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  1. M

    Lack of bond market volatility

    Today the front month 30yr straddle settled at 1-17, 11 ticks lower from where it opened and a % vol of less than 7, around 6.80 or something like that. This is pretty much at an all-time low, and the scary thing is that paper sold about 4,000 of these straddles today. A couple of us were...
  2. M

    Trouble at Refco

    Sorry to create any confusion. Stuck paying high taxes here in the US.
  3. M

    Trouble at Refco

    I believe in Gibraltar you have to have net worth of a few million to obtain status for the tax rate of 10,000 euros. As for Montreal, I was looking on the IFC website and it shows a 75% tax holiday on personal income taxes and also breaks on contributions to the healthcare fund as long as you...
  4. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    Pimco getting out of a few two-year longs today, they sold 20,000 (that's right, a third of the 70,000 that traded, which was heavy volume for twos) two-year futures on the screen. The Pimco machine never sleeps. 2-10's down to a little more than 1 basis point today. Happy Holidays to...
  5. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    In terms of hedge funds, one of the guys next to me fills Treasury futures orders for a few of them out in NYC and Greenwich and I actually asked him this morning how many still have flatteners on, his reply was "only a few." As for the primary dealers, I think since the Hurricanes, which was...
  6. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    Yep, was definitely thinning out slowly as the day went on, that was a surprise though with Pimco coming in with such big size on a day they knew it would be thin. The craziest thing was they bought 5000 30yr bonds in the pit, and only moved it 3 ticks, even on the most liquid day I would tell...
  7. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    PIMCO getting out of more short bonds today, about 5000 bought in the pit and another couple thousand at least on the screen. Looks like good time to wait on those steepeners.
  8. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    Greenwich Capital calling for -40 basis points in the 2-10yr spread by mid 2006 and a 3.75% 10yr note. At that point the mortgage convexity hedgers will be in control (rather than the extension guys at higher yields). The path of least resistance seems to be towards continued flattening...
  9. M

    A Chicago vacation

    Agree with Pabst, not a ton of clubs and I generally stay out of those places so can't help you there. For bars I would recommend: McFadden's on State and Division, PJ Clarkes on the same street, Tavern on Rush if you feel like dressing up and paying a little too much for whatever you get (but...
  10. M

    advice: futures: trade 10 yr notes or brent crude on ice

    Seriously, why would anyone even think about trading Treasuries on PBOT. The liquid market is at the Chicago Board of Trade and will be for quite some time. Yes, exchange fees are somewhat higher, but liquidity is poor at any other exchange and you are being arbed against by machines so your...
  11. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    Agreed. I think by mid to late 2006 something will happen in terms of bond market volatility. At that point we will have been under Bernanke for about half a year and hitting possibly the end of our growth cycle while Europe and Japan are chugging along solidly. There are two enormous...
  12. M

    Yield Curve more or less flat

    The curve is at an interesting point right now, with some big players also jockeying around positions at the end of the year. Lately PIMCO has been taking off their FOB stepeners in size, last week about 70,000 x 25,000 on the futures side and who knows how much on the cash side. I think their...
  13. M

    Grain Alpha-Pit traders needed

    www.agtrading.com, out of chicago, tons of experience not sure of their strategy.
  14. M

    Pit Trading

    The edge now is much different, rather than profiting from the bid/offer during the heyday the locals are now using the floor to gather information about order flow. It seems to me they have slowly changed their trading styles to adapt to these much less volatile markets. They generally know...
  15. M

    Pit Trading

    It is quiet, but that does not necessarily mean there aren't guys trading. Every single local in the 10yr pit has a screen that they trade on (with one exception, Hardy Brumfield's filling broker and clerk). The same is said for the 2 and 5yr pits, as these guys are all spreaders, so...
  16. M

    Pit Trading

    The financials at the CBOT include just about every trader imaginable, it is trully a room full of diverse (from an intellectual standpoint) individuals. Most of the 30yr bond traders are pure outright traders that trade purely off of order flow. They use technical levels to a certain extent...
  17. M

    10Y UST Auction: 'managed' to get finally a good one?

    And again we hold the bid with the auction being dealer driven. There has to be a small squeeze out of this issue looks like. Still a light volume rally, only 500k trade so far in the tens. This issue might be a little rich vs. off-the-runs, but they have seen solid buying as well by foreign...
  18. M

    Pit Trading

    Daddyeaux, Are you Cargill looking to hedge 5,000 corn futures or a huge cattle lot looking to move 1,000 live cattle futures? My guess is probably not. Commodities are generally illiquid and thrive upon the liquidity (whether one tick wide or ten ticks wide) that locals bring to the table...
  19. M

    10Y UST Auction: 'managed' to get finally a good one?

    But we are bid. 7000 ten years were bought 5 minutes before the auction from 12.5 up to 14. Still holding at those levels. Dealers set-up short before hand and don't want to have to cover again. They got screwed doing that Monday when the foreign buying and CB's came in yesterday.
  20. M

    join Group One / DRW Trading Group or Goldman as i-banking analyst?

    Ronin Capital is quietly huge. John Hughes and a few other CRT guys there. They don't have any pit traders at the CBOT, but are the biggest upstairs options traders in the Treasury options and are enormous in Eurodollar options as well.
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