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 | What Is MarketsWiki?MarketsWiki is an online open source knowledge base for current and historical information about the global exchange traded capital, derivatives, environmental and related OTC markets. MarketsWiki is powered by content contributions from paid readers of the John Lothian Newsletter and Environmental Markets Newsletter and from a team of professional financial journalists, educators and consultants.
Event Spotlight26th Annual Risk Management Conference  The 26th Annual Risk Management Conference (RMC) will be held Sunday, March 7 through Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, FL. Hosted by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) and CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX), the RMC is the leading educational forum for institutional end users of equity derivatives to discuss new products, strategies and tactics to manage risk exposures and enhance yields. Topics range from basic derivatives applications to advanced trading concepts. Speakers include: Krag "Buzz" Gregory, Equity Derivatives Strategist, Goldman Sachs; Rick Jen, Senior Portfolio Manager, Wolverine Asset Management; Jon Loflin, Portfolio Manager, Blue Mountain Capital; Puneet Kohli, Portfolio Manager, National Bank of Canada; Marko Kolanovic, Ph.D., Global Head of Derivatives and Delta One Strategy, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc; Brayton Li, Senior Managing Director - Derivatives, Principal Life Insurance Company; Dr. Pippa Malmgren, President, Canonbury Group; Gary McAnly, Director of Trading, Oppenheimer Capital; Ken Mungan, Financial Risk Management Practice Leader, Milliman; Sheldon Natenberg, CTC; Benn Steil, Council on Foreign Relations and many others. For the complete list of speakers, agenda, registration and travel information, go to www.cboeRMC.com ++++ NFA Commodity Pool Operator/Commodity Trading Advisor Regulatory Seminar  When: Mar. 2, 2010 The seminar will focus on several CPO/CTA issues, including new and pending legislation, recent additions to financial reporting requirements and common errors made in promotional material and disclosure documents. The seminar will also outline the NFA audit process and discuss common audit deficiencies. ++++
Featured ArticleFive Minutes With Andrew Actman, Lightspeed Financial  Lightspeed Financial’s tag line, “Here’s To Unfair Advantages,” encompasses the edgy mentality the firm has adopted concerning controversial high frequency trading operations. Recognizing the growing trend of electronic trading, the company admits to having a candid and entrepreneurial approach to meeting electronic trader’s needs. The brokerage house, which services small hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, and professional retail traders, also offers a suite of technology products for the futures, options and equity markets. MarketWiki’s Jessica Titlebaum sat down with Lightspeed Financial’s chief strategy officer, Andrew Actman, at the Security Traders Association of Chicago’s Mid-Winter Meeting, to talk about the controversies brewing in Washington, the race to the speed of light in technology and the Philadelphia Phillies. Q: Naked access, the practice of brokers giving high frequency traders unrestricted access to the markets, has gotten Washington’s attention. What is your take on naked access? A: Technological innovation and increased automation, particularly in the US equity markets, have dramatically changed the trading landscape - driving down the cost of trading, increasing operational efficiencies, and, importantly, lowering the barriers of entry so that more individuals than ever before can access the markets. To that end, because we have come so far, so fast, it is important that regulation evolves as well. With regard to unfiltered access, we believe regulators want to ensure that adequate pre-trade risk controls are in place and proper parameters are established before an order is sent to the market for execution – key elements in risk management and maintaining a fair and orderly market. While we can’t speculate as to what possible future regulation may look like, it is important that it apply to all market participants and everyone be held to the same risk management standards. Q: What is your opinion of the high frequency trading controversy going on in Washington? A: It is important for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to take a holistic approach and understand how all [market participants] are affected. High frequency trading helps maintain stability in the marketplace. In fact, when times were tough, high frequency traders getting in and out of positions kept the spreads thin. They act as market makers. Everyone is talking about Wall Street, but a lot of these folks working in the back offices are from Main Street. Some regulatory initiatives and reforms being discussed could eliminate their jobs too, not just the [traders], so it is important that any changes be well thought out. Many high frequency proprietary trading firms are going to D.C. and talking with the SEC. Lightspeed has reached out to a few of these groups. We have also had discussions with the New York Stock Exchange, which has written to Senators regarding the matter. Q: As technology providers, what do you think the next frontier is? How fast is fast enough? A: Well, it’s the race to zero, the speed of light – it is always going to be about minimizing latency. We want to minimize latency at every level, every market data point, and every order entry point. I think that exchanges and technology providers will continue to look at how to minimize latency and what the most effective solutions are. Also, Lightspeed will continue to look closely at our technology infrastructure and how we can optimize its performance, which includes minimizing latency and maximizing throughput. We will take these initiatives to other asset classes in the future, not just US equities. Q: Lightspeed Financial is getting into the FX markets. How are you dealing with the transparency in that market? We chose to use FX technology developed by GAIN Capital, a global provider of online foreign exchange services. This will enable Lightspeed clients to quickly identify and capitalize on emerging trends across 37 currency pairs. Additionally, GAIN aggregates prices from a dozen top tier liquidity sources including UBS, Barclays and Goldman Sachs, which helps provide greater transparency. Q: Lightspeed is involved in the social media space. What are some of your new media initiatives? A: We have a Facebook page and a Twitter account; we post 2-3 things a day. We created forums, write blogs and post videos about the most popular stocks. In early 2009, we launched our online social community, Lightspeed Spotlight, which is exclusive to Lightspeed clients and offers access to a host of trading tools and third party educational resources to help ensure that they have everything they need right at their fingertips. Social media also allows for questions and serves as a great customer service resource. It also enables us to reach a lot more people. We can communicate with others aside from online banners and advertisements. Q: Have you had a role model throughout your career? A: My father, who passed away in August 2006, was my biggest role model. His entrepreneurial spirit helped me get to where I am now. I was working at Arthur Anderson as an auditor on the track to getting my CPA. A friend called me about a job opportunity at a firm where he was day trading. They needed help in the accounting department and, so, I went in to meet with everyone. The office had metal chairs and lawn furniture purchased from the Salvation Army. This wasn’t the direction I had planned on going with my career, but my father was very supportive and told me to take the leap. He said I was young and could afford to take the risk. Q: What is your favorite sports team? Who is your favorite player? A: Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies. He is gritty and not too flashy. He is not out there like some other stars are. He performs his job day in and day out but he is quiet about it, which is key.
Job Providers and HuntersLooking for work? Looking to hire someone? MarketsWiki serves both sides of that equation. If you are a manager with a job opening to fill, you can post the details for the opening on our Job Postings page. Also, we just created (in November) a new feature so that people can identify themselves on their biography pages as looking for work. Take a look at the Job Seekers category to see who's hunting -- you might find the right person just by looking here! If you're one of those people looking for work, and if you have a biography page here in MarketsWiki, tag yourself as being in the job market! You can do it yourself if you have wiki editing access; take a look at our handy help guide: Using the Job Seeker Template. If you don't have a page yet, or don't want to edit the page yourself, just get in touch and we'll help you get set up! There's no cost to either employer or job hunter; our goal is simply to help the community stay connected.
Newsletters The John Lothian Newsletter is a daily email intelligence briefing about the global exchange traded derivatives, securities and related OTC industries. The newsletter helps readers manage the historic level of change occurring within the derivatives and securities industries through the dissemination of information and commentary. The John Lothian Newsletter launched during the summer of 2000 and was offered for free for its first 3 years. In 2003, the newsletter switched to a voluntary pay format. Readers are asked to pay for the newsletter if they find it valuable. An annual subscription for the John Lothian Newsletter in 2009 is $115. Enterprise rates are available for organizations with 5 or more readers.
 The Environmental Markets Newsletter (EMN) is a daily email intelligence briefing, edited by Jim Kharouf, that includes news, press releases, reports, market data and regular commentary about environmentally-based markets. The newsletter is focused on collecting, aggregating and filtering news about the emissions and clean technology markets. News is collected and organized by geographic region – US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa and Latin America – and distributed every business day. EMN launched in June 2006 and is offered on a subscription basis for $150 per year. New readers are welcome to receive Environmental Markets FREE for one month. Enterprise rates are available to organizations with 10 or more subscribers. A subscription to the newsletter includes a full copy of the John Lothian Newsletter.
 The John Lothian Newsletter - Metals Edition (JLN Metals Edition) is a FREE daily email newsletter providing traders, investors and other market participants with a comprehensive aggregation of news and commentary about the metals markets. The newsletter focuses on activities in the futures markets, the physical trade and the companies that participate in either or both. The JLN Metals Edition also monitors news reporting on the metals markets, commenting on quality and scope of coverage.
| HeadlinesBrokerages Raise Concerns About CME Credit-Default Swaps Clearing  By Sarah N. Lynch - WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The chief executives of two major brokerage firms told U.S. futures regulators recently they are concerned that the structure of CME Group Inc.'s (CME) venture for clearing credit-default swaps poses too great a risk to futures firms and their customers. In a joint letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the top executives at MF Global and Newedge said they are unhappy with the structure of the clearinghouse because CME aims to co-mingle the collateral deposited for futures and options contracts with the money posted against credit-default swap trades. Both CEOs said they are uncomfortable with the idea of having to financially back credit-default swaps, which are traded in a much less regulated market and have been blamed by many critics for exacerbating the financial crisis. Newedge, MF Global Urge U.S. to Halt CME Credit Clearing Plan Some wary of SEC's high-frequency presumptions  Herbert Lash and Jonathan Spicer - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators considering new rules for U.S. stock markets should take care not to assume that certain types of high-frequency trading are harmful, speakers at a conference on algorithmic trading said on Friday. (more) Jobs Data, Stock Moves Drive Crisis-Level Trading At CME Group Regulators take aim at unrealised derivatives profits G7 ministers determined to hold banks responsible for future risky actions Feinberg Says He Spoke With Blankfein About Goldman Pay Plans Upcoming EventsHave an event you'd like to list? Put a new section in the Upcoming Events page and we'll put it here on the front page too! Introduction to Exchange-Traded Futures and Options Introduction to Exchange-Traded Futures and Options NFA Commodity Pool Operator/Commodity Trading Advisor Regulatory Seminar Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference Risk Management Conference Mar. 7-9, 2010 Securities Industry Institute Fixed Income Conference International Futures Industry Conference Futures & Options/Series 3 Exam Course OpTech Conference Conference on the Regulation of Futures, Derivatives and OTC Products OIC 2010 Conference MarketsWiki Spotlight(Statistics snapshot as of December 29, 2009. Average visitor statistics are based on site traffic in the last month.)
BlogsLooking for more in-depth coverage of financial topics? Click the logos below to visit our blog sites!
  The JLN Options Blog, edited by Sarah Rudolph, covers equity and futures options. It brings you headlines and in-depth news coverage of the products, exchanges, events and people in the world of options.
  The JLN Interest Rate Blog focuses on fixed income and credit derivatives issues and news, and occasionally features posts by guest contributors. It is edited by Christine Marie Nielsen, Senior Editor/Producer of MarketsWiki. | |||||||||||||||||||
Sponsorship, Subscriptions, Editing MarketsWiki is a companion to the John Lothian Newsletter (JLN), Jim Kharouf's Environmental Markets Newsletter (EMN) and the Chris McMahon edited John Lothian Newsletter - Metals Edition (JLN-ME). JLN, EMN and JLN-ME are daily email overviews of the news, opinions and happenings in the financial markets, environmental markets and metals markets. Additionally, the JLN Interest Rates Blog provides regular updates on fixed income related topics. To preserve the integrity of the information here, editing and contribution is limited to paid subscribers of either newsletter (though anyone can read the contents on this site). The subscriptions help pay for our team of professional journalists and technical support consultants, and the limited access ensures that we're not fending off and repairing vandalism and disinformation in our articles. We are actively seeking sponsors and content contributors to keep this project growing rapidly! If you'd like information about sponsoring the project, please contact us at info@johnlothian.com for details. If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletters, either to become a contributor or simply to stay informed in the rapidly changing financial world, visit our signup page. And finally, if you're already a paid newsletter subscriber and want access to the wiki, send an email request to Jon Matte, and he'll get you set up with a user id and a startup guide.
MarketsWiki Development Team
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