optionable

[new$]

optionable was riding high a month ago then a canadian bank dumped them, nymex announced going to cme with crude options. do you know if these will be american options ? is nymex to continue with clearport/optionable crude options? anybody got the inside scoop? what is your guess will be best way to trade american puts/calls 6 mos from now?

 

[PJKIII]

Quote from new$:

optionable was riding high a month ago then a canadian bank dumped them, nymex announced going to cme with crude options. do you know if these will be american options ? is nymex to continue with clearport/optionable crude options? anybody got the inside scoop? what is your guess will be best way to trade american puts/calls 6 mos from now?

Yes the electronic options will be American style....the NYMEX offers European style as well as Asian but they trade only on Clearport (OTC). The fact that you will be able to trade options on Globex will not affect the Cleaport system. Too soon to tell, but I am certainly hopeful that trading options electronically gains in popularity and that there will be sufficient liquidity to make that the premier venue to trade energy and metals options for smaller participants going forward.

I don't know why you wrote Clearport/Optionable when referring to Clearport crude oil options...but regardless they will not be affected.

 

[new$]

Thanks PJKIII. I wrote Clearport/Optionable because Optionable wrote the software that allowed Nynex to electronically trade crude options-they bought about 18% of Optionable and then went with Globex which is due out in June I think.
I’m unclear why Nymex will keep both-does Clearport serve a different type user than Globex will?

 

[PJKIII]

Quote from new$:

Thanks PJKIII. I wrote Clearport/Optionable because Optionable wrote the software that allowed Nynex to electronically trade crude options-they bought about 18% of Optionable and then went with Globex which is due out in June I think.
I�m unclear why Nymex will keep both-does Clearport serve a different type user than Globex will?

Was aware that NYMEX owned a stake in Optionable, but was not clear that they wrote the software for Cleaport--thanks for that info. As I understand it, the options that trade on Globex will be regular American-style options that heretofore have had to be executed in the options ring either with paper on the other side or more commonly with a market maker serving this purpose for a premium. The Clearport system is for bilateral OTC options transactions and futures (offering lots of products from power to coal to basis swaps all over the world), that are typically executed by one of the voice brokers and cleared through the NYMEX, and that is known as Clearport Clearing. They also had a system called Clearport Trading for the same products that was supposed to compete with ICE and behave more like a future would where you could trade on the screen with an anonymous counterparty, but there was insufficient liquidity so that never took off. With Clearport Clearing there is an anonymous counterparty that has taken the other side of the trade, but you use one of the voice brokers (ICAP, Amerex, Prebon, TFS, GFI, etc.) to find that counterparty and put the deal together before clearing it through the exchange. That's how I understand it, if I am missing something anyone else is more than welcome to correct me...