NIBA - Celebrating 35 Years

NIBA Journal

Insights, analysis, and updates from the National Introducing Brokers Association

NIBA Board Elections
Member Announcements
2 min read

NIBA Board Elections

The Executive Board of the NIBA has made the following recommendations for election to the Board of Directors. Due to the restructuring of Introducing Broker membership qualification, no individual ballots will distribute this year. Instead this posting acts as notice to the membership of nomination of the candidates. If no other recommendations are received by Nov. 25, 2018, the candidates below are deemed elected. For an initial 3-year term (expiring 2020): Mark Shore, Chief Research Officer of Shore Capital Research LLC www.shorecapmgmt.com has more than 30 years of experience in the futures markets and alternative investments. He publishes research, consults and conducts educational workshops on alternatives. Mr. Shore is an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University where he teaches the only known accredited course on managed futures. He is a contributing writer for global organizations and publications. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and is a doctoral candidate...

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Trade the Top of Tech
Member Announcements
2 min read

Trade the Top of Tech

ICE LAUNCHES NYSE FANG+ INDEX FUTURE ON NOVEMBER 8 The NYSE FANG+ Index™ offers exposure to a select group of highly-traded stocks of tech-enabled companies. Beginning on November 8, 2017, ICE Futures U.S. will launch a new futures contract designed to help you gain or reduce exposure to this key group of growth stocks in a capital efficient manner. The NYSE FANG+ index includes 10 actively traded stocks that represent some of the top innovators across today’s tech-oriented companies. The index’s underlying composition is equally weighted and reconstituted on a quarterly basis, providing a unique performance benchmark that allows for an adaptive approach to trading, investing and hedging. The index constituent stocks are: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Alibaba, Baidu, NVIDIA, Tesla and Twitter. Key Benefits Low-cost exposure to key components of the tech sector Hedging mechanism to efficiently increase or decrease tech exposure in equity portfolios A highly correlated...

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Chairman's Letter - November 2017
Member Announcements
3 min read

Chairman's Letter - November 2017

“Money, Money, Money” ----- ABBA, recorded and released 1976 Okay --I admit it. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the right time to mention ABBA for any reason in the Chairman’s Letter. Their 1976 release of “Money, Money, Money” was the second big hit for this Swedish pop group, following on the heels of “Dancing Queen.” Is it a stretch from money, money, money to Bitcoin and other forms of digital currency? Maybe. In the past week we have seen that the major futures exchanges believe in the development of cryptocurrency trading. Chris Concannon, COO and president of CBOE Global Markets is quoted by Reuters: ”...we do envision (our bitcoin) ETF coming to market once the regulated futures market is built...” Just days before, CME Group announced it would launch the Bitcoin futures contract in the fourth quarter of this year. Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman & CEO said “Given increasing...

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Housekeeping, Reminders and Updates - October 2017
3 min read

Housekeeping, Reminders and Updates - October 2017

Written by: Mark E. Ruddy, Esq. Maria Fielding   Increase in National Futures Association (“NFA”) Assessment Fee The NFA’s Executive Committee is recommending an increase in the NFA’s assessment fee beginning January 1, 2018. The Executive Committee voted in favor of recommending that the assessment fee increases from $0.01 per side to $0.02 per side for futures and options contracts, bringing the assessment fee back to its amount prior to being reduced in October 2014 to $0.01. The NFA maintains that an increase in the assessment fee is necessary in order to continue operations and maintain reserves properly. The recommended increase is currently pending approval by the NFA’s Board of Directors and the CFTC. The NFA issued Notice to Members I-17-20, which provides further information on assessment fee increase. NFA Releases Filing Instructions for Swap Dealer (“SD”) Dispute Notices and Monthly SD Risk Data Reports On October 2, 2017, the...

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NIBA Comment Letter - CFTC Project KISS
7 min read

NIBA Comment Letter - CFTC Project KISS

NIBA - The Association for Derivatives Professionals 55 W. Monroe, Ste. 3600 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 977-0598 www.theniba.com BY ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary Commodity Futures Trading Commission 1155 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20581 September 28, 2017 Re: CFTC Request for Public Input to Make Regulations(s) Simpler, Less Burdensome and Less Costly (Project KISS) Mr. Kirkpatrick: The NIBA appreciates the opportunity to provide suggestions and comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) as it reviews existing rules and regulations with an eye toward possible reevaluation of certain of them. We support the review, and look forward to working with the Commission to applying the reviewed rules in a less burdensome, less costly manner which is simpler to understand and implement. NIBA, established in 1991, is a membership association of registered derivatives professionals, primarily Introducing Brokers (IBs) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs). Our mission has remained the...

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Compliance Supervisors International Welcomes John Brand
3 min read

Compliance Supervisors International Welcomes John Brand

Compliance Supervisors International Inc. (“CSI”), is excited to welcome John Brand to lead our Chicago Compliance Division. John is an excellent addition to CSI, and we look forward to leveraging his extensive and deep industry knowledge, with the current and ever-changing compliance and regulatory policies to better help our clients. Mr. Brand's compliance and examination experience spans across two decades, where he served in numerous compliance roles, most recently as Managing Director of Compliance at the National Futures Association. Mr. Brand also held various compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance positions in the FCM community and for a Derivatives Clearing Organization. He worked closely with futures industry participants in evaluating their internal controls, along with helping refine their processes and procedures as they relate to compliance, risk management and financial reporting. Mr. Brand has also supervised, trained, and developed compliance and risk management teams for those various institutions. A graduate of...

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CME Group Russell 2000
Member Announcements
1 min read

CME Group Russell 2000

Register Today: The Russell 2000 Surge and Futures Trading Opportunities Webinar Small Cap, Big Opportunity With the likes of Alphabet, Apple and Amazon trading at lofty valuations, small-cap stocks, indices and futures are bringing back some edge to the market. Register for the CME Group upcoming webinar to learn how the Russell 2000® and E-mini Russell 2000 Index futures present trading opportunities for both institutional and individual traders. Register Today

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Chairman's Letter - October 2017
Member Announcements
3 min read

Chairman's Letter - October 2017

Podcast: an episodic series of digial audio or video files which a user can download and listen to - Wikipedia, 2017 NIBA’s mission is to educate derivatives professionals so they can better serve their customers, stay in compliance and grow their businesses. One of the ways the mission is accomplished is through posting the video files of our member conferences on the NIBA website. You can sit back and relax at home to watch the sessions for the first time, or review them any time. Currently, you can access all the individual presentations through the member’s portal on the site from our September annual meeting and from last April’s meeting in New York City. CFTC Talks is a new podcast which will cover all topics impacting the markets regulated by the agency. The stated purpose of the podcasts is to help the CFTC “better understand the market narrative, what’s driving...

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Ask NFA: October 2017
2 min read

Ask NFA: October 2017

As your industry advocate, the NIBA provides many services which help your business stay in compliance with NFA regulations. “Ask the NFA,” is the way you can ask questions about those regulations and compliance requirements without having to call NFA directly. Just email us at nfacomments@theniba.com and we will get the answers for you. Please keep in mind the purpose of this contact is to keep the lines of communication between the NFA and NIBA members. This month’s questions were selected from those submitted by NIBA members. The answers were supplied by NFA staff. Q: I heard NFA updated the individual application process. Where can I find more information? A: In September 2017, NFA launched an updated individual application process in its Online Registration System (ORS) as the second deliverable of a multi-year, multi-phase rebuild of the system. ORS is an NFA application that allows firms and individuals to apply...

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