EUR/USD:The Dollar Returns

Today, the last trading day of the year, FX markets are coasting to the finish line. There is no remaining data due for release and it is another quasi-holiday for U.S. banks. As such, trade is likely to be very light. Read More....

Soybean Rally Fizzles

Just when it was starting to look like a bull market, Soybean futures hit a wall, as bullish traders booked profits before the long holiday weekend. Improving weather conditions in South America also contributed to the weak tone in the market. Read More....

Juice jumps!

A lower opening attracted trade buyers today, as Orange Juice futures ended the day sharply higher. Much of the commercial buying was tied to the January contract, which heads into first notice day on January 3rd. Speculative accounts were active in the March contract, initially selling the market trying to breach support at 120.00. Read More....

FX Pairs Were Eerily Quiet Today

FX pairs were eerily quiet today, with hardly any significant moves at all. The big news was the release of November existing home sales figures, which were disappointing at 6.97m on an annual basis. Combined with last week's poor new home sales figures, it looks increasingly as if the nation's housing market is softening. If so, the potential exists for a substantial drag on 2006 GDP growth.

Join Us Today For Our Platform Walkthrough at 1PM CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

Have You Had Your Wheaties Today?

Have you had your Wheaties today? Commodity funds sure have, as continued buying by these big players has driven prices to highs not seen since October. Speculators have bid-up Wheat prices in anticipation of buy-only commodity index funds entering the market at the beginning of the new year. Read More....

AUD/NZD:Call It A Tie

FX markets seem to be drifting quietly into the New Year. With only two trading days remaining, markets are taking the remaining data in stride. Thus far, it has been easy to do, as the figures have been more or less on target. Yesterday saw both German and American consumers surprisingly optimistic (German GFK index 3.8, after estimates of 3.4, and the Conference Board's index at 103.6, after the previous month's 98.3). Read More....

FX markets were tame for the most part, with the exception of the popular EUR/USD. Early in European session, the common currency spiked-up in light trade on the back of a firm German consumer confidence number. The 80-pip move was, however, countered in the U.S. session, taking the EUR/USD essentially to its original level near 1.1830.

There were no tech issues today.

Watch Mark today on FXTV: http://www.forextv.com/FT/Video.jsp?movieid=20337&channel=41

Flat is where its at!

Flat yield-curve that is. Ten-year Note yields fell below the Two-year Notes for the first time in 5 years yesterday, a signal to some that the U.S. economy may head into a recession in 2006. Looking back at previous tightening cycles by the Fed, we see evidence that they usually "go too far" in slowing the economy, potentially driving the country into a recession. Read Now....

Warmer Weather Dooms Natural Gas Rally:

Warmer weather dooms Natural Gas rally: What goes up must come down. Natural Gas futures are a perfect example. Prices doubled from the previous year, posting all-time high prices. Now that moderate temperatures have taken the fear of possible shortages out of the market, prices had only one way to go-- Down! Read More....

Join Us Today For Our Platform Walkthrough at Noon CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

AUD/USD: A Volatile Year

FX markets were predictably quiet yesterday, as traders geared-up for 2006. Nearly all major pairs managed to keep within tight ranges, though the British Pound slipped noticeably on rate concerns. Many analysts now see a strong likelihood of an early 2006 rate lowering from the BoE. Read More....

Bears get burned, as Coffee futures get hot!

Coffee futures traded at 6-week highs today, as commodity funds and speculators bid-up the market. Trading volume was light, as many traders have closed the books for the year. Only limited origin selling was noted, which helped further gains. Read More....

FX Markets Were Predictably Quiet Today

FX markets were predictably quiet today, as traders gear-up for 2006. Nearly all majors pairs managed to keep within tight ranges, though the British Pound slipped noticeably on rate concerns. Many analysts now see a strong likelihood of an early 2006 rate lowering from the BoE. The Yen was also soft, as yesterday's poor data factored into trader sentiment.

Copper Soars To New Highs!

Copper soars to new highs! Traders returning to the trading ring this morning after a long Christmas holiday were greeted to a new contract high for Copper futures. The higher opening was attributed to sharply higher prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where the most-active March contract traded as high as CNY42,260 per ton, a new all-time record. Read More....

NZD/USD A Rocky Road

As the last week of the trading year gets underway, markets are generally quiet. Typically this is a slow week for traders and business generally, with many people either taking leave or gearing-up for the coming year. Read More....

Will we see single digit Natural Gas soon?

It is possible according to some analysts, as Natural Gas prices fell again today, giving back another 5% in thin pre-holiday trading. Yesterday's bearish gas stocks report set the tone for lower prices. Read More....

Markets Today Are Characteristically Slow...Let's Take A Look Back

Markets today are characteristically slow, given the time of year. As today is an unofficial holiday for many traders and bankers, volumes are likely to be thin. The remaining data, heading into the weeklong holiday lull, is November durable goods orders, which jumped 4.4%, the final December Michigan consumer sentiment survey, and new home sales. Read More....

Bulls on a Sugar High!

Bulls on a Sugar High! March Sugar futures gapped to 11-year highs this morning, on news that Brazil's nearly completed 2005-06 harvest will not meet expectations. This comes at a time when export demand is strong, and increasing domestic cane ethanol usage in Brazil is keeping supplies tight. Read More....

Gold breaks above $500-again!

Two days was all it took to bring Gold prices above the magical $500 level. Short-covering by local traders and limited commodity fund selling were behind today's up-move. Technical traders also noted that the market was showing signs of being oversold, with the 14-day RSI closing below 30.00 yesterday. Read More....

EUR/USD Climbs 50 Pips

FX markets were very quiet today. With little to get excited about with today's data, trading was very thin heading into the major holiday season. There was, however, a big jump in the Euro early in the session,which is being written-off as a large speculative order being placed in a very thin market. The ripple caused an opportunistic drive, which saw the EUR/USD climb 50-pips.

Join Us Today For A Platform Walkthrough At 1PM CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

GBP/USD: A Choppy 9% Fall

Heading into a holiday weekend, the Dollar is soft with very light volumes being reported. Chat boards and wire stories are crediting the effects of large orders being placed in a thin market for this morning's spikes in the EUR/USD. On the fundamental front, the U.S. data continues to be firm. Read More....

Bulls Swinging Some Heavy Lumber

Bulls swinging some heavy Lumber: Commodity funds continue to flex their muscles in Lumber futures, with their aggressive buying pushing the lead two months up the $10.00 limit. In a relatively thinly traded market like lumber, it does not take much size to push prices around. Read More....

Energy products take center stage

The star of the energy complex, Crude Oil, was only a bit player today, as Heating Oil and Unleaded Gasoline took the spotlight. The script written by the Department of Energy was well received by the critics (energy bulls), as they announced that distillate stocks, played by Heating Oil, fell 2.8 million barrels last week-the second straight decline. Read More....

Tight Ranges Today In The FX Pairs

Nearly all major pairs were in very tight ranges throughout the day. Although Q3 GDP was reported at 4.1%, -- lower than the expected 4.3% -- markets were largely unaffected. There is now, however, some poor sentiment building around the British Pound, as the latest MPC minutes noted a 8-1 vote with one member voting for a lowering in December. Many now expect a .25% decline at their February meeting.

Join Us Today For Our System Walkthrough at Noon CST!

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

USD/JPY: Nearly One Way....Till The End

The Dollar was strong yesterday, primarily on the back of a surprisingly firm housing starts number for November. The stellar number, up 5.3% for November, gave markets hope that housing markets would not collapse, fall hard, or burst any bubbles; in fact they might event remain robust heading into 2006. Read More....

Fresh Buying Keeps The Nikkei Flying!

Fresh buying keeps the Nikkei flying! In a move that is reminiscent of the heyday's of the late 90's, the Nikkei 225 index posted another new high today, as momentum buyers from overseas continue to pile into the market. Institutional investors looking at the meager returns in the U.S. markets have shifted their focus to foreign markets, such as Japan, for better investment opportunities. Read More....

Gold bulls drop the ball!

It was not just NY transit workers who were on strike today, but Gold bulls who were absent, as prices fell to their lowest levels in nearly a month. A strong Dollar vs. the Euro and a supportive U.S. wholesale prices figure gave traders solid reasons to sell Gold today. Read More....

Bullish Day For The Dollar

The Dollar was strong today, primarily on the back of a surprisingly firm housing start's number for November. The stellar number, up 5.3% for November, gave markets hope that housing markets were still strong, and not peaking as many commentators have been predicting. As housing activity is strongly correlated with consumer spending and household spending constitutes the majority of GDP, the news was bullish for the Dollar.

CBOT Metals Complex Volume Surpasses 20,000 Contracts

Chicago, IL, December 13, 2005 – The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) announced that volume in its Metals Complex climbed to a new record on Monday, December 12, reaching 22,384 contracts and eclipsing the prior record of 16,954 contracts set on December 9. Additionally, individual contract volume within the Metals Complex continued to climb, with several contracts setting new records on the same day. Read More....

Christmas Holiday Trading Schedule 2005

USD/CHF-Increased Risk

The Dollar is broadly firm today, although most pairs remain range-bound. The British Pound is particularly soft after a series of events. Yesterday's comments from the BoE's Charles Bean began the up-and-down pattern, when his words made the wires implying a rate lowering early in 2006. Read More....

Traders Start To Perk-Up To Coffee Futures

Traders start to perk-up to Coffee Futures: After a nearly 2-onth long sell-off, Coffee prices look ready to turn higher. Prices hit 3-week highs yesterday, as commodity funds continued to liquidate their short positions. The most recent Commitment of Traders report shows large speculators net short 4485 contracts as of 12/13. Read More....

Sugar Bulls Find The Golden Ticket!

Sugar bulls find golden ticket: After hitting 10 and ½ year highs in the contract on Friday, New York Sugar closed higher again today. It is the major trade houses and large funds that are the real players in this rally, adding to their already extensive long positions. Read More....

FX Pairs Subdued

FX pairs were subdued and range bound throughout the U.S. session. As the trading year winds down, many traders are leery to place any new, large positions. As professional traders derive most of their yearly income in the form of performance-based bonuses, they are naturally keen to lock-in their earnings, and not risk any mistakes so late in the year. The British Pound did, however, sink 100-pips during the London session, based on dovish BoE commentary and Britain's decision to lessen their EU rebate over the weekend.

USD/JPY....Just One Month

The Dollar is beginning the week on relatively firm footing, although nearly all major pairs are currently trading in tight ranges. There is a possibility that the next two weeks could be subdued, with traders not wanting to jeopardize year-end results by initiating major new positions. Read More....

Challenges Facing the New York Mercantile Exchange

Gold is trading around 25-year highs. Crude oil continues to hover around $60 per barrel. Natural gas recently jumped to an all-time record, settling above $15 for the first time ever. Copper is in the midst of a powerful bull market. Gasoline prices have been making headlines for month. These are the best of times for the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world’s primary venue for trading in energy and metal futures. NYMEX trading volumes have been surging, and the exchange’s memberships are at historically lofty levels at the time of this column, a full NYMEX membership last changed hands for $3.6 million.

So everyone loves the NYMEX right now? Not exactly. While many other futures markets have been moving swiftly toward electronic trading, the NYMEX’s flagship metal and energy futures continue to trade in traditional, open-outcry pits during regular business hours. During times like these, when trading is heavy and volatility can be extreme, floor brokers standing in the trading pits simply become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper and the speed with which the markets are moving. This can create maddening delays in fill confirmations. Traders occasionally don’t know if they’re filled, and if so, at what price.

Computerization surely could save the day everyone knows by now that electronic trading is undeniably faster, more accurate, and less expensive than trading in the old-fashioned pits. But NYMEX members, who make their living on the trading floor and who effectively control the exchange, aren’t eager to change. And at the same time, management looks seriously out-of-touch. NYMEX’s new open-outcry trading floor in London to compete against the all-electronic IntercontinentalExchange was dead on arrival. And its latest marketing campaign, touting itself as “fitted with the latest technology humans” is mind-boggling. That’s just not what today’s futures trader wants from an exchange.


ACCESS PLATFORM WOES

With so much opportunity in the metal and energy markets, many active traders understandably wish to participate in the after-hours trading session. NYMEX does operate an electronic trading platform for this purpose, known as ACCESS, but the system has some dire shortcomings. Every futures brokerage company offering overnight trading in metal and energy futures is keenly aware of these glaring limitations, but our experience has been that most traders aren’t.

The most serious ACCESS weakness has been the total and inexplicable lack of an open interface. Most electronic markets the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex system, or the Chicago Board of Trade's eCBOT platform, for instance allow brokers to connect their systems directly with the exchange, thereby allowing orders and fill confirmations to be routed back and forth electronically, with no human intervention. But as hard as it may be to believe, ACCESS has never offered an open link.

Consequently, orders for the after-hours energy and metal markets must print on a trading desk, and clerks must manually enter these orders into the ACCESS system. When an order has been executed, ACCESS neither reports the fill nor alerts the broker in any way to the fill, which gives us little choice but to continuously and manually, of course search for filled orders on the system. Though we all do our best to work around these ACCESS shortcomings, it’s painfully inefficient. Of all the exchanges to which we offer access, and of all the electronic trading platforms with which we deal, nothing’s more frustrating than trying to work with the ACCESS platform.

In a nutshell, NYMEX desperately needs to improve its electronic trading platform, and fast. An open API (application programming interface) is a must, to which brokers can connect their systems, and through which orders and fills can flow quickly, efficiently, and automatically. The brokerage companies that send business to NYMEX deserve better, and certainly the trading public, which values speedy order execution and fill reporting, deserves better.


NYMEX NEEDS TO MODERNIZE

Happily, there could be signs of progress ahead. A possible open interface to ACCESS may be in the works, though the word is that it will work only for energy futures, and not metals. Then there’s the new ClearPort platform that NYMEX finally has begun using for EmiNY energy contracts, but early reviews are that it’s far from perfect. Perhaps the most exciting prospect for improvement is the news that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reportedly is interested in launching a bid for 10% of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Even the slightest hint that energy and metal futures someday could trade on the CME’s battle-tested Globex platform is enough to get us excited.

It’s imperative that NYMEX understand that time is of the essence the trading public, futures brokers, and the exchange itself need solutions now. Gold, silver, crude, heating oil, and all the other NYMEX products are terrific. But the exchange needs to take some bold, decisive steps toward modernization. We’ll be hoping that this important U.S. financial institution is up to the challenge.

Recent Weather Forecast Brings Energy Bears Out of Hibernation

Recent weather forecast brings energy bears out of hibernation: Natural Gas, Heating Oil, and Crude Oil traded on NYMEX all fell sharply on forecasts showing that warmer weather will move across the northern U.S., reducing demand for heating fuel. Higher-than-normal temperatures are expected for the coming weeks. Read More....

Check Out Closing Comments on Forex Markets!

The majors kept to fairly tight ranges throughout the afternoon, after the release of the Q3 current account deficit. Although today’s quarterly current account deficit did not break any new records at $195.8B (the record is Q1's $198.7B), many analysts theorized that the numbers were distorted because of Katrina related insurance pay outs. No major FX platform errors.

XPRESSTRADE Currency Analyst, Mark Smyth, gives closing comments on today's forex markets on ForexTV. Click here to redirect to audio commentary.

An Exhausted Canadian Dollar?

The trading week is ending with the market mulling over the U.S. Q3 current account deficit. With both a record trade deficit and record inflows influencing sentiment, traders can now factor-in a slightly lower overall quarterly figure. The Q3 figure was negative $195.8b, less than expected and less than the record, which was set in Q1 of this year ($198.7b). Read More....

Bears Get A Toothache! Sugar Makes New Highs!

Bears get a toothache! Sugar makes new highs! Sugar futures reached 10-year highs, as trade houses and speculators keep bidding up the market. There are concerns that Brazil's cane harvest may fall, due to heavy rainfall. According to Unica, Brazil's local cane industry group, the current harvest may fall to 345 million tons, down 3 million tons from earlier estimates. Read More....

Oats get rolled-over!

If ever there was a classic example of what happens when a thinly-traded market runs into commodity fund liquidation, today's trade in Oats will show you. Prices free-fell right from the opening, as commodity fund selling overwhelmed what few buyers were in the market, triggering speculative sell-stops along the way. Read More....

Join Up Today For A System Walkthrough at 1PM CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

The 6 Hour EUR/USD....A Firmer Euro?

The first number hitting the market this morning was November's CPI, which was down 0.6%. The "headline" centers on the fact that it is the biggest one-month drop in 56 years, going all the way back to July 1946. The story, however, is not that important, given that the steep drop reflects a fall from exceptionally high gasoline prices in the prior month. Read More....

Traders are "bullish" Live Cattle!

Traders are "bullish" Live Cattle! Sorry for the pun, but I could not help myself. Commodity funds have taken control of the Live Cattle futures market, as their continued accumulation of long contracts helped push prices in the nearby months to new contract highs. According to the most recent Commitment of Traders report, large speculators we holding a net long 51,235 contracts as of December 6th. Read More....

Gold falls like a brick!

Gravity has finally hit the Gold market, as prices continued their plunge for a second straight day. After hitting a 25-year high at $543.00 in the February contract, prices have dropped more than 30 dollars. Much of the selling was tied to massive liquidation by Japanese speculators on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) overnight. Read More....

CME May Bid for NYMEX Stake

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange might launch a counterbid for 10% of the New York Mercantile Exchange that could top General Atlantic LLC's offer of $135 million for the stake, said several people close to the matter. The CME, the largest futures exchange in the world by market capitalization, plans to match or top the offer as soon as this week, these people said. CME spokesman Allan Schoenberg and NYMEX spokeswoman Anu Ahluwalia declined to comment. Informal discussions between the CME and NYMEX began last week when CME Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed contacted former NYMEX Chairman Z. Lou Guttman, who maintains close ties with the senior management of NYMEX as a special projects manager, said people close to NYMEX. Mr. Guttman was chairman of NYMEX from 1988 to 1993. XPRESSTRADE's take on this: Wouldn't it be grand to see NYMEX products (energies and metals) trading on the CME's battle-tested Globex system someday?

NYMEX Electronic Gold Trading Growing

The open-outcry trading pits at the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division represent the world's primary venue for trading gold and silver futures. But electronic trading of COMEX gold is pushing sharply higher, too. The COMEX electronic gold volume on the exchange's ACCESS trading platform is up 37.5% this year through November 30. The exchange announced Monday they had set a new yearly gold volume record. And COMEX gold electronic ACCESS trading set a one-day record on November 28, 2005 with 23,588 contracts traded.
Read more about the New York gold markets here!
Request a Metals Starter Kit!

250 Point Move for the USD/JPY

Yesterday's Fed event was essentially what analysts had been expecting. The Fed funds rate was hiked another .25% to 4.25%, "measured pace" and "accommodative" language were removed from the commentary, growth remains strong, and additional move(s) are likely. Read More....

System Walkthrough Today at Noon CST!

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CST and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CST

Soybeans Jump On The Bullish Commodity Bandwagon

Soybeans jump on the bullish commodity bandwagon: As 2005 comes to a close, only one commodity complex has been missing from the increased interest in buying commodities-the grains! Finally the Oat market joined in the speculative ascent as prices have traded at highs not seen since 2001. Read More....

Up, up, and away!

Natural Gas is acting more like Helium these days, with futures hitting another all-time record high price today. Forecasts for continued cold weather in the northern quarter of the U.S. gave traders reason to continue bidding-up the market. Private forecasts are calling for continued cold weather to move in from Canada to the Midwest and northeastern U.S. next week. ReadMore....

ConocoPhilips Finalizes Deal With Burlington Resources

ConocoPhilips, the third largest integrated Energy Company in the US and the fifth largest refiner in the world, has finalized a deal to purchase oil and natural gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. for $35.6 Billion. The world's major oil companies are showing a willingness to pay top dollar to secure interests in what is turning out to be an increasingly scarce resource. Natural gas prices have soared over the past year, with the January contract is currently trading above 15 and half dollars. XPRESSTRADE offers trading in all the NYMEX energy futures, including natural gas. Volume and open interest in the NYMEX energies has increased exponentially over the past year as well, in both the options and the futures themselves. With the introduction of the NYMEX Clearport system, Emini Natural gas contracts-exactly one half the contract size of the big contract have gained popularity with traders as well. The mini contract has the added advantage of being day trade eligible, allowing traders the benefit of added leverage.

Important Announcement!

Effective Immediately and until further notice, our Natural Gas futures brokers are accepting priced orders only in 5 cent ( 50 tick ) increments, and cancel / replace to the market only.

Just A Reminder: The 6-month USD/CAD

The Dollar is a bit stronger today, heading into a Fed day. Although retail sales figures came in soft (up 0.3% in November, down 0.3% excluding autos), the market will be waiting for to hear the Fed's latest prognosis. The rate increase is essentially a given, and will bring the Fed funds rate to 4.25%. Currently, futures markets are pricing in a 100% likelihood for another .25% rise in January. Read More....

Volatility Reigns In Gold Futures

There was something for everyone in Gold futures yesterday, with a morning surge to new contract highs and a late day sell-off that wiped out most of the day's gains. Gold then continued the sell-off overnight, with TOCOM gold plunging, as traders liquidated positions ahead of a large margin increase in TOCOM Gold futures. Read More....

Dollar Weakens Before Fed Announcement Tomorrow!

The Dollar was weak throughout the North American session based primarily speculative trading. Many analysts are pointing to the close-out of long Dollar trades ahead of a busy week of data. Tomorrow's key event will be the Fed commentary, with rates widely expected to rise .25% to 4.25%. As the peak rate approaches (4.5% or 4.75%), many are keen to hear the new Fed language. Their statement is unlikely to contain the phrases "accommodative" or "measured pace."

Beans Lead Grain Rally

Soybean prices rose more today than in any other single session in the past two months, mostly on speculation that a weakening Dollar and falling shipping costs will boost export demand for cheap and abundant U.S. supplies. U.S. farmers collected the second-largest crops ever this year, sending soybeans to a nine-month low in November. Read More....

How Much Do You Know About Options?

Since there are options on so many different commodities - and so many ways to trade options - you might not know where to begin. But getting started and trading commodity options is easier than you think, once you've determined your goals. Options can achieve a variety of trading objectives, and picking a goal narrows the field of strategies you might choose. Take our quiz and see just how much you know.

Last Week's Gradually Firming Yen

The Dollar is down heading into the new trading week, as a result of speculative selling. The coming week will contain, however, plenty of fundamental news for traders to mull over. Tomorrow will be Chairman Greenspan's 2 nd- to-last FOMC meeting, with rates widely expected to rise another .25% to 4.25%. When/if the Fed moves tomorrow, it will be the lucky 13 th consecutive rise, and the real story will be found in the language of the post-meeting commentary. Read More....

Important Announcement!

Please be aware that NY Gold Options and NY Silver Options orders are being accepted in .50 increments only (half dollar and half cent respectively). All metal options cancel/replaced to the market only.

Wheat Futures Get Shredded:

Wheat futures get shredded: The commodity bull market of 2005 apparently missed the Wheat market, as futures plunged to contract lows today. The catalyst was a bearish USDA global ending stocks report released this morning. In the report, the USDA forecasted ending stocks at 530 billion bushels, unchanged from last month's report, but higher than average analysts' estimates. Read More....

Important Annoucement!

Please be aware....Due to problems with the NYMEX Clearport API, we will not be able to accept cancel replace orders on mini energies. Orders will have to be straight canceled and a new order re-entered. Thank you for your patience.

EUR/USD: A Choppy Week

Major currencies, especially the Dollar, have had trouble finding direction this week, as dealers begin to talk about a holiday lull, with traders aiming to lock-in end of year profits. The Dollar was broadly soft yesterday on central bank comments, but has firmed slightly against the Euro heading into the North American session.
Read More....

Tired Of Hearing About Gold?

Try Palladium! With all the talk about Gold making mulit-decade highs, its time to look at one of the more over-looked precious metals, Palladium. The market broke $300 for the first time since 2004 in overnight trading, as traders are starting to believe that the entire metals complex will provide ample trading opportunities into 2006. Read More....

Futures Trading Volume Continues to Grow at a Fast Clip

The Futures Industry Association (FIA) has reported that in the first nine months of this year, a grand total of 7.28 billion futures and options contracts were traded on derivatives exchanges around the world. Remarkably, some of the fastest growing exchanges in the world were in the U.S., arguably the most mature market for futures and options. Looking again at that same nine-month period, January to September, FIA calculates that 2.57 billion contracts were traded on U.S. futures and options exchanges, up about 25% from the same period in 2004. Looking just at the month of September, the year-over-year growth rate at the U.S. exchanges was nearly 40%. What these numbers tell us is that more and more investors and traders are becoming interested in trading commodity and financial futures. Even the New York Stock Exchange has expressed a serious interest in the derivatives business, because it knows that futures trading is growing much faster than cash equities trading. Futures trading volume has been growing at 15% a year over the last 20 years, and the rate of growth has been accelerating since 2000. Wall Street used to think of the futures industry as a bunch of guys trading pork bellies and soybeans. But now there's an increasingly widespread recognition that in a modern economy, with a modern financial system, futures and options have a central role as instruments for price discovery, risk management, and of course speculation in pursuit of profits. Clearly, the future of online trading belongs to futures! Please know that all of us here at XPRESSTRADE appreciate your business and are grateful for the opportunity to be of service. If we can be of assistance in any way, don't hesitate to contact us, 24 hours per day during the trading week. We're here to help!

DJ Nybot FCOJ Review: Firms On Spec Buying, Positioning

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Frozen concentrated orange juice futures on the New York Board of Trade rose Thursday on speculative purchases and on traders adjusting positions ahead of a key crop report, sources said.

Most-active January juice settled 95 points higher at $1.2420 a pound.

"Today's trade was pretty much position-squaring ahead of tomorrow's USDA report," said Mike Zarembski, analyst and futures desk manager at XPRESSTRADE.com.

January FCOJ made a gradual climb toward its daily high on light speculative buying. Prices spiked higher in the last 20 minutes of the session but quickly shed a portion of those gains as trading ended.

"Looks like some money was taken off the table, especially by the shorts. It looks like the fear is for a higher-than-expected decline (in the Florida orange estimate)," Zarembski added.

Many traders and analysts expect a crop estimate of 165 million to 170 million, 90-pound boxes, down from the USDA's October estimate of 190 million boxes.

Meanwhile, a fair amount of activity was seen in the options trade.

"I know our customers were definitely looking at the $1.25 to $1.30 January calls as a cheap way to play a possible surprise number of 160 (million)even," Zarembski said.

However, if a larger-than-expected number materializes, given the heavy net-long positions by speculators, a $1.20 near-term downside target is possible on January juice, with the $1.15 level a potential target in the next week or two, he added.

Florida citrus groves saw mostly dry conditions on Wednesday, though showers with rain amounts of 0.20-0.75 inch are developing. Mostly dry conditions with a few light showers are seen Friday and Saturday, with more showers on Sunday, DTN Meteorlogix said.

Technical support on January FCOJ is found at $1.2275, $1.2165, $1.2080, $1.2075, $1.1825 and $1.1540. Resistance is met at $1.2515, $1.2550 and the $1.2790 contract high.

Futures volume was estimated at 3,372 contracts, with 3,179 options traded.


-By Tom Sellen, Dow Jones Newswires; 913-322-5177; tom.sellen@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-08-05 1516ET

Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Cold weather sends shivers through Natural Gas bears:

Not even a neutral to bearish EIA report could stop the surging Natural Gas futures market today, as prices climbed to their all-time highs for the lead month contract. The EIA reported a draw of 59 bcf from storage last week, slightly less than the 65 bcf draw expected by traders and analysts. Read More....

DJ Nybot FCOJ Review: Firms On Spec Buying, Positioning

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Frozen concentrated orange juice futures on the New York Board of Trade rose Thursday on speculative purchases and on traders adjusting positions ahead of a key crop report, sources said.

Most-active January juice settled 95 points higher at $1.2420 a pound.

"Today's trade was pretty much position-squaring ahead of tomorrow's USDA report," said Mike Zarembski, analyst and futures desk manager at XPRESSTRADE.com.

January FCOJ made a gradual climb toward its daily high on light speculative buying. Prices spiked higher in the last 20 minutes of the session but quickly shed a portion of those gains as trading ended.

"Looks like some money was taken off the table, especially by the shorts. It looks like the fear is for a higher-than-expected decline (in the Florida orange estimate)," Zarembski added.

Many traders and analysts expect a crop estimate of 165 million to 170 million, 90-pound boxes, down from the USDA's October estimate of 190 million boxes.

Meanwhile, a fair amount of activity was seen in the options trade.

"I know our customers were definitely looking at the $1.25 to $1.30 January calls as a cheap way to play a possible surprise number of 160 (million) even," Zarembski said.

However, if a larger-than-expected number materializes, given the heavy net-long positions by speculators, a $1.20 near-term downside target is possible on January juice, with the $1.15 level a potential target in the next week or two, he added.

Florida citrus groves saw mostly dry conditions on Wednesday, though showers with rain amounts of 0.20-0.75 inch are developing. Mostly dry conditions with a few light showers are seen Friday and Saturday, with more showers on Sunday, DTN Meteorlogix said.

Technical support on January FCOJ is found at $1.2275, $1.2165, $1.2080, $1.2075, $1.1825 and $1.1540. Resistance is met at $1.2515, $1.2550 and the $1.2790 contract high.

Futures volume was estimated at 3,372 contracts, with 3,179
options traded.

-By Tom Sellen, Dow Jones Newswires; 913-322-5177;

tom.sellen@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-08-05 1516ET

Copyright (c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Online Webinar Today at 1PM CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CDT and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CDT

NZD/JPY: The End Of The Affair?

Strong Dollar-based trends have been hard to come by this week. Without any meaningful data flow and dealers reporting low volumes, trade has been choppy and often directionless for the Dollar. The question mark about Homeland Investment Flows continues to hover over the market, but few can say with certainty if significant last-minute repatriations are likely -- or if they have dried up.
Read More....

One Chicago Sets All Time Open Interest Record

Yesterday, December 7, 2005, One Chicago’s Open Interest hit an all-time high of 1,476,112 security futures contracts. One Chicago is the Exchange where Single Stock Futures are traded. Futures contracts on individual stocks (also known as “Single Stock Futures”) are online and available for trading through XPRESSTRADE. You can trade futures on popular stocks like Intel, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, Dell Computer, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications, and Citigroup - as well as futures on popular exchange-traded funds, like DIAMONDS. There are a number of important advantages associated with trading security futures:

· You trade futures on more than 150 of the most popular stocks.
· Single stock futures trade electronically (not in open-outcry trading pits).
· Only 20% margin is required (50% required to trade stock on margin).
· It’s easy to short single stock futures (no uptick rule and no interest charges).
· You can trade commodity futures and single stock futures in the same account.


For more information on trading single stock futures, visit www.onechicago.com.

Catch The Futures Trading Wave

The Futures Industry Association (FIA) recently reported that in the first nine months of this year, a grand total of 7.28 billion futures and options contracts were traded on derivatives exchanges around the world. Remarkably, some of the fastest growing exchanges in the world were in the U.S., arguably the most mature market for futures and options. Looking again at that same nine-month period, January to September, FIA calculates that 2.57 billion contracts were traded on U.S. futures and options exchanges, up about 25% from the same period in 2004. Looking just at the month of September, the year-over-year growth rate at the U.S. exchanges was nearly 40%.

What these numbers tell us is that more and more investors and traders are becoming interested in trading commodity and financial futures. Even the New York Stock Exchange has expressed a serious interest in the derivatives business, because it knows that futures trading is growing much faster than cash equities trading. Futures trading volume has been growing at 15% a year over the last 20 years, and the rate of growth has been accelerating since 2000. Wall Street used to think of the futures industry as a bunch of guys trading pork bellies and soybeans. But now there's an increasingly widespread recognition that in a modern economy, with a modern financial system, futures and options have a central role as instruments for price discovery, risk management, and of course speculation in pursuit of profits.

Clearly, the future of online trading belongs to futures! To catch the futures trading wave, and to learn more about how the futures markets work, we encourage you to contact us, 24 hours per day during the trading week. If you'd prefer, request a FREE futures trading starter kit, and begin learning what makes the futures markets so great.

Peso Fiesta!

Currency futures traders have started to look south of the border for good trading opportunities in Mexican Peso futures. The market has exhibited a strong up-trend since early November, once prices broke out of a 3-month-long consolidation phase. Much of the recent strength in the Peso is tied to high oil prices, with Mexico being a large supplier of crude to the U.S. However, the strong Peso has a dark side for the Mexican economy, as it makes exports to the U.S. more expensive-especially for automobiles-which raises fears of losses for manufactures as exports decline.
Read More....

Oats, not just for horses anymore!

That's right, bulls now have joined in the Oats frenzy, as prices have hit levels not seen since 2003. Strong U.S. and global oat demand are behind the price surge, as supplies of quality milling oats are scarce. Much of the U.S. supplies come from Canada, and farmers there are reluctant to sell until prices are higher, especially in Alberta. Read More....

Rollover For The Stock Indexes Starts Tomorrow!

For those customers holding December contracts in any of the Stock Indexes, now is the time to start thinking about rolling over to the next front month, March (H). Contact us for any questions at 1-800-947-6228 24 hours a day during the trading week.

Traders Will Be Keeping A Lazy Eye On The BoE Tomorrow

The Dollar was mildly firm today against the majors. Traders will be keeping a lazy eye on the BoE tomorrow, though most expect no change in the key rate. Analysts are expecting a follow-up commentary that emphasizes a "wait-and-see" approach to any further rate actions. Recent weak pronounces from the government, and continued soft industrial activity have led to increased fears that a lowering may be in the cards for early 2006.

There are, however, two bad ticks on the FX Trek desktop charts. One in the USD/CAD daily chart, and another in the EUR/USD one-minute and five-minute charts around 9:40 a.m. CST. I have informed FXTrek of this issue and hope to have it remedied soon.

For More Information Forex Markets, Click Here

More Hikes...Or Not. The Loonie Rolls On

The Dollar is relatively firm early Wednesday in North America. In the absence of significant data flow, outside factors and technical trading are dominating. With U.S. outside political factors having a pronounced negative tone in recent weeks, it is a sign of the Dollar's resilience that the greenback has been largely unaffected.
Read More....

Important Annoucement 12/07/2005

Effective immediately, our Gold Options brokers are accepting limit orders in 50 cent increments only until further notice.

Online Webinar Today at Noon CST

Though we expect you'll find our website to be refreshingly intuitive and user-friendly, you might still like to join us for a live, online system walk-through. This is a new service that we've decided to offer, and we think it'll be a great way for both new and existing clients to learn about everything our browser-based trading platform has to offer.

These training sessions will be held twice weekly and take place online, in a virtual classroom. If you're interested in participating, you'll simply log into the training site at one of the designated times, and you can watch in real-time as a member of the XPRESSTRADE customer service team moves through the website, pointing out all the tools at your disposal. You can even listen to the instructor over your computer speakers.

At the end of each online group training session, you’ll have the opportunity to post questions for the instructor. Not only will you receive direct answers to your questions, but you might very well find that answers to questions from your fellow traders will be helpful to you, too. We encourage you to give this new complimentary service a try!

Every Wednesday at 12:00PM CDT and Every Thursday at 1:00PM CDT

Al-Qaida Threat Sends Crude Oil Soaring

Al-Qaida threat sends Crude Oil soaring: Sometimes it just does not pay to listen to the news! This is what oil bears are saying this morning, after a report by the BBC earlier this morning from Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaida's second-ranking figure, urged attacks on oil facilities in Islamic countries, "because most of the revenues of this oil go to the enemies of Islam". Read More....

Who Says U.S. Workers Are Not Productive?

Who says U.S. workers are not productive? Certainly not the Labor Department, which announced that productivity, a measure of how much an employee produces for each hour of work, rose at a 4.7 percent rate in the third quarter. Labor costs dropped at a 1% annual rate. Read More....

With Japan’s Economy Strengthening, Have You Considered the Nikkei?

The most widely followed and most frequently quoted index in Japan is the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The Nikkei 225 index is comprised of the top 225 top tier (the "bluest" chip) Japanese companies listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. CME Nikkei 225 products are traded at XPRESSTRADE in US dollars, for easy to understand calculations.

After many years of battling with substandard market rules, inadequate corporate management, and a general drop in prices, Japan is starting to show signs of strong economic growth. Fundamental changes have taken place over the past couple of years, leading to corporate spending and heightened consumer confidence. The most important of these changes is the gravitation toward US-style standards and practices for how companies and markets are run. Though few analysts would say the country is on par with the US, most would agree the improvements have been significant.

The Nikkei had not closed above 15000 since December of 2000. As of December 6, 2005, the December futures contract was above 15575, and had been as high as 15590. In order to sustain this rally, Japan must maintain efforts to improve financial disclosure and minority shareholder treatment, as well as hold off the threat of deflation. If these conditions are met, the 35% gain in the Nikkei 225 realized this year may just be the beginning.
Read More....

EUR/JPY Reaches All-Time High!

The Dollar is relatively firm today, in spite of the Institute for Supply Management's services index, which slipped yesterday to 58.5 in November from 60.0 in October. Representing roughly 80% of U.S. economic activity, the number was below expectations, though safely above the key 50-level, which represents expansion. Read More....

Orange Crush

Orange crush: Gravity has finally taken its toll in the Orange Juice futures market, as prices fell sharply yesterday. Juice bulls finally rang the register, after the most-active January futures contract made 7-year highs on Friday. Commercial traders were the catalyst for the sell-off, locking in high prices and triggering sell-stops on the way down. Read More....

Sugar Bulls Have It Sweet

Sugar continues to rise, after breaking through 10-year highs fueled by local and speculative buying. There was a little profit-taking and some light commercial selling during the session, but not enough to slow this bull market. The Domino sugar refinery near New Orleans, which sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina, plans to reopen Dec. 12, the Associated Press reported. Read More....

Sharpen Your Trading Skills With Our Futures Power Course!

We're pleased to introduce the Futures Power Course. This is a complete, online futures trading course, designed to teach you how to identify trading opportunities and extract profits from the futures markets.


When you stop to consider the amount of money that can be made and lost in the futures markets, it only makes good sense to devote a small amount of money toward sharpening your skills and developing a successful trading strategy. Read More....

A Brisk Start To The U.S. Session

As trading gets underway this week, the U.S. calendar is on the light side, after last week's superb string of data releases. In the absence of significant data, other themes will be making their way through the market. Read More....

Hogs Get Slaughtered

Hogs get slaughtered: It was a dark day for traders long Lean Hog futures this morning, as the excitement of new contract highs turned into horror, as massive commercial selling wiped out the week's gains. The morning started out well, with cash markets being called $0.50 to $1.00 higher, as dealers reported some packing plants needed additional hogs for slaughter on Saturday. Read More....

What It Means To Be On Margin Call

The market’s moving in the wrong direction, losses are accumulating, and the value of your account is declining. By the time your broker issues a margin call, you’re already feeling substantial frustration and anxiety. It’s easy, under these circumstances, to see the broker as an adversary. But veteran traders know that this couldn’t be further from the truth.

For starters, nothing’s more disappointing for us than to see a good client roughed up in the marketplace. We’re not merely being altruistic we want you to be successful and to earn profits, because we’d like to see your account, your trading activity, and the commissions you generate grow over time. Ideally, if you’ve enjoyed a terrific trading experience, you’ll introduce your friends and acquaintances to futures and options trading, and they’ll open accounts with us, too. In other words, our interests are aligned, and our fortunes are closely tied to yours. When your trades aren’t turning out as planned, it brings us absolutely no pleasure to issue a margin call.

Understand that margin calls place pressure on us, too. You may not realize it, but futures brokers are responsible for all the accounts and positions they carry on their books. Larger brokers may be responsible directly to the various futures exchanges, while smaller brokers may be accountable to their clearing firms. But whatever the arrangement, it’s a virtual certainty that your broker is the financial guarantor of your account. In the event you lose more money than you have available in your account, we’re obligated to cover your shortfall. The only protection we have against this unpleasant possibility is the margin you’ve deposited. So, if your equity falls below the prescribed margin level and remember that futures trading requires only about 3-8% of the contract value to be posted as collateral there’s good reason for us to be concerned.

Finally, consider the possibility that by issuing a margin call and demanding that it be addressed without delay, your broker might very well be doing you a favor. Traders, by and large, tend to be competitive, independent, passionate personalities, and admitting that a trading idea’s not working can be incredibly challenging. We see it all the time even the most experienced, successful traders occasionally resist closing-out unsuccessful trades at a loss, because they’re absolutely convinced the market will turn in their favor. Sometimes a margin call can be the only thing that finally convinces a trader to cut his losses, exit a bad position, and begin looking for the next potential trading opportunity.

Visit our Margin Table here!

Score One For The Economists And Analysts!

Score one for the economists and analysts! After many months of way-off-the-mark estimates for the monthly Non-Farm Payroll number, those paid to make accurate predictions have finally called one correctly! The Labor Department announced this morning that payrolls for November increased by 215,000 jobs. Read More....

Excitement Continues For The Nikkei

The non-farm payroll figure was released today, and capped an exceptional week of U.S. data. Showing 215,000 new jobs added to American payrolls for November, the figure was just about what markets were expecting. It was a strong improvement on October's feeble and downwardly revised 44,000. Read More....

Investors catch the Gold bug!

Forget stocks, bonds, or currencies-metals are where traders are flocking these days, with Gold leading the charge. Commodity funds, small speculators, and foreign investors have all been eager buyers of late. Much of the buying is taking place in the physical market, with foreign investors stocking-up on the yellow metal, as the perception that Gold is a safer investment than equities and bonds continues to grow. Read More....

XPRESSTRADE Is Looking for Few Good People

Are you a dynamic, energized person who's ready to join a leader in online futures brokerage that offers a fast-paced, exciting, team-oriented workplace? Then you may have found the right place! Click here to find out more....

An Increased Appetite for Risk?

The Dollar is up strongly today, with more solid numbers being offered to traders. Personal income was up 0.4% in October, which was within expectations. Weekly jobless claims were also released, showing a fall of 17,000 to 320,000 in the latest week. Read More....

Coffee Spill Burns Bullish Traders

Coffee spill burns bullish traders: Traders are wondering if there should be a warning label on their trading cards saying if you buy coffee futures you will get burned, as futures plunged to 8-week lows. Any attempts at a rally were met by strong selling, which was exacerbated once the March contract broke through support at 98.30. Read More....