When The Levee Breaks
The soundtrack to the inexorable and belated move to electronic trading on US exchanges has to be Led Zepplin’s classic 1971 version of the blues song ‘When The Levee Breaks”:
Don’t it make you feel bad
When you’re tryin’ to find your way home,
You don’t know which way to go?
If you’re goin’ down South
They go no work to do,
If you don’t know about Chicago.Cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
Now, cryin’ won’t help you, prayin’ won’t do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move.All last night sat on the levee and moaned, [X2]
Thinkin’ about me baby and my happy home.
Going, going to Chicago… Going to Chicago… Sorry but I can’t take you…
Going down… going down now… going down….
Don’t know if the levee holding back the tide of electronic trading has broken yet, but the rumbling is growing louder by the day…
- Last week the CBOT’s members voted to allow their board to move agricultural products to electronic trading as an when they see fit.
- Nymex also confirmed it was looking to shutter it’s unsuccessful European floor trading operation and has been moving to extend the extent of electronic trading available on its main markets, as their members voted this week to approve the sale of a 10% stake in the exchange to General Atlantic the well-respected private equity firm known for its vision and promotion of technological innovation in financial services.
Might be worth putting a wager up on Long Bets* along the lines: when will the last open-outcry exchange in America? in the world? stop trading?
(*The purpose of the Long Bets Foundation is to improve long-term thinking. Long Bets is a public arena for enjoyably competitive predictions, of interest to society, with philanthropic money at stake. The foundation furnishes the continuity to see even the longest bets through to public resolution. This website provides a forum for discussion about what may be learned from the bets and their eventual outcomes.)
