Members of the NIBA -
Just prior to entering the trading pit in the 1983 film “Trading Places,” Louis Winthorpe, III (as played by actor Dan Aykroyd) declares, “Well, this is it, the last bastion of pure capitalism left on earth.”
While there may have been some exaggeration in that comment, it was certainly true that just by talking to a floor clerk or being on the morning call, a broker could form an opinion about market participants and direction for any particular day, and pass that information on to customers located far from the trading floor.
On February 4, the CME Group announced it will close most of the futures trading pits in Chicago and New York by July 2. Exceptions are the S&P 500 futures pit and some options pits. CME Group sites the dwindling of open outcry volume as the primary reason for the closures. It is reported that only about 1% of total volume was done by open outcry last year, the rest by electronic trading.
My trading jacket is honorably retired in a plastic cleaning bag at the back of the hall closet, and I haven’t been in on a squawk box call for a long time. Nevertheless, I’m a bit misty at the thought of this very real end of an era. Technology has helped to open the markets in Chicago and New York to the world, while open outcry trading has been on the wane since the early ’90’s. But it was elbow-to-elbow trading on which this global industry was founded. I will miss it.
We are happy to announce that Mike Coglianese took over the position of NIBA Treasurer on February 1. Mike is the owner of Michael Coglianese, CPA, an accounting, auditing and tax service firm which has served the futures industry for over 28 years. Mike can be reached at mike@cogpa.com.
Congratulations to Mike Burke (IIB), John Roe (CTA/CPO) and James Koutoulas (CTA/CPO) who won positions on the NFA Board of Directors in the recent election. Thank you to Jeff Malec, who served for the last two years as the IIB representative. All four NFA representatives -- current and past -- are NIBA members.
Membership dues in all categories were due in January. For questions about your membership contact: IBs/CTAs/APs -- John Jensen, jjensen@hwfi.com; Service Providers -- Ralph Preston, rpreston@hwif.com; FCMs/Exchanges -- Steve Petillo, petillo@coquest.com or Mike Burke, mikeb@highgroundtrading.com
See you in New York City on April 30 and in Chicago on September 24 -- mark your calendars now.
Best regards, Melinda
Melinda Schramm, Founder & Chairman, NIBA
melinda@futuresrep.com