Euronext. Good with colours.

13 comments / May 20, 2012

One of the nicest parts of writing a post here is the search for a picture. However, sometimes the last picture says it all. Jeez, not this shit again. Thursday and friday parts of the option market in Amsterdam have been shut down again as a result of technical problems. It was embarrassing in the beginning of the month, now it’s getting outright painful.

The exchange couldn’t handle the massive order flow, according to a spokesman. Traders can confirm this can’t be true. There wasn’t more trading as usual at time of last outage. In contrary, problems occurred after the expiration of the first month futures.

But hey, at least the exchange has got a new brand new logo.

Bad timing with Euronext’s market outage

29 comments / May 7, 2012

Political turmoil around Mediterranean sea. In Greece the coalition lost their majority to some nutballs. Another insolvent country voted for socialist Hollande. Market heading south early monday morning.

Not in Amsterdam. Euronext LIFFE moved a few servers in the weekend. Changed a few wires. Trading in index futures and options has been halted for most part of the day. An attempt to re-open around 11:00 failed miserably. No AEX futures and options until 15:00. Here’s the official explanation what happened.

In the meantime the market recovered completely. Investors with long index puts missed their opportunity to take profits. Anyone with long puts or short calls should head for the VEB to reach a settlement with Euronext. Again. This is going to cost ’em some serious money.

Sad thing is they will never learn. Trading outage is business as usual with Euronext. Miscalculating settlement prices happend less than a year ago, twice. Heads would roll in any real company. It’s time to adjust the pricing models to include a new greek variable. Risk of Euronext failure.

Financial Football Tournament 2012

29 comments / May 1, 2012

In a few weeks the ninth edition of the Financial Football Tournament will be held on Saturday 16th of June.

Scrocca was the new co-sponsor for the event last year, together with Eurex and KBC Clearing. This year the sponsorship is a little different. And a little difficult. KBC Clearing left the business altogether. Scrocca appeared not in the mood for sponsoring another year. Only the Germans from Eurex stay on board. Additional sponsors may contact Bennington, as always organizing the event.

Good news is the tournament is being held, with or without additional sponsors. Always good to keep a healthy tradition in place. Everything remains the same. Indoor playing rules, seven-a-side teams and the same location on the grounds of FC Abcoude. Sign up here.

The past winners:

2011 – IMC
2010 – 323 Trading
2009 – KBC Bank
2008 – Eurex
2007 – Euronext
2006 – Market Wizards
2005 – Fortis
2004 – IMC
2003 – Optiver

Optiver

Last year the cup was won by IMC. The first company every to win the title twice. Let’s hope Optiver will change focus from silly cricket to football again and be a contender for the title again. They can use some winning feeling.

After settling with the CFTC the firm lost a more expensive case against the Dutch tax authorities, 32 million. Details here (nl). That’s 46 million in a week in legal settlements. Looks good for their rival Tibra. For years under attack after Optiver accused them of stealing software. Optivers’ lawyers aren’t in the winning mood. On the other hand, that 14 million CFTC penalty is good for some profit in the books.

Update

Messed up other important dates with the tournament. Yes, tournament will be held on 16th of June. For the VDM regulars here, some news on Hans Kroon’s brother Jimmy. On Quotenet, so in Dutch. Hat tip to RDD in the comments.

Optiver fined $14 million in Hammergate

56 comments / April 20, 2012

Finally. The CFTC and Optiver reached at settlement for the manipulation of oil prices in 2007. The firm didn’t do anything wrong at all, but is nevertheless very happy to pay 14 million in penalties.

Optiver has traded certain contracts which settle at the closing price (TAS contracts). The firm has manipulated this closing price with their specially designed piece of software, the Hammer. Smart name. But even worse than the name were their quotes on a taped line. My favorite shared wisdom in the legal files remains:

Equity Options Conference

28 comments / April 17, 2012

The good old days from the open outcry trading in the pit are gone. But it remains a source of good stories. Last Friday was a good place to share them, with the annual reunion of the former traders, brokers and order book officials.

FOW Event

Coming up next is another networking event, but this time aimed at the present and the future. FOW Events will host the European Equity Options Trading Conference. It will be held this Friday the 20th of April in the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. See here for the list of speakers.

Amsterdamtrader