MF Global

The reversal of the market at November's top happened on the day MF Global did collapse. FYI, from the McClellan Market report :

[B]"The collapse of MF Global has meant that money in customers’ accounts has been locked up, because MF officials reportedly had illegally dipped into supposedly “segregated” customer accounts to fund the firm’s own trading. This is just about the biggest no-no that a fiduciary can commit.
Customers whose introducing brokerage firms used MF Global for executing the trades and holding the funds have been able to transfer their derivative positions (i.e. futures and options) to other firms, but because of how the cash got illegally dipped into, the cash positions become part of the whole bankruptcy proceeding. Under that process, brokerage customers have to get in line among other creditors to pick through the firms remaining assets.
This revelation makes the current environment for futures traders much more risky, and it creates an interesting irony. We collectively think of “cash” as being the place to go to avoid risk, but that illusion has now been shattered by MF’s actions.
We are now in an environment in which a trader might reasonably contemplate remaining in the “safety” of a losing futures position, in order to avoid the risks associated with being in “cash”, and of having that cash get locked up for some period. It is an upside down world.
Fortunately, the agencies responsible for resolving this whole mess are acting to get it wrapped up as quickly as possible.
The CME Group announced on Nov. 22 that has increased its financial guarantee to the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) from $250 million to $550 million. In a press release, CME asserts that this increase in the guarantee will allow SIPC to increase the amount of cash getting released from 60 to 75%, which means that $4 billion of the $5.5 billion of cash currently in question can get distributed to its rightful owners.
The traders who were unlucky enough to have had large cash positions when the bankruptcy effort started have effectively been unable to trade, and unable to take advantage of this week’s Black Friday sales prices on stocks and stock indices. Getting that cash released to them this week and next means that those traders can get back on the field and start playing again. This is effectively another POMO’s worth of cash that has been artificially held away from the markets, and which is now getting to return to work. If SIPC really can work quickly with the brokerage firms receiving the transferring customer accounts, then the return of that money to the trading arena should represent a bullish factor for the overall stock and commodities markets."[/B]

[QUOTE=Billy;18847]The reversal of the market at November's top happened on the day MF Global did collapse. FYI, from the McClellan Market report :

[B]"The collapse of MF Global has meant that money in customers’ accounts has been locked up..."[/B][/QUOTE]

What are possible precautions that can be taken to avert exposure to such risks? Does placing account cash with a custodian and using a futures brokerage for trading only address MF-like risks?

Trader D

Thanks, Billy. I'm not as optimistic as McClellan about this getting wrapped up quickly, though. The CME's "guarantee" is a bit misleading, since only $50 million would be allocated immediately. The rest is more like an insurance policy if the Trustee "overpays" the customers from remaining assets. Neither SIPC nor the liquidation trustee have any experience with futures brokers, and the trustee is incentivized to drag this out as long as possible to earn $891 per hour.

Claims forms have now been released by the trustee [URL="mfglobaltrustee.com"]here[/URL]. While it is expected that all customers will have received 60% in the next two to three weeks, any remaining distributions will likely take in many months or years.

So far, there have been two bulk transfers: the first was for open positions, which took place earlier in the month. The second took place late last week and involves about $500 million in cash from cash-only accounts. It's expected there will be a third bulk transfer announced this week or next to "true-up" all customers to 60%.

The McClellan "POMO" theory of returned customer funds is interesting, but I think he is overestimating the amount that is being returned this week. Also, many customers I know simply plan to withdraw a substantial amount of the cash recently made available.

@michaelD: the precedent set with MFG means there is no fail-safe way to currently protect money in a futures account. It's important to do due diligence on your broker since counterparty risk is now real.