SMU Community Chat with David Feldstein of Rock Trading Advisors

We’ll discuss the last three years in the futures market, a period of unprecedented volatility in steel prices – and also a period that has seen HRC futures trading volumes grow dramatically. We’ll also talk about the increased financialization of HRC futures, the main participants in HRC futures, and their increased correlation with broader markets. We’ll in addition examine why scrap futures haven’t taken off the way HRC futures have. Why aren’t more service centers and recyclers participating there?

Looking at the big picture, we’ll take a look at some of the main factors driving steel and scrap futures markets now. We’ll cover everything from interest rates and China to the latest developments in contract talks between US Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) union. We’ll also get into some fun stuff: the history of Chicago’s trading industry, memes, and the pros/cons of seafood towers.

Feldstein has more than 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space since 2012. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics, and analytical finance. He is also a regular contributor to SMU, where he writes about HRC and scrap futures.

As always, we’ll keep it to about 45 minutes. You can drop in, learn something – and then get on with your day.

Finally, check out our Previous Webinars page to see recordings of past webinars.

Editor’s note: We had initially slated this Chat for Oct. 5, or on Yom Kippur. Our apologies for the oversight. We hope everyone will be able to attend on Oct. 12!