Trading Stocks in One-Billionth of a Second:

http://stockmarketchartanalyst.blogspot.com/

John C. Ogg - June 14, 2011

The pace at which the market trades stocks, bonds, currencies, and futures seems to have once again become faster than anyone could have ever imagined. Forget a few hundred automated trades a second impacting the markets … If all claims are true, trading in the sub-nanosecond barrier is reality.

High Frequency Trading, what is called HFT on Wall Street, is a mystery to most investors. Its aim is to make money from market inefficiencies via programs that analyze data and which make automated trading decisions that can last for fractions of a second or which can last for a fraction of day. Any market from currencies, to stocks, to futures and options, and other financial instruments can have heavy amounts of HFT influence.

HFT has been a target of Main Street and Washington D.C. for an obvious reason. HFT often excludes Joe Public, leaving the typical investor at a huge disadvantage against the professionals. That’s not the entire story, however. Some successful independent active traders use many tools and tricks of HFT. If the claims are real, those who can afford it will be able to trade stocks, currencies and other electronic market securities in less than one-billionth of a second.

Yes, under 1/1,000,000,000… This is under the nanosecond barrier and that is what has been claimed by an outfit called Fixnetix.

Demonstrations of the technology are taking place this week at the SIFMA Financial Services Technology Expo 2011 in New York. The company has announced its iX-eCute, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) microchip for “ultra-low latency trading” that is called “the world’s fastest trading appliance for the financial markets.” It says that customers are now seeing latencies as low as 740 nanoseconds through the stack, or wire-to-wire.

The company also noted that this is not just for speed but also for regulatory use. It claims that 20+ pre-risk checks take less than 100 nano seconds.

Fixnetix claims that iX-eCute has no detrimental impact on trading performance with the necessary risk controls as it enforces pre-market risks at nano-second time frames yet still prevents trade latency. It noted that ” Unlike other solutions, the iX-eCute microchip has near zero impact on latency for governing the required checks directed by the recent SEC Rule 15c3-5 and anticipated declarations from other regulatory governing bodies.”


The company has also noted, “Fixnetix iX-eCute microchip can be utilized as a standalone trading gateway which clients can connect to via 1/10 or 40gig Ethernet or as an integrated system in your own x86 or P-series systems to access iX-eCute via PCIe direct memory drivers to gain the ultimate trading speed.” In short, this is a trading gateway that acts as a single interface for multiple financial markets around the globe in multiple asset classes.

Securities Technology Monitor noted on June 10, “Hanweck Associates of New York said its Volera trading and risk management system is capable of calculating 8 million prices a second, using graphics processors in combination with general purpose central processors. The engine is in use at the International Securities Exchange, an all-electronic options exchange.” Effectively, it noted that it has an analytics engine that can price 150 million options in just 17 seconds.

Some firms must have this, whether the argument about “how much advantage comes at what cost” has to be brought up. Here are some scenarios to consider:

Imagine being the fund manager for a high-volume leveraged ETF that uses derivatives, futures, stocks, and options as buy and sell orders come in throughout the day. These funds cannot say that they will reconcile hourly or at the end of the day even if they are honest about the risks of tracking error.

You run a global fund that simultaneously trades currencies, equities via futures and e-minis, bonds, and commodities. Imagine the day that the machines decide to unload $10 billion in bonds to suddenly rotate into equities and hard commodities.

And lastly, the “hope”…. You are a regulatory agency or a risk management professional, and suddenly you can track millions of transactions in literally seconds that flag unusual trading patterns or which put a firm’s capital outside of the legal risk parameters.

With most benefits or advantages, risks follow. Markets can move faster than humans can react, often without rhyme or reason. The Flash Crash was the most recent example that will stand out. The benefit is that institutions could exit or enter positions for billions of dollars in literally a fraction of a second. The bad news is that it could happen so fast that the investment community from retail to most institutional investors to exchanges to regulators might not even notice in time to react.

If a transaction can occur in under one-billionth of a second, then in theory more than one-billion transactions could be transacted in one second as well. Imagine a scenario where the DJIA rallies 100 points in just a few seconds and then sells off by the same amount or more in the following few seconds. It sounds grossly exaggerated, but it might not be.

http://agoracom.com/ir/ECU/forums/discussion/topics/488407-latest-computer-trades/messages/1564145#message

Stocks Surge after Alcoa, CSX Report Strong Profits:

Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer, On Tuesday July 13, 2010, 4:53 pm

NEW YORK (AP) -- The stock market got a shot of confidence and adrenaline from the start of second-quarter earnings season.

Investors were enthusiastic Tuesday about better-than-expected profits from aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. and railroad operator CSX Corp. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 145 points and the major indexes were up well over 1 percent.

There was more good news from Intel Corp. after the close of trading. The chip maker reported earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations, and it also raised its forecast for the year. Its stock shot up more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.

The companies, among the first to report second-quarter earnings, also issued upbeat forecasts for the rest of the year. That was heartening news for investors who have been concerned that the recovery was stalling, or that the economy might even fall back into recession.

"When we go back to earnings and fundamentals, companies are delivering," said Tom Karsten, senior managing partner at Karsten Financial in Fort Worth, Texas.

Alcoa's earnings reports are closely watched because its varied customer base provides a snapshot of a broad range of other industries. It is also a component of the Dow Jones industrial average. CSX also provides insight into economic activity because it ships a wide range of products.

Alcoa said global consumption of aluminum will grow this year by more than it had forecast just three months ago. There have been concerns that the global economic recovery will end as many European nations face mounting government debt problems and high unemployment slows growth in the U.S.

CSX, meanwhile, said it sees its the economy's upward momentum continuing this year.

Intel's results are considered a good gauge of the health of the economy since its sales are driven by consumers and businesses buying computers.

Frank Ingarra, co-portfolio manager of Hennessy Funds in Stamford, Conn., said Alcoa and CSX's results lifted the market because they hit on the two themes that traders are looking for in earnings: revenue growth and optimistic outlooks.

"That's why the earnings were so good," Ingarra said. "You saw that top-line growth and good guidance."

During the recession, companies that made money often did so by cutting costs rather than bringing in sales. So sales growth is a sign that business is indeed picking up.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the U.S. trade deficit increased to its widest level in 18 months as an increase in exports was outpaced by rising imports. A jump in both imports and exports is a sign that the economy is growing.

Earnings will likely continue to dictate trading over the next few weeks as hundreds of companies release results.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 146.75, or 1.4 percent, to 10,363.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.59, or 1.5 percent, to 1,095.34, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 43.67, or 2 percent, to 2,242.03.

http://yhoo.it/bbZZat

CYCC - Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals - Announces FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Sapacitabine in Both AML and MDS:

Press Release Source: Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. On Thursday July 1, 2010, 7:00 am EDT

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J., July 1, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:CYCC), a biopharmaceutical company developing oral therapies that target the various phases of cell cycle control for the treatment of cancer and other serious disorders, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to the company's sapacitabine (CYC682) product candidate for the treatment of both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

"Orphan drug designation for both AML and MDS significantly strengthens the value proposition represented by sapacitabine and enhances our opportunity to advance this promising product candidate to late stage clinical development and commercialization," said Spiro Rombotis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cyclacel.

Sapacitabine, a cell cycle modulating nucleoside analogue, is in Phase 2 studies for the treatment of AML in the elderly, MDS and lung cancer. Cyclacel has reported Phase 2 results from ongoing studies in AML and MDS. The company plans to advance sapacitabine into pivotal Phase 3 development in 2010. During the first quarter of 2010, the company submitted a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) request to the FDA for a randomized Phase 3 study of sapacitabine in elderly patients with AML.

Orphan drug designation entitles Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals to seven years of marketing exclusivity for sapacitabine upon regulatory approval, as well as the opportunity to apply for grant funding from the U.S. government to defray costs of clinical trial expenses, tax credits for clinical research expenses and a potential waiver of the FDA's application user fee. Orphan status is granted by the FDA to promote the development of new drug therapies for the treatment of diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Cyclacel-Pharmaceuticals-pz-2152455345.html?x=0&.v=1

VIDEO - Fundamental & Technical Analysis of the S&P 500's Daily & Weekly Charts:

Here is the end of the week Technical Analysis of the S&P 500's daily and weekly charts, plus a look at the important Economic and Earnings Reports due out next week...

Happy Trading this week...
zigzagman

$POZN Gets FDA Approval for Pozen Inc.'s Pain Drug - Vimovo:

POZN - US FDA OK's AstraZeneca, Pozen Inc.'s Pain Drug:

Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:19pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN3015546220100430?rpc=44

* Agency clears drug for U.S. market

* Vimovo includes naproxen and Nexium ingredient

* Pozen shares up more than 21 percent after-hours

POZN Conference Call link: http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/5/113585.html

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and Pozen Inc's (POZN.O) pain drug Vimovo, an agency spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.

Vimovo is a fixed-dose combination of the anti-inflammatory drug naproxen and an immediate release version of esomeprazole, the active ingredient in AstraZeneca's acid reflux treatment Nexium.

Shares of Pozen were up more than 21 percent, or about $2.30, in after-hours trading on Friday, trading at $13.15, after earlier closing at $10.85. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London and Vidya Loganathan in Bangalore; editing by Carol Bishopric)

POZN is currently halted...Per the Nasdaq.com website:

http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=TradeHalts

No time is given for resumption of trading...

There was a huge Bear Raid at 12:37 this afternoon, as the MM's took out all of the stop-loss limit orders people had in place:



POZN After-Hours Chart shows it closed at $13.15 when it was halted for "news pending":