For Crying Out Loud: From Open Outcry to the Electronic Screen - Hardcover

Melamed, Leo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470229438 ISBN 13: 9780470229439

Publisher: Wiley, 2009

Synopsis

A follow-up to Leo Melamed on the Markets, this book covers the developments in the futures markets since 1992 and discusses their transition through the digital age. The author, a recognized founder of financial futures, details the global issues confronting the futures market. You’ll learn how financial markets have allowed investors to manage generalized risks to both reduce exposure or enhance value to capture increased profits. Additionally, you'll discover trends, technology, and products that have shaped the world of futures and options, and what the future holds.

About this title

About the Author

Leo Melamed is globally recognized as the founder of financial futures. In 1972, as chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group), he launched currency futures with the creation of the International Monetary Market (IMM)—the first futures market for financial instruments. He is currently Chairman Emeritus of CME Group and CEO of Melamed & Associates, Inc. Melamed has been an adviser to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and serves as special adviser on futures markets to governments worldwide. He is also the author of Leo Melamed on the Markets (Wiley), The Tenth Planet (Bonus Books), Escape to the Futures (Wiley), and editor of an anthology entitled The Merits of Flexible Exchange Rates (George Mason University Press).

From the Back Cover

In Praise of For Crying Out Loud

"Endowed with strong parents and a bit of luck, Leo Melamed has made a remarkable escape from Nazi occupied Poland to building one of the pinnacles of global finance. Over four decades and more, he was the leading force in bringing his beloved 'Merc' from obscure trading pits for butter and eggs, and pork bellies to a model of electronic efficiency, handling billions of financial contracts, almost instantaneously with certainty of execution. Leo's pride in the Merc's safeguards against risk are justified by its sustained market performance in the midst of the financial crisis. For Crying Out Loud is not only a fascinating human story, but a remarkable tale of spurring innovation within a framework of prudence."
—Paul A. Volcker

"Leo Melamed has written an adventure story worthy of Hemingway. It's also a spy thriller and historic chronicle. It is the defining account of modern change that comes to an industry as old as Bedouins trading sheep on a dusty rock. Seen from the ultimate insider, we glimpse a world unseen and unknown to most of us. It is a very important work that could become a business school bible."
—Bill Kurtis, Kurtis Productions, Ltd.

"Leo Melamed provides a brilliant description and analysis of the history and evolution of Globex, the CME's electronic trading platform that transformed the way futures are traded around the world. ¿He combines political intrigue, cooperative collations, tradeoffs between personal and combined wealth incentives, and innovative ideas necessary to change the course of history of the CME. With myriad possible outcomes along the way, his story reads at times like a wondrous mystery novel. Congratulations on a marvelous book."
—Myron S. Scholes, Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance, Emeritus, Stanford University

"As a seminal figure in the derivatives industry, Leo Melamed has been a driving force in the global expansion of CME Group and futures trading. This book ably recounts the struggles and triumphs of his career, tracing its trajectory over half a century of innovation. His contribution to the effective working of financial markets cannot be overstated, and the positive impact of his ideas continues to be felt. It has been a privilege to know and work with him."
—Terrence A. Duffy, Executive Chairman, CME Group Inc.

"Melamed's book is a fascinating history of financial innovation surrounding the futures exchanges. It reveals the complex barriers to innovation, obstacles an outsider would never imagine, and shows how a spirit of flexibility, patience, and entrepreneurship can overcome them. It is also a testimony to the power of self-regulation, worth understanding at this time of calls for massive increases in government regulation of our financial markets."
—Robert Shiller, Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, Yale University, and Chief Economist, MacroMarkets LLC

"Leo Melamed takes us inside the boardroom to understand the politics of running the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the context of its successful transformation from open outcry to round-the-clock electronic trading, the merger with the Chicago Board of Trade, and the transformation to a publicly traded company."
—Michael H. Moskow, Vice Chairman and Senior Fellow on the Global Economy, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and former president, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

"For Crying Out Loud is an historical account of the evolution from trading floor to electronic trading that derives its color and detail as a personal diary of Leo Melamed, who, along with his peer pioneers, guided the financial services industry through colossal changes over several decades. No one was closer to the succession of events that shifted global capital from trading pits to computer bits than Leo."
—Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

History is filled with new ideas and inventions that were once so revolu-tionary that they were initially rejected by the establishment. Milton Friedman defined this as the "tyranny of the status quo." But the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, now CME Group Inc., consistently defied the status quo to become a poster child for change. From the introduction of trading in live animals in the 1960s to electronic trade supplanting of open outcry in the 1990s, the CME has consistently been on the cutting edge of innovation in defiance of the status quo.

Author Leo Melamed is the father of modern futures markets and the person largely responsible for making the CME Group the success it is today. He is to futures what Thomas Edison was to the use of electricity. Now, in For Crying Out Loud, Melamed covers not only the revolutionary developments in futures markets since his previous book, but also the battles, personalities, and strategies that transformed the futures markets from the open outcry birth to the electronic future—where technological and global issues are interwoven with financial markets.

Throughout these pages, Melamed discusses the values to companies and countries of a market that can hedge almost any risk, as well as the resulting benefits to the standard of living of people around the world. He also examines how financial futures have allowed investors to manage generalized risks, such as currency risk, to both reduce exposure or capture increased profits within a market structure that is free from failures and current debt-laden problems. Along the way, you'll become familiar with the trends, technology, and products that have shaped the world of futures and options, and discover what this dynamic and demanding industry may look like in the years ahead.

In the midst of the unprecedented global financial meltdown—as marquee names from Merrill Lynch to AIG faltered or failed—the CME performed its operational functions without a hitch. How has the "house that pork bellies built" achieved such a record of unparalleled success? How has it grown from a modest exchange trading livestock futures to become the colossal global powerhouse of futures and options it is today? It's all right here For Crying Out Loud!

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0470229438
• ISBN 13: 9780470229439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368