Financial Futures Markets

Co-authored by Mark Powers who has been called one of the ``founding fathers of financial futures,'' this revised text contains more material than the previous edition. Along with expanded coverage of fixed income securities and foreign currency markets, it includes new chapters on portfolio insurance; interest rate and foreign currency swaps; options on fixed income securities and other topics of current interest.

Beating the Financial Futures Market provides you with a straightforward, historically proven program to cut through the noise, determine what bits of information are valuable, and integrate those bits into an overall trading program designed to jump on lucrative trading opportunities as they occur. It will help you improve both your percentage of winning trades and the bottom line profitability of those winning trades.

The futures market is a lucrative trading area but as a topic it presents certain complexities. This updated work covers the subject in an easily-accessible format.

This is a comprehensive guide to the workings of the world’s commodity and financial futures and options markets. For all those new or already active in the futures and options markets, it is a handbook of first and last resort for traders, brokers, advisers and investors alike, and is written by a highly experienced market practitioner with contributions from leading experts in the field. It begins with an examination of the markets and instruments - including the OTC market and erivatives, and goes on to explain trading, regulation and management. It also evaluates the likely future developments in futures and options.

Although the financial futures and options markets have only existed since 1972, many current participants have little understanding of their genesis. This unique work offers a much needed historical perspective that provides important insights into the basic functioning of the markets. Petzel explains how these relatively new investment products originated, how they are used, and how the markets in which they are traded work. Petzel begins with an overview of the first fifteen years of financial futures, examining both successes and failures and developing a basic hypothesis of what components are necessary for success. The next two chapters present the fundamentals of futures and options for those who need a thorough grounding in basic concepts such as the standard elements of futures contracts, margins, types of trading, and the structure of the exchanges. Subsequent chapters address equities market strategies, interest rate strategies, and foreign currency futures and options. In the final chapter, Petzel discusses accounting, tax, and regulatory issues that affect the development and trading of financial futures and options. Written for professionals in corporate finance and in the financial services industry who have had little exposure to financial futures and options, the guide includes general examples as well as detailed explanatory tables and figures. The author focuses throughout on the use and construction of contracts, rather than providing particular trading advice or touting any one system of trading.