What's a dollar worth?

If I were to go by my gut, it feels like a dollar is worth more than ever. At least, everyone I know is having a really tough time getting their hands on any dollars. The traders who watch the markets closely have seen some strength in the dollar index but it still hasn't made a convincing seperation from its low last year. It is still almost 30% of its high in 2002.

So, where are we going? Speculation is none existent, futures markets are down but strong, equities are down but their promise is not forgotten, and cash is the only thing people want but it's still not worth what it was. Unemployment is up, and so is government spending. It is wacky. It is so dissapointing, because we just elected the most liberal government in the history of our country, but I think the US needs an old fashioned kick in the ass from the folks on the farm. I hope commodity prices go through the roof, and the government stops spending money. I think we'll find out what a dollar is really worth when the populus can't afford bread.

Arx Global Holdings - Chicago

In the world of managed futures a very organized and talented company has emerged, Arx Global Holdings. I have met the principals, and have been very impressed.

"Arx Global Holdings is a multi-faceted financial services firm created to serve the evolving needs of alternative investment managers. Arx's mission is to transparently consolidate commodity futures brokerage, fund administration and cash management into a signal seamless brokerage experience."

The concept is simple, intuitive, and invaluable to fund managers and large institutional money alike. It stabilizes the investment process by dealing with the aspects of fund management that the purer traders hate, and the part that those traders really don't have the time to focus on. Trading techniques are becoming incredibly sophisticated, so the amount of time that fund managers can worry about dissembling their position, managing their un-used cash, or overseeing the reporting is limited. The solutions that Arx Global Holdings provides reduce these problems greatly, and increase the fund managers performance and transparency.

Arx Global Holdings, LLC

Trading Articles - Willis Trading Group

I was looking over the website of the formerly independent Willis Trading Group, Inc. (now leading the commodities group at Mesirow Financial) and found great links back to articles from the previous boom in commodities 30 years ago. It is amazing to look back at these articles and read the thoughts of how some of the best traders in managed futures approached the business. Although the business has evolved, some of these documents like "The Big Hitters" are fascinating reads beacuse they are truly lessons in where the business of trading has come from.

The articles span several decades which is also fantastic. When read together, they provide a tremendous insight into something that particularly interests me... the move to electronic trading, and a global market perspective. The global market perspective is something that is a very recent development, in the sense that traders are truly global in execution and mindset. These articles provide a strong sense of how the great traders have followed the market and the business to a more sophisticated global agenda.

Any person serious about futures, trading, or business should take a look and spend some time reading these articles.

Articles, Willis Trading Group, Inc.