Short post on something very relevant. KBC Clearing will be shutting down operations. It didn’t come as a big surprise. They lost critical mass. Their major market maker clients went bankrupt (Van der Moolen), vanished (All Options) or left (Scrocca). The Belgian mother KBC Bank decided to call it quits after 16 years. A sadRead more
Not really an expert when it comes to French taxes. That’s okay as long as the only link is the tiny tourist tax. However, if you’re involved in trading French over-the-counter stocks and derivatives – you should take the time to figure out what’s happening at the moment. See, there is this stamp duty taxRead more
Brochures for a second house in the Swiss alps are taking a lot of space on my coffee table lately. Even checked the availability of “zugtrader.ch”. As of monday I’ve been seriously worried about this Financial Transaction Tax – with Merkel lining up behind Sarkozy and his pledge for the Tobin Tax. Sure, such aRead more
Best wishes to all of you, hope you survived the weekend and nobody got hurt playing with fireworks. The year 2011 was quite a trading year. Two brief periods of market panic and elevated volatility levels all year long. No casualties among the ranks of market makers for a change. Alas, two brokers were forcedRead more
