NIBA - Celebrating 35 Years

NIBA Journal

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

Member Announcements
2 min read

Chairman's Letter - February 2019

February in Chicago has begun in the deep freeze. Dangerous, record-setting temperatures meant kids missed school, and meetings were cancelled. The NIBA Board of Directors used the time to put the finishing touches on the NIBA Annual New York City Event. Our Annual NYC event is scheduled for April 10th. Four business sessions and a networking reception begin at 2pm (onsite registration open at 1:30pm) at the New York Athletic Club, the site of our meetings for the past five years. Registration is open. The NFA held its annual members meeting at its Chicago office on Feb. 5. I attended and took several questions from members to discuss with NFA staff. Read a summary of that meeting here. NFA will conduct two workshops later this month -- Feb. 25 in Chicago and Feb. 27 in New York. Cybersecurity, including the recent amendments, NFA updates and recent examination themes will be...

By NIBARead article
3 min read

NFA adopts Interpretive Notice entitled NFA Compliance Rule 2-9: CPO Internal Controls System

NFA recently adopted an Interpretive Notice entitled NFA Compliance Rule 2-9: CPO Internal Controls System (Interpretive Notice). The Interpretive Notice requires commodity pool operator (CPO) Members, which have the ability to control customer funds, to implement an internal controls framework designed to: Protect customer funds; and Provide reasonable assurance that the books and records of a CPO's commodity pools are accurate and reliable and that the CPO is in compliance with all CFTC and NFA requirements. The Interpretive Notice will become effective on April 1, 2019. In order to demonstrate an adequate internal controls system, the Interpretive Notice also requires CPO Members to have a strong control environment, which includes adopting and implementing written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to ensure that the CPO's operations are in compliance with applicable NFA rules and CFTC regulations. The Interpretive Notice further requires CPO Members to have written policies and procedures...

By NIBARead article
Member Announcements
1 min read

Taxes & Tariffs NYC

Alison Coughlin will discuss current macroeconomic conditions and explore their potential impact on domestic and global agriculture. This presentation will include a dialogue about the trade war with China, an examination of other free trade agreements, and what these shifts may mean for the future of the agricultural sector. Register here to reserve your spot now Alison Coughlin Manager Research and Product Development CME Group Inc.

By NIBARead article
CME Updates
1 min read

Market Update: Relationship Normalization

Market relationships seem to have normalized: equities to fixed income, volatility to equities and fixed income, forex to the rest of the capital market.  Jack Bouroudjian highlights those relationships and the impact they may have as we head into February. The post Market Update: Relationship Normalization appeared first on OpenMarkets. Source: CME Open Markets - Market Update: Relationship Normalization

By NIBARead article
CME Updates
4 min read

Can the U.S. Dollar Keep its Momentum?

For most global investors, U.S. dollar hedging was the only currency risk management strategy to follow in 2018. The dollar rose against all of its major developed market crosses – by 3.4 percent vs. the euro; 4.5 percent vs. Canadian dollar; 5.1 percent vs. pound sterling; 5.8 percent vs. Australian dollar; and a more modest 0.3 percent vs. the yen. Dollar strength against the supposed darlings of the emerging markets – the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) – was even more marked. The Brazilian real declined 15.1 percent against the USD, the Russian rouble 11.8 percent, Indian rupee 10.4 percent and the yuan by 4.2 percent. Long dollar was more than a good hedge, against a backdrop of generally declining asset prices it was among the trades of the year. The USD also burnished its credentials as a safe haven. When the S&P 500 peaked on 21 September 21,...

By NIBARead article
CME Updates
4 min read

Do Oil Prices Really Predict Gasoline Prices?

With the commencement of a new round of OPEC + Russia crude oil production cuts on January 1, many people are worried about a sudden and crippling rise in the price of gasoline at the pump. The relationship between oil prices and gasoline prices is notoriously hard to track. WTI crude oil prices fell from the high of $76.90 reached on October 3, 2018 to the recent low of $42.36 on December 24, a 45 percent drop. Gasoline prices, however, fell only 17.3 percent in that same time period. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), regular retail gasoline price averages dropped from $2.86 per gallon to $2.366 per gallon from the beginning of October to the end of December. Clearly the price of gasoline is not exactly correlated to the price of crude oil especially when price is falling quickly over a short span of time. So what is...

By NIBARead article
CME Updates
3 min read

Is There A Gold/Bitcoin Correlation?

On November 14, 2018, CME bitcoin futures broke through the important $6,000 support level and lost more than 40 percent of their value in the next 12 days. On that same day gold futures accelerated off their lows and began an explosive 9 percent rally higher. Macro traders and analysts love dependable correlations between asset classes. The desire to spot a corollary trend is so great that maybe, just occasionally, some of us project a relationship before we have the real data to back it up. So gold and bitcoin started significant moves at the same time in opposing directions. Is that a big deal? Before we answer that question we have to figure out what bitcoin and gold actually are. Or, more appropriately, WHY they are. Analog and Digital Currency Protection Most of the bitcoin/crypto currency fanatics I know argue that bitcoin is an alternative currency that’s free of...

By NIBARead article
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