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1:08

The futures markets can be downright scary.

1:11

Limit up, limit down.

1:13

What the heck is our Bob anyway?

1:16

Are they going to dump a truckload of soybeans on your front lawn if you click the wrong

1:20

button? But come to think of it, maybe you should just stick to your comfort zone.

1:26

Or you can break out of it with The Futures Rundown.

1:33

The Futures Rundown is here to help you make sense of these scary markets.

1:37

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1:42

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1:47

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And now it's time to break into the futures markets.

2:44

It's time for The Futures Rundown.

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All right, everybody.

2:51

That music means we are back once again.

2:53

It is Wednesday. Time to roll out The Futures Rundown.

2:57

See what's going on in the Delta One world, The Futures world.

3:01

My name, of course, Mark Longo from the optionsinsider.com, as well as from the network upon which all

3:07

of you folks are mainlining these days.

3:11

Remember, if you want to check out more, check out our friends over there at ctsfutures.com

3:16

to kick the tires and light the fires. And while you're checking things out online, make sure you're checking out the pro over

3:22

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3:27

That'll get you access to the upcoming pro Q&A coming up after this show.

3:30

I have a feeling we're going to delve into a future or two on that pro Q&A.

3:35

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3:37

in the hat for the big giveaway coming up at the end of the month and so much more.

3:42

The optionsinsider.com/pro is the place to go to kick the tires and light the fires.

3:49

As we see who's joining us on the old Futures Rundown program today, I am pleased to welcome

3:55

on a newcomer to the program and indeed to the network.

3:59

He is Raymond Grignon, the business development head over there at Ironbeam.

4:05

And welcome to the Futures Rundown program.

4:08

A pleasure to be with you guys.

4:10

Thanks for inviting me. And Raymond, as we are wanting to do with all of our first timers here on the network,

4:15

why don't you go ahead and give our audience a bit of an overview of your background in

4:18

the world of futures and derivatives as well as what it is you folks do at Ironbeam.

4:24

Well, I've always been a follower of the markets.

4:28

That isn't necessarily what my occupational background is.

4:32

I was recruited to work in the institutional business development field for Ironbeam a

4:38

little over two and a half years ago, received my Series 3 and Series 30 certifications and

4:44

then began to work as an associated person with the firm.

4:48

We've expanded our segregated funds and brought more access to traders worldwide, both foreign

4:55

and domestic. We have a large space in the retail community, but we're growing also in the institutional

5:01

department, which is more of where I focus. I know a lot of the brokers we talk to tend to have certain pockets of liquidity that

5:08

they specialize in. Maybe it's the AGs, maybe it's energy, it's metals or equity or crypto, who knows?

5:15

Are there certain markets, certain pockets of liquidity that you folks specialize in

5:19

over there at Ironbeam? I actually, I don't think so.

5:22

No, I don't know that we would consider ourselves specialists in any one market more than any

5:27

other. I suppose there are some IBS that position themselves that way as they seek to provide

5:34

broker assisted trading. But Ironbeam services all futures traders.

5:39

So whether it's a futures based ETF, which is a totally different setup than a retail

5:44

day trader, we really do service of the full spectrum of customers.

5:47

So no, there isn't.

5:50

Personally in my book of business, I watch Bitcoin and Ether quite a bit.

5:55

Mostly those moves today and yesterday have caught my eye.

5:59

I also follow natural gas fairly closely.

6:02

Mostly though that's due to my individual clients hedging and investing objectives.

6:06

That's why I watch those markets.

6:09

All right. We like to watch all markets listeners because it is time to enter the trading pit.

6:16

It's time to break down all the action that's lighting up the futures markets this week.

6:21

It's limit up and what's crashing and burning.

6:25

Let's find out. It's time to enter the trading pit.

6:30

All right, everybody.

6:33

Welcome to the trading pit, the portion of the show where we break down all the activity

6:36

that's lighting up the futures markets this week.

6:39

And sometimes we go a little bit farther back.

6:42

It is getting towards the end of February, but you know what, Raymond, we've been chatting

6:47

with all of our guests here that are coming on for the first time this year and just kind

6:51

of kicking things off by looking back at last year.

6:54

Last year was kind of a mad year. A lot of things going on.

6:57

Obviously the election, a lot of trends in the underlying, a lot of things going on to

7:00

really drive a lot of action across the futures realm last year.

7:05

As you look back at the wild year that was 2024, Raymond, what are some of the markets,

7:11

the products, the trades, or the trends that really stand out and resonate to you, sir?

7:16

Oh, just personally, I think the SOFR product is really revolutionizing the hedging space

7:25

for those that have any type of exposure to interest rate risk.

7:31

So that's been something that I've, it's been fun to watch.

7:34

I think it's also been fun to see a lot of the new ETFs that have been launched that

7:39

are futures based, whether that be by Quantify Funds or Tia Crum, Volatility Shares has some

7:49

Bitcoin future-based ETFs.

7:51

I think that that's been, the ETF market has been fun to watch from my perspective given

7:56

what I do as an institutional business development specialist here at Ironbeam.

8:02

And then I think recently what Natural Gas is doing right now is interesting to watch,

8:06

but I guess that's technically this year. But yeah, last year was fun.

8:10

I think this year is going to be funner. You could pick almost any week and Nat Gas will be a fun product to look at, it seems

8:17

like these days out here.

8:19

While our chat is certainly having a fun time having you join us here today, we've got Nichols

8:24

in our live chat saying he's excited.

8:26

He's not familiar with you guys. So to you guys, he's a new futures broker.

8:30

So he's excited about learning about you. Option God, just welcome Ironbeam.

8:33

So the folks are excited to have you on the show, Raymond.

8:37

Well, excited to be here. I hope that I can offer some help with respect to being a brokerage.

8:43

We're not only a brokerage, we have our own front, middle and back office proprietary

8:47

software with live P&L.

8:50

We're a full FCM. So we're a one-stop shop when it comes to futures trading.

8:55

If you haven't heard about us, give us a call.

8:57

Ask for Raymond. Be happy to talk to you.

8:59

All right. Well, we know what's lining it up to the upside and to the downside this week.

9:03

But before I get into those charts, Raymond, what is catching your eye in particular in

9:08

the futures markets this week? Well, as I just mentioned a few moments ago, what's going on with Bitcoin is very interesting.

9:16

I think everybody wants to know when the dip is going to end.

9:19

We've been hovering around 83 for a while.

9:23

So that's where my attention is. I do a little bit of risk monitoring.

9:26

So that's where my mind is right now.

9:30

I can't really think about anything else.

9:32

I'm watching Bitcoin pretty closely.

9:35

Let's get into that a little bit then. In fact, you know, we had our good buddy in the crypto realm, Mr. Boris from Coinbase.

9:42

He was he was saying a lot of good things about your firm.

9:44

So I kind of had a feeling you folks were playing a little bit in the crypto space these

9:49

days. But it's been an interesting area of the space to watch, particularly on the futures side.

9:55

Everyone remembers when CME and SIBO launched the Bitcoin futures back, I believe it was

9:59

in 2017. It was an interesting time.

10:01

A lot of people thought, OK, here come the listed futures.

10:05

And previous to that really spot Bitcoin a bit, a bit of a roach motel you could get

10:09

in. But it was hard to get out.

10:11

They thought having a listed futures contract would give an exit point to a lot of spot

10:15

holders. And of course, that was the case.

10:18

We saw kind of the onset of one of the early crypto winters.

10:21

Many ebbs and flows since then. Bitcoin has had quite the resurgence post-election all the way up to 100K.

10:28

Send some of that back right now. Is it fair to say over there at Ironbeam there, Raymond,

10:32

that you have a large contingent of whether it's crypto futures or options on futures

10:38

traders out there right now? Yeah, I think that I think that most firms would give you an affirmative there.

10:44

It certainly is becoming the perception of Bitcoin is changing.

10:48

And you can see that based upon the investor profile, which is what makes a dip like today

10:54

interesting, because I think there's a lot of people that might have been wanting to

10:58

partake post-election maybe didn't for whatever reason.

11:02

And now you have this dip. I think the overall perspective, but that's just again, this is just an opinion.

11:08

It's just, you know, there's always risk of loss in futures trading.

11:12

I hope we all understand that. But I think the overall outlook on Bitcoin is optimistic.

11:19

So this dip is an opportunity for some people to maybe get in when they didn't.

11:23

To a little bit of nibbling, I believe we have a listener question about that a little

11:26

bit later out there. I really quickly, we've been kind of surprised.

11:30

We obviously do a show every week talking about the options that are trading over there

11:33

at CME. And it's been a surprise to us.

11:36

So there's a lot of fanfare around the launch of the futures and subsequently the options

11:40

over there at CME for whatever reason, they haven't really lit the world on fire from

11:44

an overall volume perspective. What are your thoughts on why some of the listed crypto derivatives still haven't caught

11:51

fire while we've got things like Ibit launching and just lighting the world on fire, Raymond?

11:59

I can't really, you know, it's hard. I'm not going to try to give an answer to something I don't really have an opinion on.

12:05

I don't know why. I would be just as interested in answering that question.

12:08

So next question would be what I would say.

12:12

I don't have too much of an opinion on that. It's a fascinating topic.

12:16

We've debated, I've heard a lot of complaints about margin and other things.

12:20

There is that core of the crypto universe as well that just doesn't like essentially

12:24

cleared product. But to those people, I would put exhibit A, Ibit lighting the world on fire from an underlying

12:29

and from an options perspective, doing 400 plus thousand contracts a day on the options

12:34

side. So a lot to pay attention to.

12:36

Speaking of pay attention, let's see what's lighting it up to the upside and to the downside

12:39

this week. Let's start.

12:41

Since we're talking crypto, I think you know where we're going to start. Listen, it's to the red, to the downside we go.

12:45

A number five, this may come as welcome news to all you Starbucks fans out there.

12:50

Coffee finally given up some of the ridiculous upside it's been running on of late.

12:54

The May future down over nine, about nine point two percent this week.

12:58

A number four, we have our old path.

13:00

The Bitcoin futures over there at Cine, what we're just talking about.

13:04

Micro and the big futures off ten point one and ten point three percent respectively.

13:09

Number three, we have Coco to the downside off eleven point three percent.

13:14

And then number two, number one, kind of a cheat.

13:16

Once again, our old pal, Ether off twelve point six percent.

13:20

Yeah, this won't come as welcome news to any of you, Eath holders out there.

13:24

I know a lot of you were hoping for a year where Eath might make up some of its underperformance

13:31

compared to Bitcoin and Solana.

13:33

I suppose the only solace you have is that they're all selling off right now.

13:37

Solana has given up over one hundred dollars from its high Bitcoin, obviously down well

13:41

shy of one hundred K at about eighty three thousand right now.

13:45

And obviously, Eath has been one of our larger year to date losers as well.

13:50

We'll get to all that fun in a second.

13:53

Do you do a lot of Eath activity over there at Ironbeam and any other of our losers of

13:59

this week catching your eye this week, Raymond?

14:02

We do quite a bit of ether. Yes, it's probably second only to Bitcoin.

14:10

Yeah, the volatility on that is going to be more than than Bitcoin typically, from what

14:15

I've seen. And we're seeing that currently.

14:18

Yeah. So we're involved in both of those markets with crypto.

14:22

And I do think what you mentioned on coffee is interesting.

14:25

It did seem to just be forever climbing.

14:28

And I think there is some correction that we're seeing there as well.

14:31

There you go, Raymond. We can all finally afford a latte again after this.

14:35

Exactly. Take out a second mortgage to get your cappuccino in the morning.

14:39

My goodness, coffee has been on the rampage, listeners.

14:43

Let's keep going. Let's see what's rampaging to the upside this week.

14:46

Shall we, listeners? We're starting off number five in the rates.

14:49

It's the 30 year up two point nine four percent this week.

14:52

Keeping it in the rates for number four is the ultra T bond up a little over four percent.

14:57

Number three to the world of lumber.

15:01

The May contract up six point two eight percent lumber.

15:05

You know, if you go back to the wild days of the pandemic, listeners, 2020, 2021, everyone

15:10

was talking about a lot of things. There was meme stocks going on.

15:13

All things were going on that were really volatile out there.

15:16

Crypto, everything else. The one thing no one was talking about, except for us and our Twi-Fo show was lumber.

15:21

Dead trees. Probably the most volatile asset in the world for that couple of year period over there

15:27

has since quieted down. But dead trees were blowing the doors off just about anything else from a vol perspective

15:33

a few years back. Maybe lumber moving back a little bit again up six and a quarter percent.

15:39

Number two, we have the VIX futures, the March VIX future.

15:42

You know, we've been selling off a little bit in the broad equities.

15:45

So no surprise to see in that near portion of the VIX futures term structure, getting

15:50

a bit of a lift up six and a third percent.

15:53

I know, I know for all you hardcore vol traders, all the folks listen to our vol view show

15:58

percent of a percent in vol. It's anathema to you.

16:01

I know I get it. Just just make your peace with it.

16:03

I did it a long time ago. And then the number one green light side mover this week, listeners is oats.

16:09

The May contract up 6.53 percent.

16:12

Raymond, anything catching your eye in the light side, the green upside movers this week?

16:17

Not necessarily. You mentioned just a moment ago, one of them.

16:21

I was looking through your doc here. What did you say was number three again?

16:26

Lumber. You were mentioning lumber.

16:28

Yes. The down.

16:30

The it's interesting. You mentioned, I wanted to mention this.

16:32

We actually have special risk settings that are still in place because of some of those

16:36

lumber, but that lumber volatility that you're talking about.

16:39

So yeah, lumber was a dangerous asset for for some time.

16:42

No one talks about everyone talks about meme stocks and crypto back in 2020.

16:46

No one talks about dead trees. Yet they were like in the world on fire.

16:49

Yeah, they were. It was it was scary from a risk standpoint.

16:53

A lot of people were liquidated on dead trees.

16:56

So that and you know, I think Bitcoin got people when it first became accessible.

17:02

People just didn't they hadn't anticipated the volatility.

17:06

So yeah, those are two that there's some restrictions for a risk standpoint because of that volatility

17:11

years and years ago. That's funny lumber still restricted.

17:14

I didn't realize that because it's been not quite dormant, but a lot quieter over the

17:17

last. Oh, it's I'm just speaking from a firm perspective.

17:20

No, that's interesting. Specific point of view.

17:22

We we will enable lumber. It's just something that we take a hard, fast look at.

17:26

That's another product. You know, it was moving around quite a bit.

17:29

The futures were doing a lot of volume. For whatever reason, it never caught on from a futures options perspective.

17:34

I was a mystery to me.

17:36

It was whips on 30 percent a week.

17:38

You think that would be a tailor made for some options volume for whatever reason.

17:43

For whatever reason, it never materialized. One of the baffling things to me, Raymond Oates is another one.

17:47

Oates was pretty wild a few years back as well.

17:50

Again does maybe three options contracts a week.

17:52

So I don't know. I don't know what makes a futures options product these days, Raymond.

17:56

But clearly, lumber and oats ain't it, even though they are lighting it up in the green

18:01

direction this week. Let's see what's lighting it up from an overall volume perspective this week.

18:05

Let's just tell you what we'll expand it. Not just a top 10.

18:08

We'll do a top 15 because we like you folks.

18:10

Number 15, kicking things off in the land of the precious.

18:13

It is the April gold contract. 151,000 contracts on the tape as of a few minutes ago.

18:19

Number 14, we got Raymond's old buddy, a frequent offender on our Twi-Fo program.

18:24

It is Nat Gas. The April contract, 153,000 contracts on the tape.

18:29

Number 13, we go from metals to energy now to the world of FX.

18:33

It's the yen, the March contract, 155,000 contracts on the tape.

18:37

There number 12, keeping it in FX. It's the Euro also in March, 198,000 contracts on the tape.

18:43

There number 11, to the realm of AGs we go.

18:46

It's the May corn going out a little bit this time.

18:49

213,000 contracts on the tape.

18:51

Man, we're all over the place. We're only at number 10.

18:54

To energy we go. It is crude oil, WTI, the April contract, 228,000 contracts lighting it up today.

19:02

Number nine, our first rates candidate here.

19:05

It's the Ultra T-bond going out to March, 344,000 contracts on the tape.

19:10

Number eight, keeping it in the rates. It's the 30 year, also March.

19:13

I think pretty much everything else is, yeah, everything else is March on the board today,

19:17

listeners. 30 year, 480, number eight.

19:20

Number seven, actually, yeah, number seven, we go out to the equities.

19:23

It is the NASDAQ E-mini, 519,000 contracts on the tape.

19:28

Number six, back to rates. It's a three month SOFR.

19:30

Actually, I take it back.

19:32

Everything with the exception of this, SOFR all the way out in December, 515,000 contracts

19:38

on the tape there. So an active end of year contract.

19:42

Number five, back to March rates.

19:44

It is the Ultra 10 year, 604,000 contracts.

19:47

Number four, it's a two year, 783,000.

19:50

Number three, it's our old pal, the E-mini, 1.45 million contracts on the tape right now.

19:56

Number two, number one, you could probably guess what they are.

19:59

Can you guess the order? Number two, it's the five year, 1.55 million.

20:03

And the big dog, yet again, the 10 year, 1.86 million contracts on the tape.

20:09

Raymond, any surprises, anything catching your eye in our list of the most active futures

20:15

lighting it up today, sir? I think the three month SOFR, as I looked at, mentioned earlier, I think that that's

20:21

a revolutionary concept, being able to hedge interest rate risks via a futures contract

20:28

as opposed to traditional swaps.

20:31

I think that that's going to only grow.

20:33

That's just my opinion, again.

20:37

That catches my eye. I wonder if the reason why it's year end is primarily because of what the service that

20:43

it provides to people with interest rate exposure.

20:47

Maybe that's why the December contract has so much volume.

20:53

Other than that, no, natural gas, is that low for natural gas?

20:57

Yeah, that is surprising. Of course, if you add up the entire complex, it's going to be more.

21:01

That's just one contract out there in the April contract.

21:04

But still, yeah, you're right. A little sleepy for a net gas out there today.

21:11

Since we're talking net gas, let's talk really quickly.

21:13

It has come up at the end of February. It's always interesting to see what trends are shaping up already in the market for the

21:19

year. Some products have already had fantastic years and we're not even done with February.

21:24

Some products have already had horrible years and we're not even done with February.

21:29

Let's see what's going on out here. Let's first go.

21:31

Let's go to the red. Let's see what's losing the most so far this year.

21:35

Number five, listeners. Oh, you got one of the EMs.

21:38

It is uranium, the SEP future off 10.5%.

21:42

We've been talking about uranium and lithium for a while out there.

21:46

Uranium still in our bottom five so far for the year off again, 10.5%.

21:52

Number four, it's cocoa, the May contract off about 16.5%.

21:56

Number three, out to the land of dairy.

21:59

It is dry way. Getting a little bit closer to home, the March contract off 22.1%.

22:04

Oh, you got number two.

22:07

It's your old pal, Ether, man, a rough year for Ether off 30.58%.

22:12

So if you were hoping for this was the year of Ether rally home mode, the Flippening, not

22:18

happening, at least not right now. And our number one loser for the year so far, listeners, our old pal, Orange Juice, the

22:24

May contract off 34.66%.

22:29

So Raymond, it's a rough year to belong some uranium, some cocoa, some ether, some dry

22:35

way or some FCOJ, sir.

22:38

Indeed, it is. Yeah.

22:40

The OJ catches my eye. I think I have a market watcher on Ag that was going to notice that.

22:48

So that doesn't shock me necessarily.

22:51

And I think you have to keep taking mine the recent dip we've had for the where the ether

22:55

is at right now.

22:57

I think that I don't know if this was last week, if that would have been on your year

23:02

to date movers, would it? It still was.

23:04

It was off around 20% I believe.

23:06

20% was it 20%? I'll have to go pull it up to see exactly because now you made me curious.

23:11

I know it was on the list last week.

23:14

But yeah, it's been a it's been a rough. Cocoa, cocoa, I wouldn't I wouldn't think would have been on there at all last week

23:19

or a couple of weeks ago. That's a recent ad.

23:22

Yeah. Last week we had ether.

23:24

Yeah, it was around around 20%. I thought ether was number two off 20%.

23:28

OJ was off about 26.6%.

23:32

Way was there off 14 and a half percent.

23:34

So that's given off more. And then you're right.

23:36

Was cocoa even on the list? No, it was not.

23:39

Number four was uranium off 10 and a third percent.

23:41

Number five was lithium off 9%. So yeah, cocoa breaking into the bottom five.

23:46

Not a list you want to be on, Raymond?

23:48

No, not a list unless you're short.

23:51

Yes. So he you know that I that that's interesting that confirms something on a personal level

23:57

for me. But yeah, those catch my eye for sure.

24:00

Interesting markets to trade in. Yeah.

24:02

Let's keep rolling to the upside.

24:04

Listeners, what's lighting up our tape to the green so far this year?

24:08

Number five, we've got off to the eggs. It is soybean oil, the May contract up, I should say, 11.85%.

24:15

Number four, we just talked about this on Twi-Fo last week with our buddy Dan.

24:18

It's high grade copper, the May contract up 12.86%.

24:23

Number three, this one's been on the list for a while. You could probably guess why.

24:26

Listeners, US Steel, the June contract up 16.12%.

24:32

Obviously a lot of tariff action.

24:34

We've been talking about Cleveland Cliffs trading on our Options Oddities show.

24:37

It's been a wild time in the steel market the last few weeks.

24:40

Number two, even though it is giving up a lot this week, coffee is still a big winner

24:45

for the year. May coffee up nearly 18% for the year.

24:50

And the big dog, our old pal, the Widowmaker, it is April Nat gas up 30.39%, a wild time

24:59

in Nat gas right now. I think catching your eye in the green light side movers this week, Raymond.

25:05

Sure, coffee. I mean, I think everybody has a natural eye for the price of coffee.

25:11

And I think January was just a real interesting month.

25:14

And then February kept getting interesting.

25:18

And then it's sense corrected a little bit, but still, like you said, on the entire year,

25:23

it's definitely up. It got really low at the end of 2024, beginning of quarter four, and then just slowly started

25:31

itching its way to where we have it now.

25:34

But it would definitely surge at the beginning of the year.

25:36

Getting in January 1st would have been good. Yeah, so that's a lot.

25:40

Still costing you more than it did at the end of last year.

25:42

But thankfully, after this week, you got a little bit more cash in your pocket.

25:46

Speaking of you folks, let's see what you folks have on your brain right now.

25:49

It is time for the futures free for all.

25:53

Ring the bell.

25:57

It's time to take on all comers in an epic Q&A battle royale.

26:03

All questions can enter, but none can leave without an answer.

26:08

It's time for the futures free for all.

26:18

All right, listeners, let's see what you folks have on the brain.

26:22

If you're hanging out in the live, if you've got a question on futures you want to get

26:25

in here before the end of the show, go ahead. You can sneak it in.

26:27

You know, I like you live folks. Take the time to listen live.

26:30

You get bumped to the top of the list. Meanwhile, we've got a question here from Alan.

26:33

He says, I'm enjoying the show and I'm getting into energy.

26:36

Well, welcome. You and a lot of people, you know, I resisted adding futures for a long time on the network.

26:42

Alan, the story is now infamous.

26:44

And then they they drag me kicking and streaming drag me into the dark side.

26:48

You know, I'm glad we did towards the end of last year.

26:51

It's been a fascinating ride. A lot of great guests come on the network.

26:54

A lot of great new markets opening up for us to talk about here on the show.

26:59

And just getting the feedback from you folks, you folks have been loving the show.

27:02

It's opened a lot of your eyes to the world of futures as well.

27:04

So I'm glad to see it's been a fun ride for you as well.

27:07

Alan says he's getting into energy. It seems like WTI is featured on the show each week, but a lot of outlets like CNBC like

27:15

to talk about Brent crude.

27:17

Which should I be focusing on? Thanks.

27:20

So it's an interesting you're right. WTI we tend to focus on what lights up the tapes domestically here in the US.

27:27

Obviously CME has a big presence in WTI.

27:29

That's the old NYMEX contract that they have taken over.

27:33

That's where they do the lion's share of their crude oil volume.

27:37

Brent more of an ice product and doesn't really put up domestically as much flow.

27:41

Brent is also more of a international standard for crude.

27:45

Whereas WTI obviously it stands for West Texas intermediate.

27:49

So it's more of a domestic viewpoint on crude prices.

27:54

There's no better or worse. We just tend to focus on the one that a lot of our listeners tend to key around, which

27:58

is domestic crude oil prices.

28:01

And as a result, domestic crude oil activity for a variety of reasons.

28:06

If I went outside looking at Brent, it wouldn't be a lot to parse from a volume futures and

28:10

certainly from an options perspective either out there.

28:12

So we like to go for the big dog and the one that a lot of our listeners tend to use as

28:18

a reference point, which is domestic prices, AKA WTI.

28:23

That said, Raymond, where do you fall on the great WTI versus Brent debate?

28:29

And Alan wants to know which one should he be focusing on for his trading?

28:33

It's going to depend on his investment objectives.

28:36

I can't really speak to which one is going to be better.

28:40

Obviously Brent crude is more global is kind of the idea.

28:46

At least that's what I understand. I'm not an expert in that market by any mean.

28:52

But that would be how I would look at it.

28:55

If you're coming at your analysis from more of a global standpoint, then maybe Brent would

29:01

be the way to go there. More domestic than maybe WTI.

29:06

I'm not sure if I'm the first to give that insight, but I don't think I'll be the last.

29:11

Yeah. You're watching, let's say you're watching CNBC on OPEC meeting day.

29:16

You're going to see a lot of quotes for Brent for obvious reasons.

29:19

That's kind of the international standard, the benchmark that most countries cue around.

29:23

But for us here, especially for domestic trading volume purposes, you're going to see WTI quoted

29:29

and traded a lot more. Yeah.

29:31

Nichols in our live chat saying is WTI for him? Yeah, it's definitely the more active domestic contract.

29:37

And again, for a lot of you, your frame of reference is going to be domestic crude oil,

29:41

not international. So WTI tends to fit the bill.

29:45

That said, we're agnostic here for products, putting up paper.

29:49

We'll talk about it. So if we see an explosion of activity and Brent, or maybe you folks see some trades

29:55

out there you'd like to bring to our attention, by all means, we just kind of go where the

29:59

flow takes us at the end of the day. So you can't go wrong with either Allen, but yeah, definitely.

30:03

You're a domestic trader. Sounds like you're probably WTI going to be the more reliable and intuitive and just more

30:09

liquid bet for you. All right, let's keep going out here.

30:13

This handle is interesting. Manchester 74, maybe an international listener.

30:17

He says, hello, futures rundown. Well, hello, Mr. And Mrs. Manchester says, do you think we'll see more crypto futures

30:24

this year? I'd particularly be interested in a Solana future.

30:28

What are the chances or do you think all the interest is in the ETF?

30:33

Well, Raymond, as you said, you guys put up a decent amount of crypto futures flow over

30:38

there. Mr. Manchester over here wants to know, what do you think about more crypto futures coming

30:45

this year? In particular, he's interested in a Solana future.

30:48

Do you think we'll see that? I don't think we will.

30:51

But I'm not parched to those conversations.

30:56

I haven't heard anything about that. I think that there's the interest in Bitcoin and Ether is still not at the peak that I

31:07

think it's going to get to. And so I don't think that we're going to you're going to see a lot of other.

31:11

But again, this just I don't really I don't know, you know, this my specialty.

31:16

So this is just a shooting from the hip feeling.

31:19

But I'd be interested to know if there's any other word on the market about that.

31:24

I think in time, everything will be in futures just depends on how in demand the contract

31:30

is. But does that mean that every crypto is going to be having its own futures contract next

31:37

year? I don't know that it moves that quickly.

31:39

Yeah, you know, it's a fascinating question there.

31:42

Mr. or Mrs. Manchester Solana certainly been beaten up quite a bit as well.

31:47

Looking at it right now. 133 that puts it off about 130 handles from its high.

31:52

It's set. Oh, about a month ago.

31:54

So it's been quite the drubbing across the board.

31:57

We were talking about it yesterday on I think was on our advisors option program.

32:02

Some of our pro members are asking about maybe nibbling in Solana.

32:05

If you were waiting for a sell off in Solana, then yeah, 130 pretty much been cut in half.

32:11

It was 260. Now it's 133.

32:13

So a 50 percent discount off the top.

32:16

You could do worse than that. I will say I did do a little bit of nibbling myself yesterday.

32:21

Be careful when you look at some of these platforms out there.

32:24

If you want to stake your Solana, they're pricey.

32:27

These platforms are charging 35 percent to stake Solana Bitcoin ethos.

32:33

That means let's say if you don't know we're talking about listeners, if you're this is

32:36

equivalent of a dividend stream, it's like your broker saying, oh, you want to collect

32:39

the dividends on the stock that you want on our platform.

32:42

We're going to take 35 percent of that.

32:44

That's kind of outrageous. So just be careful when you're doing some of these things.

32:47

The devil's in the detail on these fees. You think you can collect all this money staking whatever it is Solana or Ether.

32:53

And then there goes there goes a big broker taking a good chunk of that.

32:57

Something to bear in mind. I would love to see a Solana future.

32:59

I'm biased. I'm going to have more products to trade the Merrier out here.

33:03

Yeah, I'm kind of with Raymond. I'm not sure if we're going to see it this year or not.

33:08

There was some hot talk about a month ago when it was 260.

33:12

I think some of that has cooled for obvious reasons.

33:16

I just happened to do a scan while Raymond was talking for the latest updates.

33:20

It looks like BlackRock was making the big push for it.

33:23

They're kind of quiet about it now. So I don't know if we'll see it anytime soon.

33:26

It would be nice again. More liquid products the better out here, whether it's the future or whether it's the

33:32

ETF. More products for you folks to trade.

33:34

I think for a lot of you the ETF would be a great starting point for you.

33:37

You could trade it in your securities account. You could trade options against it.

33:41

We've seen Ibit light the world on fire.

33:43

And hey, how nice would it have been to have a put on Solana from 260 down to 130?

33:48

So yeah, interesting stuff afoot out there.

33:51

Great question. I would love to see a future.

33:54

I just don't know if we're going to see it so far this year.

33:57

But music means we've come to the end of another sojourn through the world of Delta One fun.

34:03

But before we go, Raymond, if folks want to check out what you have cooking over there

34:07

at Ironbeam, where should they go? What should they do?

34:11

Ironbeam.com. You can find me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

34:16

You can call our number 312-765-7239.

34:19

312-765-7239.

34:23

But you can find us on the internet.

34:26

There's no account minimums to trade with Ironbeam.

34:29

We service a lot of day traders, but we also are open to institutional hedgers and investors

34:35

alike. There you go.

34:37

Check them out over there, listeners.

34:39

Ironbeam.com. Whichever way you go on the future side, I think it's going to be an interesting time

34:44

for you. These markets are certainly delivering from an activity, from a volatility perspective

34:50

out there. That's all you can ask for at the end of the day.

34:53

That's not all you can ask for on the content side.

34:56

It's going to do it for the futures rundown, but we'll be back in a little bit, listeners,

35:01

with another great pro Q&A session with our friend Scott from Prosper Trading Academy,

35:05

tackling all of your trading questions.

35:08

I got a feeling we're going to be getting deep into some futures as well.

35:11

So if you haven't gotten your questions in, get them in now via the live chat, via the

35:16

members hotline. It should be a fun time.

35:18

That'll be popping off in a little under an hour here.

35:21

Of course, you'd want to get access to the pro for yourselves.

35:23

See what all the fun is about. TheOptionsInsider.com/pro.

35:28

Back again tomorrow for our typical double header.

35:30

First we kick things off with our friends over there at SIBO on the option block.

35:34

Come back after that to talk some futures options with our friends over there at CME.

35:39

Friday we go to the world of volatility with volatility views.

35:42

Who's going to join me on the show? Got to tune in to find out.

35:45

And then we've got one final show exclusively for you pro friends coming back for options.

35:50

Oddities, I will be joined by our buddy, Mr. Matt, the Oracle of New Hampshire himself

35:54

to break down. He's always got some interesting trades in his back pocket.

35:57

I want to talk about. So stay tuned for that on options.

36:01

Oddities should be a banger. Then we're back again next Monday with the option block all the way through to next Wednesday.

36:08

Another episode of the futures rundown.

36:12

Stay safe out there. Everybody.

36:14

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36:19

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