Eurex launches mobile app for iOS and Android
Eurex launched in February the Eurex Mobile App for both iOS and Android phones. This application will provide investors with the ability to stay up to date at any time on Eurex Exchange derivatives and current market developments.
The Mobile App will provide prices and data for more than 1,500 futures and options. In-depth market information will be available for Eurex benchmark products such as DAX, Euro Stoxx 50 Options and Kospi 200 Options. The App will also grant users the ability to see contract specifications, e.g. heavily traded fixed income derivatives on Euro-Bund, -Bobl and -Schatz. Eurex news, tweets and LinkedIn posts will update automatically. The Eurex Mobile App is a free download for both iOS and Android and will be available in English and Simplified Chinese.
The launch of Eurex’s mobile application represents a growing trend in the derivatives industry, as more financial institutions are working toward bringing their content directly into the hands of investors. There are many apps on the market currently that are offered at no cost and provide stock quotes, prices and data. Eurex, CBOE, CME Group and Bloomberg currently provide those services. IntercontinentalExchange has been offering trade functionality. Eurex has not yet announced if trading will eventually be available on the mobile app.
EEX and CLTX create combined global offering
The European Energy Exchange and Cleartrade Exchange have combined to form a global offering in the commodities sector. EEX is one of the leading exchanges in the European power and natural gas market and CLTX is a Singaporean futures exchange founded in 2010. EEX is a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse, which will now own a 52% stake in CLTX.
This new offering, completed in December 2013, resulted in a combined group of over 300 members and 10 major asset classes. “The acquisition of CLTX is a perfect fit for our growth strategy…This is a significant milestone in the history of EEX and we are certain that CLTX is a very strong partner for the further growth of EEX Group,” said Peter Reitz, chief executive officer of EEX. Richard Baker, chief executive officer of CLTX, said, “Our team is looking forward to leveraging and being part of the resources and infrastructure of a large exchange group.”
EEX’s current product offering is comprised of energy and related products for power, natural gas, emission allowances and coal, while CLTX, rooted in the Asian market, offers products such as freight, iron ore, fuel oil and fertilizer. Together, EEX and CLTX will focus on delivering their combined expertise and services to a global member base.
This deal reflects an increasing enthusiasm amongst exchanges to get more involved in the Asian commodities sector. CME Group owns 25% of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives and IntercontinentalExchange Group just completed its acquisition of Singapore Mercantile Exchange.
ASX to introduce volatility controls to Equity Index Futures
ASX announced that it will introduce in May a range of volatility controls for equity index futures. The controls are being introduced to meet ASIC competition market integrity rules and include a number of system and procedure changes. Among the controls is a so-called “extreme trade range” feature, which will set the upper and lower price boundaries for a contract in a given trading session.
The new controls include an anomalous order threshold, which will prevent aggressive orders from entering the market. The AOT range will initially be set at 0.5% from the reference price. In addition, as part of the new controls, a regulatory halt will be introduced and applied to reset the reference price in the event of erroneous trading.
JPX targets 2016 for new trading platform
Japan Exchange, the company formed through the merger of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange, has begun searching for a new trading platform to replace the J-Gate system developed by OSE for trading futures and options. The exchange invited all solutions providers to submit proposals by early March and said it expects to select a new provider by the end of July, with the goal of launching the new platform by 2016.
The announcement came less than two months before the migration of TSE futures and options contracts, including the Topix stock index futures and the JGB government bond futures, to the J-Gate system. The migration stems from the decision taken after the merger was announced in 2011 to use TSE’s trading platform for cash equities and OSE’s platform for derivatives.
J-Gate was launched in February 2011 and is based on the Click XT platform developed by Nasdaq OMX. JPX did not provide details on the requirements for the new system, but said it needs a “new market design and next generation derivatives trading system” in order to become “the most preferred exchange in the Asian region.”
CME Group introduces new swaps trading tools
CME Group has introduced two new tools and a correlation research report to assist traders in managing interest rate exposure in their portfolios by allowing easier comparison of futures and swaps. The DSF Analytics Tool, the Invoice Spread calculator and the DSF Price Correlation Research will allow relationships between Deliverable Swap Futures and their corresponding spotand forward-starting swaps to be viewed quickly and efficiently and will provide the ability to view levels of invoice swap spreads and DSF swap spreads.
The DSF Analytics Tool will allow clients to view the relationship between the DSFs’ price, rate and risk to its respective corresponding OTC Spot and Forward Swap. The tool will also offer an approximation of the implied forward rate of each DSF contract. The Invoice Spread Calculator will provide levels of invoice swap spreads and DSF swap spreads. It will also list out hedge ratios, cheapest-to-deliver analysis and DV01 information for Treasury futures.
The DSF Price Correlation Research will outline the high correlation between DSF prices and corresponding par spotstarting OTC interest rate swap rates, as well as providing links to underlying correlation data used to conduct the research.
