Miami rounded out the top five, in that order.
The magazine said it rated a mixture of work and lifestyle factors, from trading infrastructure, taxes and access to capital to weather, nightlife and time zone.
The latter apparently helped knock Sydney, Australia, the jewel of the South Pacific, to No. 26 on the list, below Philadelphia and only two notches above Minneapolis.
Chicago was praised for its enduring position on the commodities world's front lines. Trading is "in the city's blood," the magazine said.
The two largest U.S. futures marts and the largest U.S. options exchange all reside in the Windy City, and face-to-face trading endures alongside the electronic markets.
Affordable real estate — "practically youth-hostel rates compared to London" — also boosted Chicago while knocking down its two nearest competitors. New York was also rapped for a "deadly tax trifecta": federal, New York state and New York City taxes.
Bringing up the rear at No. 50, Stockholm was cited for beautiful people, ice-fishing — "and not much else."
#1 Chicago
#2 London
#3 New York
#4 Dubai
#5 Miami
#6 Boston
#7 Dublin
#8 Los Angeles
#9 Toronto
#10 Sao Paulo
#11 Denver Perpetual sunshine? Check. Epic skiing? Check. Affordable real estate? Check. Clearing firms? Umm...
#12 Hong Kong Playing with an Asian tiger till you drop sounds like fun. Too bad even seven-figure earners struggle to find places to rest that weary head.
#13 Las Vegas By one count, Sin City has 123 gambling venues - an example of the lifestyle factors that helped it score surprisingly well.
#14 San Diego Surfing, swimming and near-perfect weather. If only the old Pacific Exchange were still open.
#15 San Francisco We left our hearts there, too - along with all our cash to cover our mortgage.
#16 Atlanta A big city for banking and big business (Coca-Cola, Home Depot). Less a big city for trading. Even so, Hotlanta sure beats Birmingham.
#17 Grand Cayman Absolutely, positively nothing to do...but lounge on a beach, scuba-dive and count your ridiculous tax savings. Damn.
#18 Palm Beach, FL Absolutely, positively nothing to do...but hang out with your rich grandma, play golf and wonder what your friends in Miami are doing. Damn.
#19 Greenwich, CT Take 10 steps forward. Look around. You just passed 54 hedge funds. If only you could find a decent bar here so easily.
#20 Mexico City Trade your box in Manhattan for a palace in the D.F. Plus, with the money you save on taxes, you can open your own nightclub.
#21 Buenos Aires Was once the belle of South America, but Argentina's economic collapse has undercut B.A. as a trading center. Access to capital is near nonexistent.
#22 Calgary Ski near your fabulous house and be happy, or curse the fact that you'll be wearing a parka nine months a year. Your choice.
#23 Houston John Arnold has kept Texas's biggest city relevant in traderland. Those extra dollars you'll save in taxes will get a bit wrinkly in all that humidity.
#24 Montreal You can get a lot of square footage. The nightlife is underrated. And there's a special trader-friendly tax zone. Just be sure your French is up to snuff.
#25 Philadelphia The PHLX keeps the flag planted for Philly. But high taxes spell little affection for trader in the City of Brotherly Love.
#26 Sydney Insane surfing. But you want to catch a good market, you'll have to wake up earlier or put off those dinner plans for a few hours.
#27 Tokyo Concrete jungle by day. Dazzling, glittery party at night. Who needs disposable income, anyway?
#28 Minneapolis It's cold - very cold. And not just the weather. Aside from the Minneapolis exchange, home of the wheat contract, there's just no trading heat.
#29 Zurich Those bank secrecy laws are great, but do the golf courses really have to be so well-hidden, too?
#30 Cape Town The city's Bascule Bar has the largest whiskey collection south of the equator - so you'll have something to imbibe while bemoaning the lack of resources.
#31 Hamilton, Bermuda If the pristine beaches don't bring tears of joy to your eyes, the relaxed tax laws certainly will.
#32 Nassau, Bahamas Financial titans such as John Templeton have long decided to base down here, mostly for tax reasons. Also for the drinks with the little umbrellas.
#33 Singapore The Singapore Exchange is a round-trip connection to every conceivable Asian market - and the city-state has no capital-gains tax.
#34 Paris Oui, the restaurants and clubs are all you'd expect, but good luck trying to find that perfect home - or escaping that socialist taxation.
#35 Rome Celebrating a great trade with equally great food and wine is an Eternal City treat; just be prepared to render unto Caesar in the morning.
#36 Geneva Offers tidy scenery, money-friendly laws and the cachet of having a Swiss bank account - but it's slumber-inducing for actions junkies.
#37 Honolulu It's a five-hour flight to anywhere - a horrible time zone from which to play the markets. But such is life in paradise.
#38 Kansas City, MO Purchase a mansion cheap and play the grains. Just steel yourself for when things get a little slow after dark.
#39 Madrid Wrestling with the bulls takes on a whole new meaning in this Iberian financial center - yet it offers little trading infrastructure.
#40 Shanghai One of the most polluted cities in the world - but Wild West-style capitalism is exploding all over.
#41 Frankfurt The mighty head of Germany's banking industry is home to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange...and a soul-crushing lack of recreation.
#42 Vancouver Mountains and water backdrops mean real estate ripe for the picking, but this Pacific Rim port doesn't host many traders.
#43 Gibraltar Most trader are able to set up shop on the Rock and qualify for a big tax break. As to what they do once they're there...?
#44 Washington D.C. It's the political action (and the blazing summers) that make people here sweat. Still, the parks and greenery should soothe any jangled nerves.
#45 St. Thomas, USVI Another tax haven with tropical climes and ocean views - and almost nothing of anything else.
#46 Mumbai Lots of lows in the burgeoning financial powerhouse: the dearth of entertainment options and the utter lack of non-super-humid days, to name two.
#47 Lisbon Soak up all that beautiful Mediterranean sun as you desperately try to access any sort of capital.
#48 Moscow Freezing, expensive and about as pretty as a Soviet-era sedan - downers mitigated (somewhat) by low taxes and Wild West opportunity.
#49 Amsterdam Plenty of quasi-legal entertainment, the better in which to drown your sorrows after the state takes a hefty chunk of your profits.
#50 Stockholm Minuses: frigid winters, Ikea furniture and an account-sucking tax rate. Pluses: beautiful people - and not much else. |
