brite

chitika

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Futures

Today’s futures marketplace is complex. Trades can take many forms – from fixed income to equities, commodities to currencies. To make sense of it all, you need a firm with in-depth knowledge of the markets, both locally and globally. Goldman Sachs has been a pioneer in the futures marketplace for over 30 years. We dive into the details – from research to execution to final settlement – so you can focus on making optimal investment decisions. Our client-focused model ensures complete anonymity and the highest levels of service at every touch point

Mortgage Rate Calculator

Goldman Sachs offers a CMM pricing calculator to help facilitate transactions in the nascent mortgage rate forwards market. We also provide an associated explanatory documentation. You can use the calculator to input your own assumptions for mortgage prices, durations, convexities and implied vols, and the calculator returns an implied forward mortgage rate for the specified forward date. The algorithm is primarily intended for evaluating short-dated CMM trades.

S&P GSCI Commodity Index

Approach

Economic Weighting
The S&P GSCI™ is world-production weighted; the quantity of each commodity in the index is determined by the average quantity of production in the last five years of available data. Such weighting provides the S&P GSCI™ with significant advantages, both as an economic indicator and as a measure of investment performance.

For use as an economic indicator, the appropriate weight to assign each commodity is in proportion to the amount of that commodity flowing through the economy (i.e. the actual production or consumption of that commodity). For instance, the impact that doubling the price of corn has on inflation and on economic growth depends directly on how much corn is used (or produced) in the economy.

From the standpoint of measuring investment performance, production-weighting is not only appropriate but vital. The key to measuring investment performance in a representative fashion is to weight each asset by the amount of capital dedicated to holding that asset. In equity markets, this representative measurement of investment performance is accomplished through weighting indices by market capitalization.

For commodities, there is no direct counterpart to market capitalization. The problem is that commodities, and the related price risks, are held in a variety of ways – long futures positions, over-the-counter investments, long term fixed-price purchasing contracts, physical inventory at the producer, etc. – making a complete accounting of capital dedicated to holding commodities from the time they are produced to the time they are consumed infeasible. A simple way to achieve a close analog to true market capitalization, abstracting from differences in inventory patterns, is to note that the net long position of the economy is proportional to the quantity produced; hence, production weighting.

A Broad Spectrum of Commodities
The S&P GSCI™ contains as many commodities as possible, with the rules excluding commodities only to retain liquidity and investability in the underlying futures markets. Currently, the S&P GSCI™ contains 24 commodities from all commodity sectors: six energy products, five industrial metals, eight agricultural products, three livestock products and two precious metals.1 This broad range of constituent commodities provides the S&P GSCI™ with a high level of diversification, both across sub-sectors and within each sub-sector. This diversity minimizes the effects of highly idiosyncratic events, which have large implications for the individual commodity markets but are muted when aggregated to the level of the S&P GSCI™.

Together, the diversity of its constituent commodities and their economic weighting allow the S&P GSCI™ to respond in a stable way to world economic growth, even as the composition of global growth changes through time. When world growth is dominated by industrialized economies, the metals sector of the S&P GSCI™ generally responds more than the agricultural components. Similarly, when emerging markets dominate world growth, agricultural and petroleum-based commodities generally respond the most. Thus, for example, an index that significantly underweights agriculture would significantly underperform in a global economy with weak OECD and strong emerging markets growth, much as a stock index that only contained industrials would provide a misleading picture of a service-led economy.

As the GSCI transitioned from including Unleaded Gasoline to including RBOB Gasoline, the GSCI contained 25 commodities, 7 of which were in the energy sector. This transition period lasted from the August 2006 roll to the October 2006 roll.

Liquidity Constraints for Inclusion and Return Calculations
Individual commodities are screened by liquidity for inclusion in the S&P GSCI™. The eligibility requirements are designed to promote cost-effective implementation and true investability. Underlying liquidity eases hedging of derivative products and investing in sub-sector or individual commodity overlays. Furthermore, liquidity in the underlying futures markets facilitates the discovery of true market prices for the components of the S&P GSCI™. S&P GSCI™ returns are calculated (discussed in detail in the following section) based on the arithmetic average of stable long positions in futures contracts. This methodology, along with the liquidity in the underlying markets, allows easy implementation of the portfolio of futures contracts that the S&P GSCI™ represents. These characteristics of the GSCI are designed to allow for efficient and relatively inexpensive arbitrage of publicly traded S&P GSCI™ related instruments such as the CME futures contract.

Components, Weights, Index Levels and Construction


Currently, 24 commodities meet the eligibility requirement for the S&P GSCI™. A list of these components and their dollar weights in the S&P GSCI™ organized by subsector, is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: S&P GSCI™ Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

67.02
Crude Oil 32.45
Brent Crude Oil 12.14
RBOB Gas 3.19
Heating Oil 5.26
GasOil 5.17
Natural Gas 8.81
Industrial
Metals
6.69
Aluminium 2.73
Copper 2.50
Lead 0.35
Nickel 0.57
Zinc 0.55
Precious
Metals
3.56
Gold 3.26
Silver 0.30
Agriculture

16.53
Wheat 4.45
Red Wheat 1.08
Corn 4.11
Soybeans 2.80
Cotton 0.99
Sugar 1.80
Coffee 0.91
Cocoa 0.40
Livestock

6.20
Live Cattle 3.49
Feeder Cattle 0.63
Lean Hogs 2.07

Table 2 contains the index values for the S&P GSCI™ and its main sub-indices. All sub-indices of the S&P GSCI™ follow the same rules regarding world production weights, methodology for rolling and other functional characteristics as disclosed in the S&P GSCI™ manual.

S&P GSCI™ Index Values

Table 2: S&P GSCI™ Index Values (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P
GSCI™
317.9964
363.4456
3731.226
Energy

152.9052
240.0304
887.3656
Non-
Energy
239.5189
167.1581
1716.17
Industrial
Metals
194.3916
131.5747
891.7427
Precious
Metals
987.7637
109.6054
966.9378
Agriculture

246.8487
46.29209
475.3717
Livestock

203.905
226.8045
2328.617
Agriculture &
Livestock
217.2382
87.33241
896.7976

The S&P GSCI Reduced Energy, Light Energy and UltraLight Energy sub-indices track the performance of a rolling basket of front-month commodity futures using the same conventions as the S&P GSCI™. The S&P GSCI Reduced, Light and UltraLight Energy Indices contain all 24 commodities and differ from the benchmark S&P GSCI™ index only with regards to their lesser energy weighting. The S&P GSCI Reduced Energy Index calculation uses 1/2 of the S&P GSCI™ contract production weights for the energy components, while the S&P GSCI Light and S&P GSCI UltraLight Energy Index calculations use 1/4 and 1/8 of the S&P GSCI™ contract production weights for the energy components, respectively. Table 3 contains the index values for these two indices.

S&P GSCI Reduced and S&P GSCI Light Energy Index Values

Table 3: S&P GSCI Reduced and S&P GSCI Light Energy Index Values (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P GSCI
Reduced
Energy
297.9365
292.0944
2998.646
S&P GSCI
Light
Energy
277.1529
238.7915
2451.523
S&P GSCI
Ultra-Light
Energy
260.5213
205.5776
2110.571
S&P GSCI
Non-
Energy
239.5189
167.1581
1716.17
S&P GSCI
Agriculture
& Livestock
217.2382
87.33241
896.7976

Tables 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 contain the dollar weights for the S&P GSCI Reduced Energy, S&P GSCI Light Energy, S&P GSCI Ultra-Light Energy, S&P GSCI Non-Energy, and S&P GSCI Agriculture & Livestock Indices respectively.

Table 4: S&P GSCI Reduced Energy Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

50.40
Crude Oil 24.40
Brent Crude Oil 9.13
RBOB Gas 2.40
Heating Oil 3.96
GasOil 3.88
Natural Gas 6.62
Industrial
Metals
10.07
Aluminium 4.11
Copper 3.76
Lead 0.52
Nickel 0.86
Zinc 0.82
Precious
Metals
5.35
Gold 4.90
Silver 0.46
Agriculture

24.86
Wheat 6.69
Red Wheat 1.62
Corn 6.19
Soybeans 4.21
Cotton 1.48
Sugar 2.71
Coffee 1.36
Cocoa 0.59
Livestock

9.32
Live Cattle 5.25
Feeder Cattle 0.95
Lean Hogs 3.12

Table 5: S&P GSCI Light Energy Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

33.69
Crude Oil 16.31
Brent Crude Oil 6.10
RBOB Gas 1.60
Heating Oil 2.64
GasOil 2.60
Natural Gas 4.43
Industrial
Metals
13.46
Aluminium 5.49
Copper 5.02
Lead 0.69
Nickel 1.15
Zinc 1.10
Precious
Metals
7.16
Gold 6.55
Silver 0.61
Agriculture

33.24
Wheat 8.94
Red Wheat 2.17
Corn 8.27
Soybeans 5.63
Cotton 1.98
Sugar 3.63
Coffee 1.82
Cocoa 0.79
Livestock

12.46
Live Cattle 7.02
Feeder Cattle 1.27
Lean Hogs 4.17

Table 6: S&P GSCI Ultra-Light Energy Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

20.26
Crude Oil 9.81
Brent Crude Oil 3.67
RBOB Gas 0.96
Heating Oil 1.59
GasOil 1.56
Natural Gas 2.66
Industrial
Metals
16.18
Aluminium 6.60
Copper 6.04
Lead 0.84
Nickel 1.39
Zinc 1.32
Precious
Metals
8.61
Gold 7.87
Silver 0.73
Agriculture

39.97
Wheat 10.75
Red Wheat 2.61
Corn 9.94
Soybeans 6.77
Cotton 2.39
Sugar 4.36
Coffee 2.19
Cocoa 0.96
Livestock

14.98
Live Cattle 8.44
Feeder Cattle 1.53
Lean Hogs 5.01

Table 7: S&P GSCI Non- Energy Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

0.00
Crude Oil 0.00
Brent Crude Oil 0.00
RBOB Gas 0.00
Heating Oil 0.00
GasOil 0.00
Natural Gas 0.00
Industrial
Metals
20.29
Aluminium 8.28
Copper 7.57
Lead 1.05
Nickel 1.74
Zinc 1.65
Precious
Metals
10.79
Gold 9.87
Silver 0.92
Agriculture

50.12
Wheat 13.48
Red Wheat 3.27
Corn 12.47
Soybeans 8.49
Cotton 2.99
Sugar 5.47
Coffee 2.75
Cocoa 1.20
Livestock

18.79
Live Cattle 10.58
Feeder Cattle 1.92
Lean Hogs 6.28

Table 8: S&P GSCI Agriculture & Livestock Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Energy

0.00
Crude Oil 0.00
Brent Crude Oil 0.00
RBOB Gas 0.00
Heating Oil 0.00
GasOil 0.00
Natural Gas 0.00
Industrial
Metals
0.00
Aluminium 0.00
Copper 0.00
Lead 0.00
Nickel 0.00
Zinc 0.00
Precious
Metals
0.00
Gold 0.00
Silver 0.00
Agriculture

72.74
Wheat 19.56
Red Wheat 4.75
Corn 18.10
Soybeans 12.33
Cotton 4.34
Sugar 7.93
Coffee 3.99
Cocoa 1.74
Livestock

27.26
Live Cattle 15.36
Feeder Cattle 2.79
Lean Hogs 9.12

Table 9: S&P GSCI Agriculture Components and Dollar Weights (%) (December 5, 2008)
Agriculture

100.00
Wheat 26.90
Red Wheat 6.53
Corn 24.88
Soybeans 16.95
Cotton 5.97
Sugar 10.91
Coffee 5.48
Cocoa 2.39

S&P GSCI JPY Index Values

Table 10: S&P GSCI JPY Index Values (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P GSCI JPY

57.00291
48.52422
51.51084

S&P GSCI Agriculture JPY Index Values

Table 11: S&P GSCI Agriculture JPY Index Values (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P GSCI Agriculture JPY

70.38157
53.35991
56.6435
S&P GSCI Crude Index Values
Table 12: S&P GSCI Crude Index Values (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P GSCI Crude

225.9891
501.5224
1340.49

top ^
Construction of the S&P GSCI™
Three S&P GSCI™ indices are published: excess return, total return and spot. The excess return index measures the returns accrued from investing in uncollateralized nearby commodity futures, the total return index measures the returns accrued from investing in fully-collateralized nearby commodity futures, and the spot index measures the level of nearby commodity prices. Thus, the excess return and total return indices provide useful representations of returns available to investors from investing in the S&P GSCI™. In fact, the total return (i.e., the return on the S&P GSCI™ total return index) is the measure of commodity returns that is completely comparable to returns from a regular investment in the S&P 500 (with dividend reinvestment) or a government bond, while the return on the excess return index is comparable to the return on the S&P 500 above cash.

S&P GSCI™-TR Returns as of December 5, 2008

Table 13: S&P GSCI™ TR Returns (December 5, 2008)
Daily -5.37%
MTD -19.0%
YTD -50.0%
S&P GSCI™ Enhanced Strategies
Table 14: S&P GSCI™ Enhanced Strategies (December 5, 2008)


Spot
Excess Return
Total Return
S&P GSCI™ E10

195.8123
245.064
415.9661
S&P GSCI™Enhanced Commodity Index


480.1202
S&P GSCI™
UltraLight Energy Strategy 27
131.2306
115.7882
196.5489

Total Return, Excess Returns and Spot Indices
The S&P GSCI™ Total Return index measures a fully collateralized commodity futures investment that is rolled forward from the fifth to the ninth business day of each month. Currently the S&P GSCI™ includes 242 commodity nearby futures contracts. The S&P GSCI™ Total Return is significantly different than the return from buying physical commodities.

The S&P GSCI™ Spot index tracks the price of the nearby futures contracts, not returns available to investors. At the end of every business day, the S&P GSCI™ is composed of the same proportions by weight of the underlying commodities and expirations as the portfolio represented by the S&P GSCI™ Excess Returns.

Most important, the S&P GSCI™ Spot index cannot be compared directly with the S&P GSCI™ Total Return index, either conceptually or with a single mathematical operation.

On the first point, you CANNOT add T-bills to the spot return in order to draw a comparison with the S&P GSCI™ Total Return. In fact there is nothing you can do to make a direct comparison between the Spot and Total Return indices because they are measuring two very different kinds of investments.

Meanwhile, the S&P GSCI™ Excess Return measures the return from investing in nearby S&P GSCI™ futures and rolling them forward each month (on the fifth to ninth business days of each month), always keeping your investment in nearby futures. This is a leveraged futures investment. The S&P GSCI™ Excess Return (unlike the S&P Excess Return ) is NOT the return above cash. The S&P GSCI™ Excess Return cannot be compared directly to the S&P GSCI™ Total Return, either. The S&P GSCI™ Excess Return plus T-bills does not equal the S&P GSCI™ Total Return because it ignores the impact of the re-investment of T-bill collateral yield gains back into commodity futures, and gains (losses) from commodity futures back into (out of) T-bills.

As the GSCI transitioned from including Unleaded Gasoline to including RBOB Gasoline, the GSCI contained 25 commodities, 7 of which were in the energy sector. This transition period lasted from the August 2006 roll through the October 2006 roll.

Passive Portfolios

By design, the S&P GSCI™ reflects a passive portfolio of long positions in futures. However, unlike a passive equity portfolio, a passive futures portfolio requires regular transactions, for the simple reason that futures expire. Thus, the futures portfolio represented by the S&P GSCI™ is, in this way, comparable to a bond portfolio of a specific duration.

In the S&P GSCI's™ case, the maturity of choice is the nearby futures contract (i.e. the contract nearest to expiration). Futures contracts near to expiration are rolled forward (i.e. exchanged for futures contracts with the next applicable expiration date) at the beginning of their expiration months.

Many commodities, such as those in the energy and industrial metals sectors, have liquid futures contracts that expire every month. Therefore, these commodities are rolled forward every month. Other commodities, most notably agricultural and livestock products, have only a few contract months each year that trade with sufficient liquidity. Thus, these commodities, with futures that expire less frequently, roll forward less frequently than every month. Table 13 contains a listing of the expiration months included in the S&P GSCI™ in 2007.

Table 13: Contract Months in the S&P GSCI™ in 2007
Crude Oil All Cocoa Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec
Brent Crude Oil All Cotton Mar, May, Jul, Dec
Heating Oil All Aluminum All
GasOil All Copper All
RBOB Gasoline All Nickel All
Natural Gas All Zinc All
Wheat Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec Lead All
Kansas Wheat Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec Lean Hogs Feb, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct, Dec
Corn Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec Live Cattle Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec
Soybeans Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Nov Feeder Cattle Jan, Mar, Apr, May, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov
Coffee Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec Gold Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Dec
Sugar Mar, May, Jul, Oct Silver Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Dec


Roll Period

The rolling forward of the underlying futures contracts in the excess return index portfolio occurs once each month, on the fifth through ninth business days (the roll period). As explained above, some of the underlying commodity contracts expire in the next month and thus need to be rolled forward. The simplest way to think of the process is as rolling from one basket of nearby futures (the first nearby basket) to a basket of futures contracts that are further from expiration (the second nearby basket). The S&P GSCI™ is calculated as though these rolls occur at the end of each day during the roll period at the daily settlement prices.

The portfolio is shifted from the first to the second nearby baskets at a rate of 20% per day for the five days of the roll period. Until just before the end of the fifth business day, the entire S&P GSCI™ portfolio consists of the first nearby basket of commodity futures. At the end of the fifth business day, the portfolio is adjusted so that 20% of the contracts held are in the second nearby basket (i.e. a basket of future contracts that are farther from maturity), with 80% remaining the first nearby basket.

The roll process continues on the sixth, seventh and eighth business days, with relative weights of first to second nearby baskets of 60%/40%, 40%/60% and 20%/80%. At the end of the ninth business day, the last of the old first nearby basket is exchanged, completing the roll and leaving the entire portfolio in what we have been calling the second nearby basket. At this time, this former second nearby basket becomes the new first nearby basket, and a new second nearby basket is formed (with futures maturities further in the future) for use in the next month's roll.

The last key point to be made about the roll process is to specify exactly what the 80%/20% or other relative splits between nearby baskets mean. The roll percentages refer to contracts or quantities, not value. Taking the first day of the roll as an example, just before the roll takes place at the end of the day, the S&P GSCI™ consists of the first nearby basket. That portfolio, constructed the night before and held throughout the fifth business day, has a dollar value. For the roll, that dollar value is distributed across the first and second nearby baskets such that the number of contracts or the quantity of the first nearby basket is 80% of the total and the quantity held of the second nearby basket is 20% of the total.

The dollar value held of each nearby basket can then be calculated from those quantity weights by multiplying them by the prices of the futures contracts contained in each basket. As the baskets contain futures with different maturities for some of the commodities, the prices are generally close but not exactly the same. Hence, the percentage of the portfolio value (i.e. dollar weight) held in each basket is generally close to, but not exactly equal to, the 80%/20% split specified for the quantities.

The world-production weighting of the S&P GSCI™ is accomplished by keeping the quantity weights of the individual commodities within each basket proportional to world production weights, which are averages of historical production levels and are generally updated every year.

Investing

The S&P GSCI™ has a futures contract listed on the CME, making it a truly public index that has been traded by numerous market makers for over 12 years. An investment in the S&P GSCI™ accesses the liquidity of the underlying commodity markets and offers excellent price transparency.

There are numerous ways to invest in the S&P GSCI™ Commodity Index. OTC swaps on either the Excess or Total Return indices allow investors to have direct participation in the S&P GSCI™ Excess or Total Return indicies but also have an unlimited downside. Structured notes can be used to gain exposure while limiting the downside from investing. S&P GSCI™ futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange can be rolled monthly to replicate the S&P GSCI™ index. Third-party asset managers offer products providing commodity exposure that are benchmarked to the S&P GSCI™. Certificates and warrants on the S&P GSCI™ are available, but US residents are unable to invest via this method.

Disclosures

Standard & Poor's ® and S&P ® are registered trademarks of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and S&P GSCI™ is a trademark of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. and have been licensed for use by Goldman, Sachs & Co. This material is for the private information of the user, and neither Goldman Sachs nor S&P is soliciting any action based upon it. Neither Goldman Sachs nor S&P shall have any liability, contingent or otherwise, to the user or to third parties, for the quality, accuracy, timeliness, continued availability or completeness of the data nor for any special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages which may be incurred or experienced because of the use of the data made available herein, even if Goldman Sachs or S&P has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The information provided herein is not to be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal. The material is based upon information that we consider reliable, but we do not represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. Opinions expressed are our current opinions as of the date appearing on this material only. While we endeavor to update on a reasonable basis the information discussed in this material, there may be regulatory, compliance, or other reasons that prevent us from doing so. We and our affiliates, officers, directors, managing directors, and employees, including persons involved in the preparation or issuance of this material may, from time to time, have long or short positions in, and buy or sell, the securities, or derivatives (including options) thereof, of commodities or indices mentioned herein.

Reproduction and Re-Distribution: No part of this material may be (i) copied, photocopied or duplicated in any form by any means or (ii) redistributed without our prior written consent. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, and except as required to enable compliance with applicable securities law, you (and each of your employees, representatives and other agents) may disclose to any and all persons the U.S. federal income and state tax treatment and tax structure of the transaction and all materials of any kind (including tax opinions and other tax analyses) that are provided to you relating to such tax treatment and tax structure, without Goldman Sachs or S&P imposing any limitation of any kind.

Third-Party Research and Tools

Hudson Street, a Goldman Sachs business, focuses on providing unique content and tools that can be integrated into our clients' investment processes. Hudson Street provides two different types of services to our clients: Hudson Street Services provides access to unique content and tools; Hudson Street 3RB helps clients streamline the way they procure research and execute trades.

Vantage Marketplace LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., is a consulting service connecting clients directly with thought leaders across industries such as energy, retail and technology.

Man Group or Man Financial

Man Group plc (Man) is a leading alternative investment management business. It provides a range of funds for institutional and private investors globally. Through its principal division, Man Investments, it manages about USD 68 billion and employs around 1,800 people in 13 countries worldwide.

Man’s headquarters are at Sugar Quay in London, where it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It also has offices in the Bahamas, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Miami, Montevideo, New York, Rotterdam, Singapore, Sydney, Switzerland, Tokyo, and Toronto. It is a component of the FTSE 100 Index, with a market capitalisation of about USD 5.5 billion.

The Man Group can trace its origins back to 1783 when James Man first established a sugar broking business in the City of London. Man Group PLC is now a FTSE 100 company (EMG.L) and Man Financial is the Worlds largest Independant Futures Broker.

Company Additional Information

Services: Full service broking - internet trading and telephone service- FX daily research - in addition to our Foreign Exchange services we can offer Futures and options, CFD's and traditional stockbroking.
Languages: English, Italian
Trading platform: MTrade FX
Commisions on Forex: Variable
Bid/Ask spread on Major currencies: 3-5 pips
Maximum Leverage: 40:1
Minimal Deposit for Regular Account: $100,000
Free Demo Account: yes
Mini Forex Trading: yes

Retail forex or Swizz financial corp

In financial markets, the retail forex (retail currency trading or retail FX) market is a subset of the larger foreign exchange market. This "market has long been plagued by swindlers preying on the gullible," according to The New york Times. Whilst there may be a number of fully regulated, reputable international companies that provide a highly transparent and honest service, it's commonly thought that about 90% of all retail FX traders lose money.

It is now possible to trade cash FX, or forex (short for Foreign Exchange (FX)) or currencies around the clock with hundreds of foreign exchange brokers through trading platforms. The reason that the business is so profitable is because in many cases brokers are taking the opposite side of the trade, and therefore turning client capital directly into broker profit as the average account loses money. Some brokers provide an a matching service, charging a commission instead of taking the opposite site of the trade and "netting the spread", as it is referred to within the forex "industry".

Recently forex brokers have become increasingly regulated. Minimum capital requirements of US$20m now apply in the US, as well as stringent requirements now in Germany and the United Kingdom. Switzlerand now requires forex brokers to become a bank before conducting fx brokerage business from Switzerland.

Algorythmic or machine based formula trading has become increasingly popular in the FX market,with a number of popular packages allowing the customer to program his own studies.

The most traded of the "major" currencies is the pair known as the EUR/USD, due to its size, median volatility and relatively low "spread", referring to the difference between the bid and the ask price. This is usually measured in "pips", normally 1/100 of a full point.

According to the October 2008 issue of e-Forex Magazine, the retail FX market is seeing continued explosive growth despite and perhaps of losses in other markets like global equities in 2008.

GFX Group SA

GFX is a Forex broker based in Geneva, Switzerland. Our powerful and easy-to-use software, secure trading environment, and superior trading conditions have made GFX one of the leading Forex dealers in the world. GFX is recommended many financial websites dedicated to forex.

The GFX "GlobalTrader" software sets new standards in online trading functionality, performance, and ease of use. GlobalTrader takes only seconds to download and install, and performs flawlessly on Windows operating systems. Clients can trade 49 currency pairs, as well as gold and silver. Other advantages include instant online fills, free charts, real-time profit and equity tracking, fractional lot size capabilities, hedging capabilities, and 0.5% margin requirements.

With 35% of the world's private assets managed by financial intermediaries based in Switzerland, the country has a long established tradition as one of the world's largest financial centers. Customers are assured that GFX consistently meets the strictest standards of financial stability and proper handling of client funds. Furthermore, client funds are maintained segregated from GFX's capital, thereby offering security of funds.

GFX encourages clients to conduct as much due diligence as possible in their trading activities and in their choice of broker. We welcome client visits to our headquarters in Geneva, whether to meet our professional staff or simply see our operations first-hand.

GFX is supervised as a Financial Intermediary according to Swiss regulation with regards to anti-money laundering.

During the course of 2009 GFX plans on becoming a Swiss Bank, thereby offering its valued clients an even wider spectrum of financial products.

Regulatory Oversight

Trading Software

Safety of Customer Funds

Jobs at GFX

Referral Agents

Trading Managers / Asset Managers

Forex Trading with GFX

Gold and Silver Trading

Trading Conditions

Regulatory Oversight

With 35% of the world's private assets managed by financial institutions based in Switzerland, the country has a long established tradition as one of the world's largest financial centers. Customers are assured that GFX consistently meets the strictest standards of financial stability and proper handling of client funds. Furthermore, client funds are maintained segregated from GFX's own assets, thereby offering security of client funds.

GFX is supervised as a Financial Intermediary according to Swiss regulation with regards to prevention of money laundering, and is audited by KPMG.

Since the enforcement of the Federal law on prevention of money laundering of the 1st of April 1998 (LBA), Swiss regulatory authorities have considerably tightened financial controls of banks and financial intermediaries obliging the latter to be affiliated with and supervised by an accredited self-regulatory organization whose objective is to comply with the due diligence obligations with respect to the prevention of money laundering. Being affiliated with Polyreg (a self-regulated organization accredited by the Swiss Federal Dept of Finance), GFX is indirectly supervised by the Federal Department of Finance in Switzerland.

GFX's activities comply with Swiss regulation applicable to Financial Intermediaries active in the forex brokerage industry.

During the course of 2009 GFX plans on becoming a Swiss Bank, thereby offering its valued clients an even wider spectrum of financial products.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Trading Software

GFX GlobalTrader software is a powerful yet easy-to-use online trading system, setting new standards in online Forex trading.

Advantages include:

Instant order execution. Orders placed on the GFX software are executed immediately online. Traders can also place stops or limits on open positions or have them pre-set on market orders.

Optimum Compatibility and performance. GlobalTrader takes only seconds to download and install and will perform flawlessly on Windows operating systems. GlobalTrader's advanced programming design minimizes the use of your system resources.

Customizable Trading Window. Add only the currencies and metals you wish to trade and view live prices for. Select from an extensive list of currency pairs and spot metals.

Fractional lot sizes. Trading on GFX's software is not confined to only 1 lot increments. Clients can also trade .5 of a lot, 1.2 lot, or any other amount.

Breadth of products. Trade currencies or metals - all from the same window and with the same outstanding trading conditions.

Real-time account and margin information. Your account balance, usable margin, and value of open positions are displayed in the trading software in real-time.

Real-time Charts, News and Quotes. GFX GlobalTrader software includes charts, news, and quotes easily accessible from the menus.

Real-time account statements available online with one click. Historical trading results and account statements are easy to understand and can be generated instantly by the client from the trading software menus.

Multiple Account Trading. Trading managers and funds can trade multiple accounts from a single window. The GlobalTrader software allows a block order to be automatically split up among multiple customer accounts as specified by the trader.

Multiple order types supported. Traders can initiate a position with a Market order, a Limit order, or a Stop order. Positions can be closed with a Stop, Limit, At-the-market, or Trailing stop order.

Hedging capability. Clients can open positions in the same currency in opposite directions, without the positions offsetting and without using additional margin.

Service and Support. GFX clients have access to 24 hour technical support, as well as 24 hour trading by telephone or chat.

Safety of Customer Funds

Customers are assured that GFX consistently meets the strictest standards of financial stability and proper handling of client funds. Furthermore, client funds are maintained segregated from GFX's own assets, thereby offering security of client funds.

As of December 5 2007, GFX Group SA has maintained a minimum paid-up capital of CHF 10,000,000. This is a firm confirmation of the company’s financial stability, specifically in view of the anticipated growth in the coming year.

Audited Financial Condition by KPMG
As well as benefiting from adequate capitalization, thereby providing financial strength, GFX's accounts are audited by KPMG according to Swiss law.

Safety of Customer Funds

Customers are assured that GFX consistently meets the strictest standards of financial stability and proper handling of client funds. Furthermore, client funds are maintained segregated from GFX's own assets, thereby offering security of client funds.

As of December 5 2007, GFX Group SA has maintained a minimum paid-up capital of CHF 10,000,000. This is a firm confirmation of the company’s financial stability, specifically in view of the anticipated growth in the coming year.

Audited Financial Condition by KPMG
As well as benefiting from adequate capitalization, thereby providing financial strength, GFX's accounts are audited by KPMG according to Swiss law.

Jobs at GFX

If you fit one of the required profiles, please send your complete application including cover letter and CV to info@forex.ch.

Referral Agents

GFX offers an outstanding opportunity for individuals and corporations who wish to refer self-trading clients. Advantages of referring clients to GFX include:

  • Outstanding compensation scheme. GFX offers a volume-based compensation package with the Referral Agent.

  • A superior product to offer your clients. No one else can match GFX's breadth of product offerings and low margin requirements. In addition to major currencies and cross rates, your clients will also benefit from being able to trade precious metals and exotic currencies commission-free along with a leverage up to 200:1.

  • Advanced, real-time online reporting. With GFX, you can more effectively manage your back office - log in any time to GFX's online reporting system to run reports on trading activity of your referred accounts.

  • Secure trading environment. GFX is one of the top firms in the online trading industry, with a reputation for security of funds and financial stability.

Map IP Address
Powered byIP2Location.com