Cílem zpracované diplomové práce je poskytnout čtenáři informace o světovém trhu zemědělských komodit, přiblížit dění na trzích pěti vybraných zemědělských komodit v posledních letech a analyzovat možnosti použití různých strategií na datech za několik desetiletí do současnosti. Teoretickým základem pro objasnění významu trhu zemědělských komodit je analýza zpráv mezinárodních institucí. Pro praktickou část jsem nejprve zvolil Nejprve strategii Larryho Williamse. Zabýval jsem se v ní použitím indikátorů Larryho Williamse, který je považován za jednoho z nejlepších komoditních obchodníků na světě, jehož myšlení je zaměřováno především na fundamentální analýzu. Následně jsem se pokusil aplikovat systém Woodies, jehož autorem je Ken Wood, jako analýzu technického rázu, která je obyčejně používána pro intradenní obchodování. Jako poslední jsem zvolil konzervativnější strategii spreadů, která je i doporučována pro trh zemědělských komodit - sice nedává možnost značných výdělků, ale zároveň je zde omezeno riziko ztráty. Práce má přidanou hodnotu nejen ve volbě netradičních typů strategií, ale i jejich variací.

In this diploma thesis I am going to deal with building the business strategy using methods of technical and orderflow analysis. Then I am going to test this strategy on the market E-mini Nasdaq 100 in simulation mode and then in real market. The goal of this thesis is to determine if the results achieved in simulation mode can be also achieved in real market where the trader operates a number of negative factors such as stress, nervousness, or risking his own money.

Anti-insider trading provisions were initially enacted to inter alia; enhance confidence in South African financial markets by contributing to the maintenance of a stable financial market environment by promoting the international competitiveness of investors in securities services in the country. In attempts to determine whether the Insider trading regulations are indeed effective at deterring insider trading contraventions as well as enforcing contraventions thereof, the research will subsequently examine the relevant legislation which pertains to insider trading in South Africa as well as analyse any definitional ambiguities and difficulties caused therein. Wherefore other than where the definitions in the legislation is lacking, the research will further discuss what additional problems are drawn from the current legislative insider trading framework. An analysis will be done regarding the difficulties experienced by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (hereafter the FSCA or the Regulator) as the entity responsible for the supervision of compliance with market abuse provisions in discharging of its duties as a result of the current legislation and/or the lack of clarity therefore. A comparative study will consequently be conducted in the research to establish how Australia has arguably become acknowledged to have the most progressive and developed market abuse legislation in the world compared to that of South Africa. Ultimately, recommendations will be presented using the above comparisons on what mechanisms can be adopted to improve on South Africa’s regulation of insider trading. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Corporate Law))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

The first essay explores relations between political affiliations and illegal insider trading. Assessing illegal insider trading is challenging due to the nature of the activity. Researchers observe and evaluate only the detected portion of illegal trading, not all illegal transactions. This presents a problem when using traditional empirical techniques to investigate such activity. In our analysis we employ a bivariate probit model that takes into account the partial observability nature of insider trading and provides estimates for the determinants of both the commission and the detection of illegal insider trading. Among our findings, most notable is the influence of the SEC’s political structure on insider trading detection. We show that the political party affiliation within the SEC, past indictments by the SEC, and SEC budget play a crucial role in determining current prosecution. Past SEC indictments significantly decrease the likelihood to engage in illegal insider trading as well. Essay two investigates insider trading returns by corporate insiders in light of their firms’ lobbying activities. Lobbying is a channel firms often use to influence regulatory change. Firms also use lobbying to obtain information on upcoming legislative and regulatory changes that are significant to the firms’ future. Establishing and maintaining these political connections provides informational advantage not only to the firms engaged in lobbying but also to the insiders of these firms who receive an opportunity to base their trading decision on this potentially valuable information. Using data on firm lobbying activities, we provide evidence of an informational advantage acquired by corporate insiders of firms that develop these connections with policymakers. We find that insiders of lobbying firms gain additional return of 138 (156) basis points on their buys (sells) trades relative to transactions placed by insiders of firms that are not engaged in lobbying activities. We also document that the role of establishing and fostering lobbying contacts and the amounts spent on lobbying differ with type of insider transactions and length of investment horizons. The focus of the third essay is the impact of actual trading on material non-public information on firms’ securities. Finance and law scholars present theoretical arguments both in favor of and against trading on material non-public information. However, investigating empirically the actual impact of insider trading on the insider’s firm poses significant challenges due to the lack of precision in identifying from publically available data trades that are based on private information. In this study, we utilize Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) indictments of illegal insider trading to examine the impact of illegal insider trading on the firm. We provide evidence suggesting that illegal insider trading increases stock market liquidity for the involved firms. Our results imply that bid-ask spread following transactions based on private information is narrower for long-run windows. However, we also find results implying that informed trading is associated with reduced liquidity, when estimated with Amihud Illiquidity proxy, reflecting price impact of trades based on private information.

In the first essay, I examine the impact of the introduction of exchange traded funds (ETFs) options on the information related trading of index options. Two option pairs, NASDAQ 100 index (NDX) and ETF (QQQ, currently QQQQ ) options, and Standard and Poor's 500 index (SPX) options and S & P Depository Receipts (SPY) options, are studied. I test the hypothesis, based on the theory of Chowdhry and Nanda (1991), and Admati and Pleiderer (1988), that the information component of spreads for index options should decline after ETF options were introduced. The method of George, Kaul and Nimalendran (1991) is used to estimate the adverse selection proportion of log quoted spread and revenue from quoted spread. Primary results show that the adverse selection component of index options declines after the introduction of ETF options, and that the adverse selection component of options on index ETFs is greater than that of options on index, suggesting more informed trading for ETF options. The second essay examines whether the liquidity premium decreases as the costs of transactions decline. Nine liquidity measures are estimated to form liquidity deciles portfolios. I use several benchmark asset pricing models in fixed and rolling 36-month samples to estimate time variation liquidity premia. Surprisingly, the results show that the liquidity premium does not monotonically decline over time, and it increases in the period from 2001 to 2006. This is inconsistent with the implication of liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing models (L-CAPM). It is likely that the liquidity premium is generated by size and book-to-market factors, rather than the liquidity factor.

The objective of this thesis is to: 1) explore and evaluate the trading platform MetaTrader, the programing language MetaQuotes and the IDE MetaEditor; 2) create a mechanical trading system for the platform MetaTrader; 3) test the system on the historical data. Contributions for this thesis consist of available theoretical information and observation from my own experiences with creation and testing of the mechanical trading strategy.

by Leung Wai Yuen and Wong Che Keung. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81). / ABSTRACT --- p.iv / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.v / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi / LIST OF TABLES --- p.x / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Background --- p.1 / Objective of This Study --- p.5 / Chapter II --- THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STOCK MARKET IN HONG KONG --- p.6 / Development of the Stock Exchange --- p.6 / Performance of the Stock Market --- p.10 / Chapter III --- CURRENT SITUATION OF THE SEHK --- p.14 / Performance in 1994 --- p.14 / Future Development of the SEHK --- p.19 / Chapter IV --- REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IN HONG KONG --- p.20 / History of Securities Legislation in Hong Kong --- p.20 / Regulatory Hierarchy of the Securities Market in Hong Kong --- p.24 / The Securities and Futures Commission --- p.25 / Mission and Functions of the SFC --- p.25 / Chapter V --- SECURITIES (INSIDER DEALING) ORDINANCE --- p.29 / Definition of Insider Dealing --- p.29 / The Insider Dealing Tribunal --- p.30 / Chapter VI --- SECURITIES (DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST) ORDINANCE --- p.32 / Gist of the Ordinance --- p.32 / Duties of Substantial Shareholders --- p.33 / Disclosure of Directors and Chief Executives --- p.34 / Interests That Can be Disregarded --- p.35 / Penalties for Breaches --- p.36 / Chapter VII --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.37 / Research on Overseas Stock Markets --- p.37 / Watchdog Report by Credit Lyonnais --- p.42 / Chapter VIII --- METHODOLOGY --- p.43 / Data Sampling --- p.43 / Definition of Insider Activities Index --- p.45 / Design of the Study --- p.46 / Chapter IX --- RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS --- p.50 / Industry Type --- p.50 / Company Size --- p.51 / Seasonal Effect --- p.52 / Ownership Concentration --- p.53 / Chapter X --- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.55 / Conclusion --- p.55 / Recommendations for Further Studies --- p.56 / APPENDICE --- p.58 / Appendix 1 --- p.59 / Appendix 2 --- p.63 / Appendix 3 --- p.67 / Appendix 4 --- p.71 / Appendix 5 --- p.73 / Appendix 6 --- p.75 / Appendix 7 --- p.77 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.79

This paper seeks to unconventionally maximize the volatility of a portfolio through a quartic optimization based on Markowitz’s modern portfolio theory, which generally seeks to do exactly the opposite. It shows that through this method, a daily leveraged exchange traded fund (ETF) strategy investigated by Posterro can be significantly improved upon in terms of its Sharpe ratio. The original strategy seeks to use a combination of momentum trading and tracking error in leveraged ETFs to trade during the last half an hour of the trading day, but it suffers in a low volatility market. By maximizing the volatility to take better advantage of tracking error and momentum, this problem is addressed by both increasing the mean daily return and significantly decreasing the variance of the strategy’s daily returns. GARCH forecasting is also implemented to assist in the maximization of the daily portfolios’ variances, though this does not prove to make a statistically significant difference in the strategy’s performance.

The presence of insider trading in a financial market is detrimental to its functioning. Traders with public information are always at a disadvantage when negotiating with agents in possession of inside information. Thus insider trading should increase risk and should lower participation in financial markets. In this study we investigate a channel through which inside information may be transferred to market participants: social connections based on common education. We hand-collect a novel data set of the educational background of members of the board of directors of Brazilian firms and portfolio managers of stock funds. Board members hold inside information on their firms that is valuable to fund managers. We propose that these agents may engage in active social interactions if they 1) attended the same educational institution, 2) within an overlapping time window, and 3) obtained the same degree. We study if such connections influence fund managers\' portfolio decisions. We find that fund managers tend to place larger bets in companies with which they possess this sort of educational connection. We also find that these connections are economically valuable: managers tend to conduct large purchases of connected stocks prior to large increases in their return, and also tend to sell them prior to downfalls. Finally, we study if market participants view increases in a company\'s connectivity as an increase in its risk. We find that increases in connectivity are followed by increases in expected returns. We also determine that the return of holding a portfolio long in highly connected stocks and short on stocks with few connections cannot be explained by the traditional risk factors. These two results indicate that the market does indeed see connectivity as a form of risk. This is, to our knowledge, the first study of its kind for Brazil. / A presença de insider trading em um mercado financeiro é prejudicial ao seu funcionamento. Investidores com informação pública sempre estão em desvantagem quando negociam com agentes que detêm informação privilegiada. Portanto, insider trading aumenta o risco e diminui a participação em mercados financeiros. Neste estudo nós investigamos um possível canal através do qual a informação interna à firma é potencialmente transferida para participantes do mercado: conexões sociais baseadas em uma educação comum. Nós coletamos manualmente uma base de dados inédita sobre a experiência educacional de dois grupos de agentes: membros do conselho de diretores de empresas brasileiras e gestores de carteiras de fundos de ações. Os membros do conselho possuem informação privilegiada sobre suas firmas que seria valiosa para os gestores de fundos. Nós propomos que esses agentes podem engajar em contato social ativo se eles 1) frequentaram a mesma instituição de ensino, 2) em janelas de tempo sobrepostas e 3) obtiveram o mesmo diploma. A partir daí, estudamos se tais conexões influenciam as decisões de investimento dos gestores de carteiras. Nós descobrimos que gerentes de fundos tendem a alocar posições maiores em companhias com as quais eles possuem esta conexão educacional. Nós também descobrimos que tais conexões são valiosas: gerentes tendem a realizar grandes compras de ações conectadas em antecipação a aumentos em seu retorno e tendem a vender essas ações antes de quedas. Finalmente, nós estudamos se participantes do mercado veem aumentos na conectividade de uma empresa como aumentos no risco da empresa. Nós descobrimos que aumentos na conectividade são seguidos de aumentos no retorno esperado. Nós também encontramos que o retorno de um portfólio comprado em ações de alta conectividade e vendido em ações de baixa conectividade não pode ser explicado pelos fatores de risco tradicionais. Esses dois resultados indicam que o mercado vê a conectividade como uma forma de risco. Este é, ao nosso conhecimento, o primeiro trabalho de seu tipo para o Brasil.

Approximately 136,000 refuse trucks were in operation in the United States in 2007. These trucks burn approximately 1.2 billion gallons of diesel fuel a year, releasing almost 27 billion pounds of greenhouse gases. In addition to contributing to global climate change, diesel-fueled refuse trucks are one of the most concentrated sources of health-threatening air pollution in most cities. The landfills that they ultimately place their waste in are the second largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, accounting for approximately 23 percent of these emissions in 2007. At the same time, methane emissions from landfills represent a lost opportunity to capture and use a significant energy resource. Many landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) projects are underway in an attempt to curb emissions and make better use of this energy. The methane that is extracted from these landfills can be converted into a transportation fuel, sold as a pipeline-quality natural gas, operate turbines for electricity, or be flared. The unique relationship that occurs between refuse trucks' constant visits to the landfill and the ability of the landfill itself to produce a transportation fuel creates an ability to accomplish emissions reduction in two sectors with the implementation of using landfill gas to fuel refuse trucks. Landfill owners and operators are very reluctant to invest in large capital LFGTE projects without knowing their long-term feasibility. The costs and benefits associated with each LFGTE project have been presented in such a way that owners/operators can make informed decisions based on economics while also implementing clean energy technology. Owners/operators benefit from larger economic returns, and the citizens of the surrounding cities benefit from better air quality. This research focused on six scenarios: converting landfill gas (LFG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) for use as a transportation fuel, converting LFG to compressed natural gas (CNG) for use as a transportation fuel, converting LFG to pipeline-quality natural gas, converting LFG to electricity, flaring LFG, and doing nothing. For the test case of a 280-acre landfill, the option of converting LFG to CNG for use as a transportation fuel provided the best benefit-cost ratio at 5.63. Other significant benefit-cost findings involved the LFG-to-LNG option, providing a 5.51 benefit-cost ratio. Currently, the most commonly used LFGTE option of converting LFG to electricity provides only a 1.35 benefit-cost ratio while flaring which is the most common mitigation strategy provides a 1.21, further providing evidence that converting LFG to LNG/CNG for use as a transportation fuel provides greater economic benefits than the most common LFGTE option or mitigation strategy.