For those in the futures industry hoping that the pace of change would relent in 2002, there was disappointment ― but why would anyone want relief, as new products and new technologies have allowed traders to exploit the added volatility in the market? However, that is not to say everything is rosy in the futures world. For a year that has seen such unprecedented growth and numerous volume records fall, there is an unsettling discord brewing between the futures commission merchant (FCM) community and the traditional U.S. futures exchanges. Key to the discord is the FCMs desire to reduce their clearing and execution costs through common clearing or freedom to clear initatives and to take advantage of competing futures contracts by having fungible futures contracts. Mainling domestic futures exchanges see these requests as a threat to their franchises and vow to fight them, though they continue to offer compromise aroung the edges.
展开▼
