Skip to main content

Derivatives watch

A couple of interesting recent developments in the derivatives market. Here's the scoop.

Yesterday, the Financial Times reported on a new credit derivatives platform that would allow market participants to obtain prices for derivatives contracts more quickly and efficiently.

From, "New process for credit derivatives":

A new process for trading portfolios of credit derivatives via electronic auction has been tested by banks and a leading hedge fund in recent days – a development that could provide another important cog in the infrastructure for this fast-growing market.

The new system, dubbed Q-Wixx, allows investors, such as hedge funds, to execute dozens of trades in credit derivatives with different dealers in a matter of minutes rather than relying on bilateral trading deals, which tend to take several hours.

The article goes on to say that the platform could be extended to include other products in the future. A companion piece, "Q-Wixx" shrinks the world" notes that such an advancement could further the trend of derivatives products being standardized and commoditized.

Also in FT, Tony Jackson noted yesterday that a new form of "irrational exuberance" has taken over the debt and derivatives market.

To say the debt markets have gone crazy is to miss the point. I suspect the great majority of sensible investors would agree, whatever they say in public. But that does not stop them piling into super-risky assets such as payment in kind bonds (PIKs) or the new form of derivative known as the constant proportion debt obligation (CPDO).

For all I know, that may be sensible - provided the madness lasts long enough for the fleet of foot to take their profits.

The problem, as he sees it, is that the signposts of mania are far less transparent in this arena than they were in the stock market of the 1990s. See the article for more.

And finally, Bloomberg reports that exchange-traded derivatives could offer an alternative in a market currently sown up by the banks.

Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. risk losing their hammerlock on the most lucrative financial market when exchanges begin offering credit derivatives next year.

Paris-based Euronext NV, which is being bought by NYSE Group Inc., plans to create contracts based on credit-default swaps, making them cheaper to trade and easier to understand than the derivatives sold by banks. Credit-default swaps, used to speculate on credit quality, also top the product list for Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. futures market, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and Frankfurt- based Eurex AG.

At stake are profits from the fastest growing financial market as exchanges list credit-default swaps alongside stocks, currencies and gold. Deutsche Bank says it earned at least $3 billion from credit derivatives in the first half of this year, about a third of total revenue from financial markets.

Hope this has helped you stay up to date on these trends.

Popular posts from this blog

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...

Finance Trends 2019 Mid-Year Markets Review

Email subscribers of the Finance Trends Newsletter receive the first look at new articles and market updates, such as the following piece, sent out to our email list on Sunday (6/14).   Hello and welcome, everyone! If you received our last email notice over the July 4th holiday, you'll know that this weekend's newsletter will serve as a mid-year market update and a follow-up to issue #29, " How to Reinvest in a Rising Market ".   Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let's start the show...  Finance Trends Newsletter: Our Mid-Year Market Review When we last spoke, back in February, the U.S. stock market was rallying off its December-January lows. As the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reclaimed their 200 day moving averages in February and March, it became increasingly apparent that a lot of retail investors (and perhaps some institutional investors) were left under-invested while watching this recovery move from the sidelines.  The U.S. stock ...