The Road by David Klotz

Since September the Phillip sales team has stuck close to home and the let the world come to us by hosting our annual Trading Asia Symposium and catching up with clients, colleagues and friends at the FIA Expo in October.

FIA was particularly interesting this year because we hosted our first Indian exchange – NSE.  Time will tell if India decides to follow China’s lead and open up their markets to more streamlined foreign participation.

Our parent, PhillipCapital Group, spans five continents and offers access to 26 global exchanges.  With that in mind, I decided to sit down and look at our client base to see where they are coming from.  In an age when globalism is taking a back seat to domestic interests, it’s refreshing to see that in the internet age capitalism quite literally knows no boundaries.

In a nutshell, our accounts span every continent except Antarctica.  Our clients come from 58 countries, including:

            -9 of 13 countries in South America

            -9 of 11 countries in western Europe

            -7 Asian countries

            -Half of Scandinavia

            -Most of the Middle East

            -4 countries in Africa

We also have accounts originating from 39 US states and territories.

I am surprised and delighted by our strong presence in Central and South America. I never would have thought we would have a presence in over two thirds of the continent.

The Scandinavian accounts were a surprise, as were the accounts from Delaware. I didn’t know people actually live in Delaware. I thought it was just a place groups go to get incorporated, sort of like the DMV (or the Secretary of State’s office here in Illinois).

Accounts from Australia, the UK, Germany, Poland, and Russia were not a surprise. Futures trading has been originating from there for as long as I have been in the business.

Here are some places where we do not have a direct presence:

-Czech Republic

-South Africa

-Japan

-11 US states, including Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont & West Virginia

I’m highlighting these because I’m really scratching my head as to why.

-Why are we present in Slovakia, but not the Czech Republic?

-Why not South Africa, given the country’s strong background in mining & agriculture?

-Why not Japan even though our parent company is based in Asia?

I don’t think there’s a simple reason for this, but the answer is obvious: We need to work harder in 2020.

We need to get back on the road, out to events and continue to engage with our clients, our vendors, our peers and our affiliates to make sure we are trading the world, and the world is trading through us.

(If anyone is reading this from Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Vermont, or West Virginia and wants to trade futures, please reach out – we will cut you a deal!)

Trading in futures products entails significant risks of loss which must be understood prior to trading and may not be appropriate for all investors. Past performance of actual trades or strategies cited herein is not necessarily indicative of future performance. The information contained herein is provided to you for information only and believed to be drawn from reliable sources but cannot be guaranteed; Phillip Capital Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. The views and opinions expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Phillip Capital Inc. or its staff.