Category Archives: Financial

High-frequency Trading in Equities Explained at The Speed Traders Workshop with Edgar Perez

Edgar Perez, former McKinsey and IBM consultant, is a global expert, author of The Speed Traders, Knightmare on Wall Street, and the course director of The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools”, in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

New York, NY, USA (April 28, 2014) — As of 2009, some studies suggested HFT firms accounted for 60-73% of all US equity trading volume, with that number falling to approximately 50% in 2012. High-frequency traders move in and out of short-term positions aiming to capture sometimes just a fraction of a cent in profit on every trade. HFT firms do not employ significant leverage, accumulate positions or hold their portfolios overnight. As a result, HFT has a potential Sharpe ratio (a measure of risk and reward) thousands of times higher than traditional buy-and-hold strategies. High-frequency traders typically compete against other HFTs, rather than long-term investors. HFT firms make up the low margins with incredible high volumes of transactions, frequently numbering in the millions.

HFT may cause new types of serious risks and dangers to the financial system. Algorithmic and HFT were both found to have contributed to volatility in the May 6, 2010 Flash Crash, when high-frequency liquidity providers rapidly withdrew from the market. Several European countries have proposed curtailing or banning HFT due to concerns about volatility. Other complaints against HFT include the argument that some HFT firms scrape profits from investors when index funds rebalance their portfolios. Whether that indeed is the case will be explained by author Edgar Perez at The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools” (http://www.thespeedtradersworkshop.com).

The Speed Traders Workshop is the first and most comprehensive initiation to the world of high-frequency trading., opens the door to the secretive world of computerized low-latency trading, the most controversial form of investing today; in the name of protecting the algorithms they have spent so much time perfecting, speed traders almost never talk to the press and try to disclose as little as possible about how they operate. Further information about this workshop can be found at http://www.goldennetworking.net.

The Speed Traders Workshop, to be held in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, covers the latest research currently available and reveals how high-frequency trading players are operating in global markets and driving the development of electronic trading at breakneck speeds from the U.S. and Europe to Japan, India, and Brazil. The “flash crash”, the suspended BATS IPO, the botched Facebook IPO, Knight Capital’s trading malfunction and NASDAQ’s Flash Freeze are just a few of the milestones in the history of high-frequency trading that will be dissected with participants.

Knightmare on Wall Street, the fascinating story of Knight Capital put together by course director Edgar Perez, was the most favorably reviewed Kindle edition book on Amazon in 2013, with an average rating of 5 out of five stars. Knight Capital, founded by Kenneth Pasternak and Walter Raquet in 1995, had seen its fortunes change as U.S. regulators made a series of changes in the structure of financial markets and computers were progressively expanding their share of trading. The Flash Crash, the infamous 1,000 point drop of the DJIA on May 6, 2010 (the largest one-day point decline in history), illustrated how market structure problems could almost instantaneously cascade from one market participant to the rest.

Mr. Perez is widely regarded as the preeminent global expert and speaker in the specialized areas of algorithmic and high-frequency trading. He is also author of The Speed Traders, An Insider’s Look at the New High-Frequency Trading Phenomenon That is Transforming the Investing World, published in English, Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia. He contributes to The New York Times, UltraHighFrequencyTrading.com and China’s International Finance News and Sina Finance.

Media Contact:
Julia Petrova
Media Relations Coordinator
Knightmare on Wall Street
+1-414-FORUMS0
info@knightmareonwallstreet.com
http://www.knightmareonwallstreet.com

Why Stock Market Not Rigged by High-frequency Trading at The Speed Traders Workshop 2014

Edgar Perez, former McKinsey and IBM consultant, is a global expert, author of The Speed Traders, Knightmare on Wall Street, and the course director of The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools”, in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

New York, NY, USA (April 28, 2014) — Michael Lewis, the famous Liar’s Poker author, couldn’t have timed Flash Boys better if he’d tried. His blockbuster new book about high-frequency trading came out in a blaze of publicity during exactly the same week as a little-known Wall Street company named Virtu was scheduled to start marketing its initial public offering of shares, according to Reuters’ Felix Salmon. For him, Flash Boys is unapologetically polemical: The New York Times reviewed it twice on the day it came out, with Andrew Ross Sorkin calling it a “a make-your-blood-boil read” and Janet Maslin saying that it “is guaranteed to make blood boil.”

According to Salmon, Lewis’ pugnacious style is fine and good-journalism should make you angry. But the problem with Flash Boys, he claims, is that the demands that master storyteller Lewis makes of his narrative don’t align well with the structural problems of HFT that Lewis the journalist should want to expose. The result is that the general public, after reading this book or watching Lewis on 60 Minutes, will think that the scandal of HFT is that they’re being ripped off, and that the stock market is a scam.

The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools” (http://www.thespeedtradersworkshop.com), demonstrates why neither of these statements is true. The Speed Traders Workshop is the first and most comprehensive initiation to the world of high-frequency trading with Edgar Perez, author of Knightmare on Wall Street (http://www.knightmareonwallstreet.com), and will open the door to the secretive world of computerized low-latency trading, the most controversial form of investing today; in the name of protecting the algorithms they have spent so much time perfecting, speed traders almost never talk to the press and try to disclose as little as possible about how they operate.

The Speed Traders Workshop, to be held in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, covers the latest research currently available and reveals how high-frequency trading players are operating in global markets and driving the development of electronic trading at breakneck speeds from the U.S. and Europe to Japan, India, and Brazil. The “flash crash”, the suspended BATS IPO, the botched Facebook IPO, Knight Capital’s trading malfunction and NASDAQ’s Flash Freeze are just a few of the milestones in the history of high-frequency trading that will be dissected with participants.

Mr. Perez has been engaged to present at the Council on Foreign Relations, Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University (Kiev), Quant Investment & HFT Summit APAC 2012 (Shanghai), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Washington DC), CFA Singapore, Hong Kong Securities Institute, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, University of International Business and Economics (Beijing), Hult International Business School (London and Shanghai) and Pace University (New York), among other public and private institutions. In addition, Mr. Perez has spoken at a number of global conferences, including Inside Market Data 2013 (Chicago), Emerging Markets Investments Summit 2013 (Warsaw), CME Group’s Global Financial Leadership Conference 2012 (Naples Beach), Harvard Business School’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Conference (Boston), High-Frequency Trading Leaders Forum (New York, Chicago, London), MIT Sloan Investment Management Conference (Cambridge), Institutional Investor’s Global Growth Markets Forum (London), Technical Analysis Society (Singapore), TradeTech Asia (Singapore), FIXGlobal Face2Face (Seoul) and Private Equity Convention Russia, CIS & Eurasia (London).

Mr. Perez was a vice president at Citigroup, a senior consultant at IBM, and a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. in New York City. Mr. Perez has an undergraduate degree from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru (1994), a Master of Administration from Universidad ESAN, Lima, Peru (1997) and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, New York, with a dual major in Finance and Management (2002). He belongs to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Media Contact:
Julia Petrova
Media Relations Coordinator
Knightmare on Wall Street
+1-414-FORUMS0
info@knightmareonwallstreet.com
http://www.knightmareonwallstreet.com

Evolution of Securities Investing at High-frequency Trading Workshop in New York City

Edgar Perez, former McKinsey and IBM consultant, is a global expert, author of The Speed Traders, Knightmare on Wall Street, and the course director of The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools”, in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

New York, NY, USA (April 28, 2014) — The development of federal securities law was spurred by the stock market crash of 1929, and the resulting Great Depression. In the period leading up to the stock market crash, companies issued stock and enthusiastically promoted the value of their company to induce investors to purchase those securities. Doesn’t’ that sound eerily familiar to investors at the beginning of the Internet era?

Brokers in turn sold this stock to investors based on promises of large profits but with little disclosure of relevant information about the company. In many cases, the promises made by companies and brokers had little or no substantive basis, or were wholly fraudulent. With thousands of investors buying up stock in hopes of huge profits, the market was in a state of speculative frenzy that ended in October 1929, when the market crashed as panicky investors sold off their investments en masse.

Fast forward 85 years and practitioners can review how far markets have gone at The Speed Traders Workshop, “How Banks, Hedge and Mutual Funds and Brokers Battle Markets ‘RIGGED’ by Wall Street’s ‘Flash Boys’, High-frequency Trading, Exchanges and Dark Pools” (http://www.thespeedtradersworkshop.com), the first and most comprehensive initiation to the world of high-frequency trading with Edgar Perez, author of Knightmare on Wall Street (http://www.knightmareonwallstreet.com). The Speed Traders Workshop will open the door to the secretive world of computerized low-latency trading, the most controversial form of investing today; in the name of protecting the algorithms they have spent so much time perfecting, speed traders almost never talk to the press and try to disclose as little as possible about how they operate.

The Speed Traders Workshop, to be held in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Munich, London, Dubai, Brussels, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, covers the latest research currently available and reveals how high-frequency trading players are operating in global markets and driving the development of electronic trading at breakneck speeds from the U.S. and Europe to Japan, India, and Brazil. The “flash crash”, the suspended BATS IPO, the botched Facebook IPO, Knight Capital’s trading malfunction and NASDAQ’s Flash Freeze are just a few of the milestones in the history of high-frequency trading that will be dissected with participants.

Mr. Perez has been interviewed on CNN’s Quest Means Business, CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Worldwide Exchange, Cash Flow and Squawk Box, FOX BUSINESS’s Countdown to the Closing Bell and After the Bell, Bloomberg TV’s Market Makers, CNN en Español’s Dinero, Sina Finance, BNN’s Business Day, CCTV China, Bankier.pl, TheStreet.com, Leaderonomics, GPW Media, Channel NewsAsia’s Business Tonight and Cents & Sensibilities. In addition, Mr. Perez has been globally featured on WILS 1320’s Capital City Recap, FXFactor, Columbia Business, OpenMarkets, Sohu, News.Sina.com, Yicai, eastmoney, Caijing, ETF88.com, 360doc, AH Radio, CNFOL.com, CITICS Futures, Tongxin Securities, ZhiCheng.com, CBNweek.com, Caixin, Futures Daily, Xinhua, CBN Newswire, Chinese Financial News, ifeng.com, International Finance News, hexun.com, Finance.QQ.com, Finance.Sina.com, The Korea Times, The Korea Herald, The Star, The Malaysian Insider, BMF 89.9, iMoney Hong Kong, CNBC, Bloomberg Hedge Fund Brief, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Dallas Morning News, Valor Econômico, FIXGlobal Trading, TODAY Online, Oriental Daily News and Business Times.

Mr. Perez was a vice president at Citigroup, a senior consultant at IBM, and a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Co. in New York City. Mr. Perez has an undergraduate degree from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru (1994), a Master of Administration from Universidad ESAN, Lima, Peru (1997) and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, New York, with a dual major in Finance and Management (2002). He belongs to the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Media Contact:
Julia Petrova
Media Relations Coordinator
Knightmare on Wall Street
+1-414-FORUMS0
info@knightmareonwallstreet.com
http://www.knightmareonwallstreet.com

UK Budget March 2014 and QROPS for Final Salary Pensions

If you are in a Final Salary scheme you need to act now! Or you may be sorry, as time is running out!

ZURICH, Switzerland (March 26, 2014) — Given this budget is in the run up to the next election in 2015. As normal it is a sweetener, and lots of smoke and mirrors.

After the smoke has cleared however, if you are in a Final Salary, also known as a Defined Benefit pension scheme. Take note the option to transfer to a QROPS is to be removed.

Combine this with the Government’s announcement that it intends to abolish tax allowances for non UK residents. So pension benefits you take in the UK would be taxed up to the full rate of 50%, on the whole amount. The future looks bleak if you are in a Final Salary scheme but no longer live in the UK.

The pension reforms that were announced are likely to encourage a lot more people to look at QROPS as a very attractive alternative to leaving their pensions in the UK.

Moving your UK pension arrangements to a QROPS if suitable given your own particular circumstances, can only improve your position.

Most importantly, once moved to a QROPS you have control over your money. If left in your UK pension arrangement it is highly likely that additional constraints will be put in place which will adversely affect you.

If you have a UK pension and have left the UK, or are considering a QROPS transfer, contact Waterstone Investment Associates.

For further details contact, Email: information@qropsusa.net, or visit their website: http://www.waterstone-investment-associates.com.

Media Contact:
John M Pye
Waterstone Investment Associates Inc.
Swiss Post Box: 100988
Zürcherstrasse 161
CH – 8010 Zürich
+44 (0)2921251957
jmpye@waterstone-qrops.com
http://www.waterstone-investment-associates.com

Market Rates Insight Report Analyzes How Bank Deposit Rates Are Likely to Rise in 2014

New Analytical Report, “Likely Scenarios of Rising Deposit Rates in 2014 and Beyond,” Reveals Deposit Rate Trends Expected for CDs, Money Market, and Savings Accounts.

San Anselmo, CA, USA (January 11, 2014) — How will rising deposit rates affect CD rates and savings and checking interest rates in the coming year? That’s the question answered in the latest research report from Market Rates Insight, Inc. (http://www.marketratesinsight.com), the leader in financial services intelligence for deposits, personal loans, mortgages, and fees. The new report, “Likely Scenarios of Rising Deposit Rates in 2014 and Beyond,” provides an analysis of what deposit rates for CDs, savings accounts, money market, and checking accounts are likely to look like in the 2014.

This latest report reveals how deposit rates are likely to trend based on historical data from the last rising rate environment between July 2003 and July 2007. The predictive report can be invaluable to bank marketing executives and senior staff at banks and credit unions who need to plan their rate increases and budget for future interest expenses. Market Rates Insight is the only research company to have more than 25 years of cumulative bank and credit union rate data, giving the firm a more accurate portrait of cyclical market trends.

“As the economy continues to improve, there is no question that bank deposit rates will begin to rise,” said Dr. Dan Geller, Executive Vice President of Market Rates Insight and author of the study. “The real question is when will they rise and to what degree? No one has a crystal ball, but we do have historical data that accurately shows how deposit rates perform during the last rising economic cycle. Scrutinizing past performance can be a very reliable indicator of what lies ahead for deposit rates.”

Trends revealed in the report include:

– The impact of 3-month and 6-month LIBOR rates on deposit products.
– The average increase of deposit product rates on a month-to-month basis.
– The projected performance curve of term accounts and liquid accounts.
– The increase in interest expenses for banks and credit unions for consumer deposits.
– And much more.

The “Likely Scenarios of Rising Deposit Rates in 2014 and Beyond” report provides average rates in seven deposit-product categories: checking, savings, money markets, brief-term CDs (3 months or less), short-term CDs (3 months to 1 year), mid-term CDs (1 to 3 years), and long-term CDs (over 3 years). The report is available now for $995.

For more information, visit http://www.marketratesinsight.com/news/2014DepositTrends.html.

About Market Rates Insight
For more than two decades, Market Rates Insight (MRI) has been helping clients price with precision by providing banks, thrifts, credit unions, and other financial institutions with comprehensive market intelligence on deposits, loans, and fees. MRI’s products include web-enabled, customizable report programming, proprietary product research tools, searchable databases, market alerts, and online dashboards that aggregate key client data to provide real-time interactive views on how they rank against their specific competitors. MRI provides advanced toolsets for deposits, deposit surveys, mortgage and consumer loans, and loan surveys, fees and features pricing in addition to studies, new product alerts, benchmarking and market analyses to give subscribers the intelligence needed to strategically position products, optimize pricing and react to emerging trends.

Market Rates Insight is located in San Anselmo, California. For more information, see http://www.marketratesinsight.com.

Graphics available upon request

For additional information contact:
Tom Woolf
Market Rates Insight
(415) 259-5638
tom.woolf@marketratesinsight.com

Chicago Area-Based Company Releases Online Financial Education Program

Financial Education of America, LLC announces release of Futurebuck course to increase financial literacy in young adults.

Arlington Heights, IL, USA (October 2, 2013) — Financial Education of America, LLC announces the release of Futurebuck, an online education course designed to teach young adults about financial, credit and debt management. Through a series of ten short, interactive video modules, the program covers essential financial topics such as credit cards, student loans and budget and money management. In light of the 2008 financial crisis, increasing problems with social security and impending $1 trillion student loan bubble, financial literacy is critical for any young adult.

For a limited time, the program will be given out free of charge. To access the program without charge, the user must register for the program on the website and use coupon code “100thanks.”

“Financial literacy has always been important, but in today’s challenging financial environment, young adults need to learn life’s financial skills sooner rather than later,” said Bob Reotutar, President of Financial Education of America, LLC, creator of Futurebuck. “Young adults often go to their parents to learn about finances, but parents are often too busy. Also, many schools do not offer courses in this area. Our program is ideal for students because we teach the important lessons of financial, credit and debt management and provide young adults with the necessary financial skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.”

Futurebuck is a unique program created for young adults, by young adults. The course modules are broken down into 4-7 minute video segments so students can stop and continue the course at any time. The program also includes quizzes at the end of each module to reinforce the course’s lessons.

The program was released August 19 and has reached over 30 states and four countries. In addition, Futurebuck was featured in Millionaire.com and was reviewed by Military.com.

About Financial Education of America, LLC
Financial Education of America, LLC seeks to improve financial literacy in young adults. The company created Futurebuck, a comprehensive, web-based education course that teaches in ten modules the essentials of financial, credit and debt management through a series of short, interactive videos. The company is also conducting a nationwide campaign to increase financial literacy in young adults. For more information about Futurebuck or Financial Education of America, please visit http://www.futurebuck.com.

Media Contact:
Bob Reotutar
Financial Education of America
200 N. Arlington Heights Rd. #215
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
847-312-1101
breo@futurebuck.com
http://www.futurebuck.com

Financial Architect® “The Fastest Way to Legally Raise Capital – Guaranteed!”

It has just been reported in “The Private Capital Access PCA Index Q2, 2013 report in partnership with Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., measures the demand for capital and financing activity for privately-held businesses. Privately held businesses continue to find it difficult to raise new financing in the current business environment, according to 59 percent of small business owners who responded in the second quarter survey results. Only 33 percent of those who applied for business loans from a bank were successful. The research also shows that many small business owners are tapping into their personal assets to fill financing gaps with 41% of business owners saying they transferred personal assets to their business over the last three months.

There is a better way: As former Wall Street financiers turned entrepreneurs, the principals at Commonwealth Capital Advisors know what you’re going through or about to go through. They have felt the pain of attempting to capitalize start-up and early stage companies. They know how to succeed, but more importantly, they know about failure and how to avoid it.

To find out how by reading the Abridged Edition of the E-book their CEO wrote entitled: “The Secrets of Wall Street – Raising Capital for Start-Up and Early Stage Companies.”

VISIT: http://www.commonwealthcapital.com/main/21.php?username=4750

If you are serious about raising capital for your start-up or early stage company, this resource was made for you. “The Secrets of Wall Street…” will open your eyes to the truth on how the world of capital works. It’s designed to enable any Entrepreneur to make a qualified decision on how to go about effectively raising capital.

The unsolicited testimonials continue to stream into their website.

It’s their “pay it forward” gift to you to help you to turn your dream into reality.

Charles David Dreher
Executive Vice-President

Contact Details:
Commonwealth Capital Advisors
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Building
30 South Wacker Drive, 22nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60606

www.CommonwealthCapital.com/members/4750

ccawestcoastoperations@CommonwealthCapital.com

 

Healthcare Outcomes Solutions Launches Patient Centered Enhanced Care Model to Reduce Healthcare Costs for Chronically Ill Patients of Self insured companies and improve their care

Healthcare Outcomes Solutions (HOS), a company dedicated to reducing health care costs for self insured companies and their employees, recently launched its Patient Centered Enhanced Care model (PCEC). PCEC is a care coordination model designed to improve health care and reduce costs specifically for employee-patients, or their family members, with multiple chronic illnesses who are in a health plan offered by self-funded companies.

It is now common knowledge that approximately 5% of members of health plans account for about 50% of the cost. Multiple chronic diseases are the source of the majority of the cost in healthcare. The PCEC model enables self-funded businesses across the U.S. to offer coordinated care specifically for these member-patients. This service is offered to middle size or larger employers.

The PCEC model has been developed by healthcare experts and is grounded in extensive research of evidence-based and outcomes studies, many of which are available on the HOS website, www.healthcareoutcomes.net. The latest data on healthcare costs show that care coordination of the most chronically ill member-patients can reduce a company’s healthcare costs significantly.

We will work with companies to determine if the PCEC model is right for them. Affiliated healthcare accountants will examine a company’s current health care expenses, and HOS will determine the feasibility of reducing cost while improving care.

Contact Details: Healthcare Outcomes Solutions
303-974-7978
info@healthcareoutcomes.net
www.healthcareoutcomes.net

Ontario Mercantile Exchange (ONMEX) To Publish Its Own Financial Magazine

Ontario Mercantile Exchange (ONMEX) starts publishing its own specialized analytical magazine called “Exchange Market Views” from the beginning of September 2013.

Full-color monthly magazine will be available both in electronic and printed forms. The magazine will be distributed electronically to the exchange regional branches, farmers, traders, government agencies, NGOs and anyone who is interested in the agricultural and exchange topics; also partners and the working groups members of ONMEX will receive a printed copy said Donald Miller, a director of Ontario Mercantile Exchange (ONMEX)

‘Nowadays we lack for deep analytical reviews of exchange trading in agricultural, energies and precious metals commodities sector both in the international and US domestic markets. Our analysts will mark our price increase and decrease factors for the main sector commodities in each of their reviews, and therefore our studies will be useful for many market participants. We believe there is a need and we decided to publish our own financial analysis magazine due to the fact that many of our market participants requested tis sort of information more and more.

The magazine publishing will give certain advantages: the market participants will receive free access to the analysis of recent trends in the market and also ONMEX will be able to present the benefits of exchange trading to a larger number of the commodity market participants”- said Donald Miller .

The subscription to the magazine can be made on the official web page of ONMEX –  www.onmex.org in the “Magazine” section that will be available online starting with September 2013.

About ONMEX: Ontario Mercantile Exchange (ONMEX) is a premier commodities exchange providing independent analysis, and advisory services related to commodities markets, corporate and project finance, and the financial management of exposure to commodities oriented investments. Operating global commodity and financial products marketplaces, including the world’s leading energy, metals and commodity markets ONMEX’s diverse futures markets offer access to contracts based on crude oil, natural gas, as well as agricultural commodities including coffee, cotton, rice, lentils, wheat and so on.

Press Contact:
ONMEX
Ontario Mercantile Exchange
www.onmex.org
info@onmex.org

Address:
Ontario, Canada