In just a short time of operations, commodity trading floors in Vietnam have been facing continued difficulties with trading volume becoming less and less, with any solution still not in sight.
Earlier, departments and organizations inside and outside the country and the Ministry of Industry and Trade had eagerly taken part in developing commodity trading floors in Vietnam. As a result, the country had many trading floors established, such as Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Exchange Center, Vietnam Commodity Exchange and Sontin Commodity Exchange…………………………………Full Article: Source

Dubai’s government-owned commodities centre is launching a sharia-compliant commodity trading platform which Islamic banks in the Gulf could use to manage their short-term fund flows. The Tradeflow platform developed by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) allows trading of warehouse receipts, which represent ownership of commodities stored at warehouses.
Islamic banks cannot use conventional interbank money markets because of Islam’s ban on interest, so they have struggled with a shortage of instruments to manage liquidity………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. futures regulators are looking into whether high-speed traders indulged in “wash trading,” a strategy in which they improperly buy and sell futures contracts without taking a position in the market, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the probes.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating suspected wash trades by high-speed firms in futures contracts tied to crude oil, precious metals, agricultural commodities, and the S&P 500, among other underlying instruments, the people told the Journal. Wash trades are banned under U.S. futures law………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The BMC would give additional security to traders from situations such as the flash crash in the US market. The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the commodity derivatives markets regulator, has levied base minimum capital (BMC) for algo members five times higher than that of normal manual members. Until now, minimum base capital was determined by individual exchanges based on the membership criteria.
Interestingly, FMC has kept both the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) in the same category with Rs 50 lakh of BMC requirement for algo traders. Against that, the normal manual members should require to have a BMC of Rs 10 lakh…………………………………….Full Article: Source

India’s sixth nationwide commodity futures trading platform, Universal Comm-odity Exchange (UCX), is set to go live in April this year with at least 10 agri and non-agri commodities in its kitty. The exchange has enrolled a little 200 members for trading on its platform, which is awaiting the issuance of a unique trading code by the regulator, Forward Markets Comm-ission (FMC).
“We are in the process of getting a unique trading code for each of our registered members. Once that process gets completed, we would be ready for launch,” said Ketan Sheth, managing director of Commex Technologies, the promoter of UCX………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s gold market could get a boost from the debut of interbank trading on Monday, with analysts saying the move will enable traders to swap bullion in larger amounts and heighten the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment class.
Trades will be cleared and delivered under the auspices of the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, a subsidiary of China’s central bank, according to a Thursday statement by the Shanghai Gold Exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s internationalization of the yuan, also called the renminbi, is gaining pace now that the operator of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has unveiled the world’s first deliverable offshore yuan futures.
Giving traders a way to bet on yuan futures, through contracts based on yuan-U.S. dollar exchange rates, is “part of our strategy to expand beyond equities and equity-related derivatives,” said Charles Li, chief executive of the market operator, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Once the beating heart of global energy markets, the Nymex trading floor now seems to be in its death throes. Alexander Osipovich asks how much longer open outcry has to live – and whether we should be sorry to see it go.
It was only a few years ago that hundreds of traders were shouting, shoving and jockeying for position in the trading pits of the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Nymex, the world’s top marketplace for energy derivatives………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China has formally unveiled on Wednesday a physical trading platform for rare earth metals. The rare earth trading platform, found in Baotou in north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was launched by Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co. along with nine other firms and institutions.
Inner Mongolia holds more than half of the light rare earth output of the world………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s largest rare-earth producer plans to launch a trading platform, according to a company newsletter, in the nation’s latest attempt to exert more control over the pricing of the strategically important minerals.
Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co, China’s largest producer by output, plans to launch the physical-trading platform Aug. 8, it said on its website in an in-house company news report dated Friday. Baotou is leading about 10 major Chinese rare-earth producers to set up the platform, it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Hong Kong stock exchange will launch a new platform offering commodity trading and settlement within the Asian time zone, Ronald Arculli, former chairman of the local bourse operator, said.
Arculli - now an independent non-executive director of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing - said the move follows the recent HKEx acquisition of the London Metals Exchange………………………………Full Article: Source

French bank Societe Generale SA has launched an electronic trading platform focused on trading London Metal Exchange base metals futures, the category one ring dealing member of the exchange said Tuesday.
The platform, to be known as Alpha Metals, provides Societe Generale’s clients with direct access to the LME’s own electronic trading platform, LME Select. It also offers post-trade services………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), the country’s first commodity exchange in Pakistan, has signed an agreement with Catalyst IT Solutions to provide them with a technology platform whereby PMEX brokerage houses will be able to offer online trading platforms, mobile trading platforms and SMS alert services to their clients.
Under this agreement, Catalyst IT Solutions – a company that provides similar platforms to equity brokerage houses in Pakistan – has integrated its own front office trading software Kinetic with the Electronic Trading System (ETS) of PMEX in a manner that would enable brokers of PMEX to use this software as well as offer it to their clients………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Shanghai’s futures exchange is another step closer to what is no doubt its intended role as the globe’s premier commodity trading platform.
Now it plans to get in on crude oil trading by the end of the year as part of a longer-term plan to have these Chinese contracts getting equal pegging with existing contracts such as Brent crude futures………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Singapore-based GlobalORE will launch its physical iron ore trading platform Wednesday as efforts to set up a price benchmark gather momentum.
GlobalORE will operate trading windows on weekdays between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Singapore and China time, and its office will actively assist members who trade during this time period, the company said on its website Tuesday, without elaborating………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The concept of a virtual currency exchange, in which gamers can sign up with to trade their in-game currency with other types of virtual money as well as real-world ones, may see a “good idea”. However, it will be difficult to set up and flourish due to regulatory constraints and lack of game operators’ buy-in.
Charlotte Miller, research analyst at Juniper Research, believes that there is a space in the market for such exchange systems to exist………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is studying procedures for releasing crop reports as exchanges add trading hours for corn, soybeans, wheat, soybean meal, soybean oil, oats and rough rice, Secretary Tom Vilsack said.
CME Group Inc. (CME), owner of the world’s largest futures exchange and grain markets, plans to give traders access for 22 hours a day starting next week. The move will result in USDA releasing reports during trading hours. The department hasn’t decided whether to change its release schedule, Vilsack said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

STX Services BV, Europe’s leading voice and electronic broker in environmental based commodities, announced today that it has launched an electronic auction platform for the sale and purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (Guarantees of Origin (GoO)) relating to EU power consumption.
This unique auction, in which multiple buyers and sellers may participate concurrently, achieves a perfect simulation of an open market place. The design of the auction has been inspired by other well established markets, including metals and fixed income, in which auctions play an important role………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s first physical iron ore trading platform is set to debut on Tuesday, helping the world’s biggest buyer of the commodity boost its price-setting influence.
The timing looks perfect. Nearly all iron ore sold to China is now based on spot prices, with the industry evolving over the past two years after four decades of yearly-set contracts………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The country’s long-awaited Commodity Exchange and Warehouse Receipt System will still not be fully operational until the middle of next year.
The system will provide farmers with financing and ready market through trading in their produce as is the case with equities on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Its draft Legal and Regulatory framework has been developed and handed over to the Trade Ministry………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) is planning to launch a copper futures trading platform on the the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) in the “near future,” said Ahmad Bin Sulayem, DGCX’s chairman and head of DMCC.
“You’ll likely see in the near future this copper future on the DGCX,” he said. However, he did not specify a date………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to reconsider an application filed by MCX Stock Exchange (MCX – SX) to set up an equity trading platform.
The capital market regulator rejected MCX-SX’s application in September last, saying that the bourse had failed to comply with the norms on the shareholding structure stipulated for a stock exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Japanese bank Nomura and Swiss interdealer broker Compagnie Financiere Tradition have launched the first electronic trading platform to allow investors to trade exchange-traded-funds directly on the primary market in real time.
ETFs — funds tracking baskets of shares, bonds or commodities that are traded like stocks — have become increasingly popular among investors seeking cheap access to indexes without having to buy the underlying securities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

CME Group’s (CME) electronic oil trading platform, among the fastest in the world, crashed on Monday afternoon after being flooded by a surge of some 12,000 price quotes in the span of four minutes.
The platform remained down for more than an hour, forcing trading into the open outcry pits on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange, an increasingly rare scene these days thanks to the steady rise of electronic trading in recent years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

RTS Realtime Systems Group, a leading global trading solutions provider, today announced that the company now offers market access to the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx), China’s international commodity marketplace.
The move enables RTS clients – including commodity trading firms, hedge funds, asset managers, institutional investors and algorithmic traders – to trade, arbitrage and offset their risk with positions on HKMEx. RTS offers multi-asset class, ultra-low latency and high frequency connectivity to more than 135 exchanges and markets globally………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China launched its first physical iron ore trading platform Monday in Beijing in an effort to strengthen its pricing power of a commodity for which the nation is the world’s largest buyer.
The online platform was launched by the China Beijing International Mining Exchange in partnership with the China Iron and Steel Association and the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

According to analysts, the simple risk-on, risk-off trading patterns that characterised commodity markets in 2011 are unlikely to be as successful in 2012. Investors this year will have to move away from trading strategies that link commodities and other risk assets to the ups and downs of the dollar and instead focus more on the supply and demand particulars of each commodity.
For most of the second half of last year, a fresh scare in the euro debt crisis or a weak economic number could lead to a rise in the dollar, and risky assets such as equities and many commodities would sell off in lockstep………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Algorithmic traders are now a significant presence in energy markets. Alexander Osipovich explores how they’re changing the game for human traders. They made their debut on the stock market, and gained notoriety after the ‘Flash Crash’ of May 6, 2010. Today, algorithmic traders who use computers to execute thousands of trades in seconds have become major players in energy markets, too.
And that has sparked debate among long-time market participants over whether the high-tech newcomers are to be welcomed or feared…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The European Union is seeking limits on commodities derivatives and curbs on high-frequency trading as part of proposals to overhaul the region’s financial-market rules.
Today’s plans, which also include a crackdown on so-called dark pools, are aimed at reducing market volatility, increasing regulatory oversight and promoting competition. Specific measures include requiring national regulators to either cap the number of commodity derivative contracts that traders can enter into, or make “alternative arrangements” with the same effect………………………………………Full Article: Source

Last week, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world’s largest derivatives market, unveiled a range of new services that will allow its member firms to trade faster than ever on its market. The announcement underlines the increasing desire among high speed trading firms, known as high frequency traders, to diversify into a range of new asset classes – the latest being commodities.
High frequency trading firms use sophisticated algorithms to exploit temporary pricing differences across markets……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Germany’s RTS Realtime Systems Group is planning to open a data center in Mumbai in a partnership with India’s Tata Communications to cater for the financial services market. It also acquired First Futures Software Engineering (FFS), a technology solutions provider based out of Pune, India, this week.

The new Mumbai data center will be built to offer hosting services for firms trading on multiple Indian Exchanges, including the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Africa will benefit extensively by interconnecting different commodity exchanges in the continent, said Dr Chris Muyunda the Director of Development at the African Commodity and Futures Exchange the African continent.
He said countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region could gain a lot from interconnecting their commodity exchanges……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Eurex, Deutsche Börse’s derivatives exchange, launched options and futures on two commodity exchange-traded funds last week to increase the profile of its commodity derivatives franchise by tapping the booming global ETF market.
The funds, also known as exchange-traded commodities, will give Eurex clients greater exposure to two of the most liquid commodity markets, gold and crude oil……………………………………….Full Article: Source

As traders diversify to realise greater opportunities for arbitrage and move into new markets, the demand for cross-asset class trading capabilities has never been greater. What solutions are out there and how traders are increasingly looking for platforms that can trade equities, derivatives, FX and commodities and how the search for low and ultra low latency is defining the evolution of the market.
Banks, brokers and traders are increasingly breaking down silos, ending the traditional separation of asset classes into distinct business activities with incompatible trading systems……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Regulators will impose minimum technical standards on trading platforms after crashes have become more commonplace due to reliability being sacrificed for speed, a consultancy said on Wednesday.
Frederic Ponzo, managing partner at GreySpark, which advises investment banks on trading, said systems are becoming leaner to bump up speed, making them brittle and prone to glitches. ………………………………………Full Article: Source

Ace Derivatives and Commodity Exchange Limited, a Kotak Group anchored commodity exchange in India, has successfully completed integration of the Bloomberg Global Identifier (’BBGID’). The Exchange supports Bloomberg’s Open Symbology (BSYM), and is the first exchange to adopt the BBGID in Asia.
Dilip Bhatia, Chief Executive Officer of Ace Commodity Exchange said, “We see Bloomberg’s Open Symbology gaining traction, in particular amongst exchanges, because it is assigned at the exchange level. This fulfills an ongoing need of our customer base.” (Press Release)

The gold bears and doubters - and the silver bears in particular - have had great success in driving the prices of these two precious metals downwards but are we looking at more of the same to come, or perhaps consolidation and another take-off?
The pattern of price movements we are seeing currently, with strong upwards and downwards fluctuations for both metals, but particularly for the more volatile silver, suggest to this observer that, although there may be some more short term shocks in store………………………………………Full Article: Source

Hong Kong is on track to kick off a new gold-futures trading platform with settlement in the physical metal next month, marking the emergence of a second exchange in the city offering leveraged bets on the metal’s rise.
The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, known as HKMEx, said it received regulatory clearance to launch gold-futures trading on May 18, according to a statement by the exchange Wednesday……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MexDer), the derivatives subsidiary of the Mexican Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana BMV), the second largest exchange in Latin America, and CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the successful launch of their south-to-north connection, giving Mexican investors access to CME Group’s benchmark derivatives contracts including interest rates, foreign currencies, equity indexes, energy, metals and agricultural commodities.…………………………………….Full Article: Source

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s plan to create a repository for commodity trade reporting has been met with scepticism. No one disputes the need for more transparency in commodities, though there is little consensus on which group should administrate such a system.
Under all scenarios the undertaking is enormous and groundbreaking for commodities……………………………………….Full Article: Source

CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE) and NYSE Euronext may create venues for derivatives that now trade over the counter to capitalize on proposed rules designed to bring more transparency to the $583 trillion market.
The exchange operators may form swap-trading platforms for privately negotiated derivatives that the government plans to move onto regulated trading systems or exchanges that will provide public data about prices and transactions, according to interviews with company executives over the last week……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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From Commodities-now.com: ETF Securities Limited, pioneers in specialist exchange traded products (ETPs), has enhanced its exchange traded commodity (ETC) platform, ETFS Commodity Securities Limited (CSL), with the addition of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, via Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc., (MLCI), as a second counterparty.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch will join UBS AG as a Commodity Contract Counterparty to CSL. Such appointment will become effective on or after 13th April 2011……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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From Stuff.co.nz: International dairy companies appear to be lining up to join Fonterra’s online dairy products sales platform, globalDairyTrade, after slating its impact on markets when it was launched three years ago.
The New Zealand dairy giant has, since gDT’s inception, been keen to get other companies on board to improve price discovery and market risk management……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Business-standard.com: Omnesys Technologies, a leading India based provider of multi-asset trading tools and systems and an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) empanelled by the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), announced that it has co-located its servers within the Exchange’s Data Centre in Dubai.
DGCX is the leading derivatives exchange in the Middle East. In 2010, Omnesys became the first Indian software vendor to go live on DGCX using FIX Protocol……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Businessinsider.com: High frequency trading (HFT) platforms have low cost bases; are agile and dynamic. 1. HFT platforms have raised questions about the viability of big traditional exchanges in recent years because they have eaten away at their core profitability.
2. HFT creates unprecedented stiff competition in the trading of cash equities as well as other asset classes such as bonds and commodities including their derivatives……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Investorsoffshore.com: The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX) has announced that the Middle East and North Africa’s first ever multi‐asset exchange will commence live operations on February 7, 2011. The official launch of the BFX will be marked by a ceremony held under the patronage of Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain on February 1.
The Exchange will adopt a phased approach to its trading whereby its Islamic division, Bait Al Bursa, will start its e‐Tayseer platform for general use on February 7, and its conventional segment will start on March 7……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Mondovisione.com: As a further win for its exchange technology offering, Patsystems is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the key technology provider for the newly established Vietnam Commodity Exchange (VNE).
VNE was officially introduced at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on 20th October by the SME Securities Joint Stock Co (SMES) and by Trieu Phong Gold International Joint Stock Co (TPG). VNE will initially trade in Steel, Rubber, and Coffee – some of Vietnam’s biggest exports. It will also provide an additional financial tool for producers and traders to protect themselves against price fluctuation risks……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Mineweb.co.za: The trading volume on COMEX may have been dwindling towards the end of the year, but the open interest structured in the major options series points to more volatility and the risk, on this basis at least, is very much to the upside.
The open charts here show the overall interest in the February and April call options series on COMEX as of the close of business on 28th December, and the same exposure, but adjusted by the delta, as of the close of business on the same day……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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From Theglobeandmail.com: Gone are the days when day traders – outfitted in boxers and a T-shirt sitting at their kitchen table with nothing more than a browser and a lot of java – effortlessly raked in the cash.
In today’s era of high frequency trading, hedge funds and other large traders are doling out hundreds of thousands to math whizzes to crank out complex algorithms to manage trades, automatically, in nanoseconds. In this rapid-fire world, day traders in their former incarnation stand little chance……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Global brokerage Newedge Group SA said on Monday it planned to offer clients access to four Chinese futures markets so they can tap into growth potential in one of the world’s largest economies.
“This is the first platform to offer access in English to Chinese exchange contracts. Further, the platform offers monthly spreading functionality within Chinese exchange-traded contracts,” Mike Frawley, global head of metals at Newedge, said in a release……………………………………….Full Article: Source

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