The loud, intense and fast–paced action of the trading floor is an image as old as the financial markets. Traders have traditionally been required to stay on or near the floor lest they miss critical price moves. But with a pioneering new wireless monitoring service from PageNet and the Chicago Board of Trade, futures traders for the first time are free to do their jobs remotely – while grabbing lunch, sitting in a business meeting or playing a round of golf.
Every three minutes during the trading day, the new monitoring service sends the latest pricing and market trend information to a lightweight, handheld wireless messaging device with the familiar look of a PC screen. Traders can follow futures contracts ranging from agricultural commodities to equity indices and bond prices.
Updates include graphs and spreadsheets breaking down the day’s price trends and customized alerts that notify traders when specific pricing thresholds are crossed. The Motorola–made device can be upgraded and further customized to the individual trader’s needs. The device also comes preloaded with an inbox for paging messages, a phone book, a calendar and other functions to help traders manage their busy lives while on the go.
“As part of the Chicago Board of Trade’s ongoing effort to deliver cutting–edge technology to our members, we are proud to partner with PageNet to deliver this liberating service, which will keep members informed of all the latest news that might affect their trading positions, whether or not they are on the trading floor,” said Patrick Arbor, chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade. “We are already seeing great excitement about the product among our traders.”
Commodity monitoring service has been developed to initially track 13 futures contracts, including commodities such as beans, wheat, corn, oats, rice, meal and oil; the Dow Jones Industrial Average equity index; and financial futures including bonds, notes and municipal bonds. Additional contracts are planned in the future.
The service’s data–rich feed is compiled by the Chicago Board of Trade
and sent via PageNet’s network to users. Information is organized and displayed on
four screens on the device:
• An alert screen permits the trader to set high and low thresholds for
specific contracts. A tone or vibration alerts the trader when a threshold is crossed.
• The information, including the latest futures price screen is a spreadsheet
display giving users instant access to price and net change from the previous day’s
settlement price. Information on this screen is updated every three minutes with time and
date of the update displayed on the screen.
• The futures graph screen provides an instant graphic view of the day’s
price trends, updated every 15 minutes.
• The futures close screen gives end–of–day close information
including last price, net changes, settlement price and the day’s high and low.
The service can be easily upgraded. No changes in hardware are necessary to add future programs and services. Traders can simply download application updates and other information directly from their PCs.
PageNet is the world’s largest wireless messaging and information provider with more than 10 million subscribers in the United States, Canada and Spain. PageNet offers a rapidly expanding range of personal messaging and information services, including two–way messaging, Internet–based messaging and broadcast and customized news and information services. The company also develops and integrates advanced wireless solutions for large corporate clients. Detailed information and coverage maps for PageNet service are available on the Internet at www.pagenet.com
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