Bringing some balance to HFT

This guy gets it.  There needs to be a more thorough conversation about HFT and its merits.  The same people fighting against HFT today would probably have protested new sailing technology in the 1700s.

Embrace change.  It's the only constant.  

CNBC does not understand "arbitrage"

It should come as no surprise that a network of journalists who have never traded a share, a currency, an option, or a future in their lives repeatedly cite and support the "research" of Nanex/Themis.  I overheard a segment this morning regarding the "time arbitrage" between Chicago and NYC, and citing "investigative work" by the CEO of Nanex, they attempt to explain an arbitrage conducted at "the speed of light."

The trade in question consists of "someone" buying 1,300 ES contracts and simultaneously buying 260,000 shares of SPY within the same millisecond - somehow creating an arbitrage.  How two simultaneous purchases of the same vehicle creates an arbitrage opportunity, I have no idea. 

I can't figure out how to embed the video, but you can find it here.  Thoughts?

On "nominal highs" and forward curves

CNBC is fond of citing "nominal highs" when silver, gold, crude, or any commodity for that matter, reach new levels.  What they fail to realize, perhaps out of ignorance (my guess), or because it's a watered-down poor excuse for a financial news network, is that the back of the curve is well bid above the front month prices always quoted in financial media.

If $1580/oz scares people, $1750 would send them into paralysis. 

 

I used the futures calendar abbreviations for the expirations on the chart of the curve.

The Power of CNBC

Notable Calls made a post this morning at 7:38AM highlighting an alert issued by Citigroup on EchoStar (DISH) "saying the shares have been very strong over the last few weeks with most of the run occuring after EchoStar put out a press release suggesting it was contemplating a tax-free spin of some of the non-core assets. They think some of the run-up stems from investors that believe the spin is related to a possible tie-up with AT&T (NYSE:T). Firm suggests the likelihood is fairly high that the SpinCo announcement is linked to an AT&T acquisition of EchoStar."

Notablecalls: What can I say, grab all the DISH stock you can in the $1-$2 buck range from yesterday's close. It's not every day you see a firm coming out saying there's a 65% chance of a co being acquired with a close to 40% premium. That's bound the generate interest!

I started watching DISH this morning after reading NC's post. Oddly enough, the market opened higher, however quickly began to trade down. That is, until, shortly after 10AM, CNBC came on the air and said DISH was a possible take-over target. Then, this happened: