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Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HairBall who wrote (51373)	5/21/2000 10:18:00 PM
From: TheKelster	Respond to of 99985

This is a commentary on the state of things. I just don't know how it applies. (stole it from another thread). Watcher in the news: cbs.marketwatch.com. <<Day trading's latest convert By Emily Church, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 5:42 PM ET May 19, 2000 NewsWatch NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- In another sign of the pull of electronic trading, and of equities, Zahr Trading is planning to train its some 15 clerks on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange to become day traders in stocks. Today on CBS MarketWatch Nasdaq struggles for a lift FTC wants power to enforce consumers' Net privacy Europe's planned bourse merger draws fire Paper industry battles for e-turf Roadway Express moves into fast lane More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 5/20/2000 9:58:00 PM ET Two of the firm's partners are also making the transition to stock trading, said partner Felix Hernandez, who's setting up the day trading business Zahr Securities. The clerks were to have been trained to be commodities traders. "I see a lot more opportunities in the equities side," Fernandez said in an interview. The firm's not planning to exit the commodities business entirely, only hedging its bet, as it were. "We believe there's a lot of people on the commodities floor looking to make a change to the electronic arena. We want to facilitate that," he said. Zahr Trading, which bills itself as is one of the largest privately-held options trading firms on the floor, has 11 traders known for dealing in energy options in crude, gasoline, heating oil and metals, and soft commodities in New York. They were the only market maker in electricity, a market many had expected to take off, before that contract dissipated. The switch from commodities for a firm of Zahr's size isn't too unexpected; commodities prices have been largely stable, or even trending slowly lower in some contracts, for the past eight years. Zahr's not the first firm to pull out of commodities to focus on a different markets where the grass is greener, noted Jim Conners of DH Financial in Chicago. In fact, he quipped, the flip could be a sign of a market top. Merrill Lynch (MER: news, msgs) announced the sale of its listed energy futures and options businesses in March. Yet more pertinent today for the floor traders has been the OTC action, where firms like Goldman Sachs (GS: news, msgs) have set up partnerships, which is seen drawing business away from the floor. "That in and of itself is drying up the floor environment," he said. "If anything, it's a foreshadowing of things to come," he said. "We hope to use our move to electronic trading over to commodities when it comes, which is inevitable." Zahr is buying day trading software from Watcher Technologies, a subsidiary of Datek Online, which has been targeting its "direct access" trading platform to hedge funds as well, said Barry Smith, the firm's marketing director. Watcher has recently signed up four clients from the institutional side, Smith said.>> Morgan