Legendary billionaire and hedge fund guru Paul Tudor Jones came under fire recently for telling an audience at a University of Virginia symposium that motherhood is a “focus killer” for female traders. Citing two women who were under his employ in the 1970s, Jones stated, “As soon as that baby’s lips touched that girl’s bosom, forget it.” Although Jones insinuated that while women had the “capability” to be successful traders, the inherent volatility and “very specific skill set” required to navigate the complexities of macro trading would be overwrought by the emotional strains of motherhood.

Watch the video here.

Jones was also quoted as stating, “Every single investment idea, every desire to understand what’s going to make this go up or go down is going to be overwhelmed by the most beautiful experience which a man will never share about a mode of connection between that mother and that baby.”

Terrapinn recently conducted a survey of the Top Women in Electronic Trading. We were overwhelmed by the caliber and array of talented women in trading – mothers and non-mothers– in addition to the flurry of nominations we received. The results of our survey will be released in the form of an e-book, so stay tuned to download your complimentary copy!

Is motherhood a detriment to focus? Have Jones’ comments been overblown or are they completely lacking in credibility? Weigh in below.

Starting August 1st, certain changes will be made to the investment pool. These changes will include a decrease in its fixed-income exposure position, as well as increased allocations to:

• Cross-asset-class strategies
• Opportunistic equity
• Global real estate investment trusts
• Absolute-return strategies
• Emerging markets equity

According to the University of California’s Marie N. Berggren, “exposure to fixed income in the total return fund was too large given the low-interest-rate environment” (Diamond, Pensions & Investments).

Read the original article here

Interested in Californian finance? Check out The Trading Show West Coast, taking place February 2014 in San Francisco.

We held our Quant Invest Canada event, which addressed these topics, in Toronto last October. You can download the Quant Invest Canada 2012 post-event report to find out what Canadian quant investors and traders came to discuss, as well as what goes into making a Terrapinn event.

Get it here > 

Read the report to find out about:

• The multimedia marketing campaign utilized to promote the event
• Companies who sponsored and exhibited at the event
• The event team
• Networking activities
• VIP participants

Download your copy now >

Interested in this year’s event? Check out Quant Invest Canada 2013 here.

According to the Securities and Futures Commission, it will now be giving up its license to provide automatic trading services for those items.

The decision was reached due to trading revenues not being enough to support operating expenses.

The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange website held the following comment: “With immediate effect no new orders may be placed and all open positions will be financially settled at the settlement price determined by the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange and its designated clearing house.”

Apparently, the exchange will apply for a new license once it improves its market maker programs.

Read the original article here

Interested in international trading? Check out The Trading Show West Coast, taking place February 2014 in San Francisco.

In this video, CEO & Founder of Anova Technologies, Mike Persico discusses the evolution of wireless technologies in the financial industry. This video is a brief introduction into the progression of exchange connectivity from fiber to microwave to millimeter wave… and now to Anova’s proprietary hybrid laser/millimeter wave.

Check it out below:

Anova Technologies is a Silver Sponsor of the upcoming Trading Show Chicago, taking place June 24-25 at the Downtown Marriott. Mike will be participating in a panel session at the event, on the topic, ‘Dark fiber vs. microwave and wireless technologies – joining forces or competing options?’ and Anova Technologies will also have a booth at the event, booth # 202. Make sure you stop by to ask them how they can help you with your microwave technology.

NASDAQ OMX

Download a copy here.

The report looks at the current financial climate and the potential of cloud computing.

It’s a challenging time for members of the financial markets community – a credit crisis, new regulations under Dodd-Frank, new global Basel III capital adequacy requirements, high transaction costs and more have all added to their operational complexity. “Firms need to find ways to get more out of every capital expenditure and investment in technology. Simply put, they need to do more with less… One potential answer to this dilemma is to adopt a cloud computing architecture into the enterprise.”

With this suggestion, the report goes on to look at:

• How cloud architecture enables business agility & reduces costs
• Understanding cloud environments
• public cloud
• private cloud or privately-hosted clouds
• community cloud
• hybrid cloud
• Busting the two biggest cloud myths: “too new” and “not secure enough”
• A case study of NASDAQ OMX’s FinQloud

Want to know more about the above and how cloud technology can help your business? Download the report now!

NASDAQ OMX is a Gold Sponsor of the upcoming Trading Show Chicago.

TRADERS´ Mag

Check out the most recent issue here.

Key articles in this issue include:

• What traders need to learn from the Cyprus crisis
• On the great Shiller P/E controversy
• Avoid common traps in the markets
• How to combine Fibonacci with reversal patterns
• The gap-reversal strategy
• How to create a successful trading strategy

Read this month’s issue here.

TRADERS’ Mag is a media partner of the upcoming Trading Show Chicago.

Since I began trading six years ago, I’ve heard lots of so called experts recite plenty of advice.  Most of the time the advice offered was nothing more than a typical cliché.  After a while, I got to the point that most of the advice I was given was all but useless. I was always looking for someone to offer me that one thing that I was missing that would make me a millionaire overnight.  What I didn’t  realize was that I had what I needed to be successful all along, I just didn’t realize it yet… well until now.

My trading strategy has changed over the years to where it is today.  Recently, I’ve been able to mold my trading edge in such a way that it conforms to my risk tolerance and yet offers plenty of good returns.  As I tried to figure out what I was doing that was different from my previous failures, I discovered something very profound.  And as I examined the qualities of my strategy, I found that I had become a Cliché Trader. Let me explain.

I bet if I asked you to write down all the clichés you’ve heard over your trading career, the list would be very long.  I have found that some just don’t fit my style while others simply don’t make sense. Whenever I hear “Buy the rumor, Sell the fact,” I say HUH???  By the time I hear a rumor, the opportunity is long gone. Moreover, since I’m a technical trader, rumors are irrelevant to me. So there are some clichés that don’t work for me. However, I have found there are some clichés that I believe everyone should apply to their trading. The list includes the following:

• The Market is always right
• The Trend is your friend until it bends
• Buy the dips and sell the tips
• Buy low and sell high.
• Support becomes resistance and resistance becomes support.

Here are some of my own made up clichés (I’m not sure if they are clichés or not, but they are relevant nonetheless):

• Never trade with money you can’t afford to lose.
• Never try to be smarter than the market.
• Never fish the bottom or top of the market.
• Never trade countertrend.

Let’s talk about how these clichés and principals apply to my trading edge. First off, I am absolutely convinced that market is always right. It can’t be wrong. The market is where it’s at during any given moment because two people with opposing views agreed to a price and initiated a trade. This process continues perpetually and the price reflects the market sentiment as time goes by. Therefore the market is always right. It’s our job as traders to get the same mindset as the majority of traders that make up any given market so that we can put on a position that is favorable to the current market sentiment.  his brings me to cliché number two; the trend is your friend until it bends.  If the market is moving up for most of the morning, why would you want to short it? This makes no sense to me unless you feel charitable and wish to give away some of your money to others in the marketplace. Remember, the market is always right. So until the market tells you it’s going the other way, why would you assume you know more than the market?

I guess while I’m talking about this, I can add three of my four personal clichés to the discussion (Never try to be smarter than the market; never fish the bottom or top of the market; and never trade countertrend.)  If the market is always right, why would I want to trade against the trend?  By doing so, I have decided I am smarter than the market (which is always right!)  How can you be smarter than something that is always right?  The answer is YOU CAN’T! The same concept applies to fishing for bottoms or tops of the market.  To think you know the exact point a market is going to stop climbing or falling is making the assumption you know more than the market does.  Sorry, but that simply isn’t true. Whether you are looking at a lagging indicator (MA’s, MACD, stochastics, bolinger bands, etc) that all try to suggest that your symbol is overbought or oversold or simply analyzing changing volumes; I have found that all these indicators are not very effective at predicting when change is coming.  In my opinion, only price action can tell you that.  I’ve seen and heard of more traders getting blown out by violating these principles than anything else.

So if I say you shouldn’t fish for bottoms or tops, then why do I like the cliché “Buy the dips and sell the tips?”  After all, the bottom of the market is a dip right?  Wrong. The bottom of the market is the simply the bottom.  So then what is a dip or tip?  Well, in a rising market, a dip is a pullback from a previous high. Taking a look at a falling market, a tip is a pullback from a previous low.  This brings me to my next cliché; buy low and sell high.  If I am looking to put on a long position, wouldn’t it make sense to get a value entry?  Of course it would.  So I tell people, I look to buy on sale, or sell at value. I look for a suitable pullback then enter.  Whether I’m right or wrong, I’m in a much better place and will hit my profit easier or minimize my loss. In either case, I’m better off.

The real question then is… where is the right place to buy or sell?  This brings me to the next cliché; Support becomes resistance and resistance becomes support.  That tells me everything I need to know.  If you look at any symbol, you can often see that a previous top has now become a bottom while a previous bottom has become a top.  Don’t believe me; look at your own charts. I have my charts set up in a way that gives me clear spots to test.  And I have found that most of these spots are high probability entry points.  In the event they are wrong, I find out right away and can cut my losses down to a minimum.

Finally, there’s one last cliché I think is vital to any trader; never trade with money you can’t afford to lose.  Why is this so important?  Well, after trading for six years now, I have come to understand that 90% of trading is the ability to manage your emotions.  If this is true, then how do you think you will handle the market conditions when you are constantly in fear of losing your money?  I wish someone would have explained this to me when I first started trading. I would have better prepared myself so that I had an edge.  Instead, I traded when I wasn’t prepared and struggled for years because of this. Imagine if you had a nice steady income and your bills were all covered.  If you had an account that had no bearing on your current finances, how do you think you would perform? Now imagine that your only income is from trading and you have limited resources other than what is currently in your trading account. Do you honestly feel you would perform the same as in the previous example?  Not even close.  I strongly encourage you to review your personal financial situation. If it’s not where it should be, you may want secure another income source to relieve you of the emotional burden when trading.

So, in closing, I suggest that you take some time to analyze your trading signal.  If you find you’re violating any of these principles you may want to rethink your signal. Ask yourself… Am I a cliché trader?  If not, you may want to become one soon.

Good Luck.

TopstepTrader is a media partner of the upcoming Trading Show Chicago.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) voted 4-1 yesterday on rules governing Swap Execution Facilities (SEFs), requiring buyers to request a minimum of two bids when trading swaps for the first twelve months and three for subsequent transactions. The initial proposals – articulated in 2011 – required requests for quotes (RFQs) to be sent to five dealers. Opponents claimed that the complexity made it more challenging to manage their exposures.

Until now, exchanges have possessed the authority to set their own thresholds for futures contracts, whereas swaps are subject to the scrutiny of CFTC thresholds.

These exchanges – also known as designated contract markets (DCMs) – have been criticized for having an unfair advantage when they offer similar and equivalent products to over-the-counter (OTC) swaps. The changing regulations now suggest that exchanges will be stripped of the ability to set block prices. Advocates espouse that the bill will allow OTC activity to SEFs to be more Dodd-Frank compliant, and cite the rules as helping to alleviate costly market impact. Wayne Pestone, Chief Regulatory Officer of FXAll was quoted as stating, “We believe two is an optimal model for an RFQ-based system – it significantly reduces the risk of information leakage and costly market impact while at the same time preserving choice in trade execution.” Advocates also tout the clarity the rules will now provide; helping to overcome one of the most prolonged and persistent complaints around Dodd-Frank.

What effects will the new rules have on swaps trading activity and exchanges?

Do you support or oppose the new rules, and if so, why? As always, weigh in below.

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton will be presenting at next month’s Trading Show Chicago. To find out more information, or register to attend click here.

Ram Ahluwalia,

Download the presentation slides here.

The presentation addresses key issues, including:

• Human learning: are we too smart for our own good?
• Human biases
• Machine biases
• Man & machine interaction
• Case study: Random Matrix Theory Synthesis
• A recipe for building risk models via RMT
• … and much more!

If you want to know more about this topic, download the slides now.

Quant Invest New York 2013 is part of The Trading Show New York. For more information,download the prospectus here. Can’t wait until December? Check out The Trading Show Chicago, taking place this June.