White Papers

Trading volume in crude oil and natural gas futures contracts has significantly grown over the past year, spurred by increased market volatility and the round-the-clock availability of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. futures and options markets on internet-accessible electronic trading platforms.

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Louis Pellathy
Vice President, Brokerage
Parity Energy

Legislators claim that they are seeking to transform the derivatives markets, but do they have the courage of their convictions? If the financial reform bill passed last December by the House of Representatives becomes law, the current system of voice brokered derivatives trading will continue to function largely as it does today. Despite claims that it is acting to increase derivatives trading transparency, the Senate may now also be poised to preserve the status quo. The key lies in the definition of a new type of entity: a Swap Execution Facility or SEF.

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Sara Lesch
In-house Legal Counsel
Parity Energy

Much of the dynamic landscape of options trading relates to the Dodd-Frank Act, particularly Title VII which concerns derivative trading. The below summary was created shortly after the passage of the DFA and summarizes the key components of the act.

The attached is a publicly available document that is provided here for informational and educational purposes only. It was created by a third party, which is not in any way associated with Parity Energy, Inc. and Parity Energy,Inc. cannot guarantee that the document is correct, complete or current. Please refer to the disclaimer at the end of the attached document for further information.

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Dan Nossa, Vinson & Elkins

Parity Energy partnered with Platts on March 23, 2011 to present a webinar showcasing the trend towards electronic options trading.

In a widely-attended webinar, experts discussed:

• The market forces changing the options trading landscape
• The Dodd-Frank act as a game-changer
• Electronic trading for commodity options will reach critical mass by 2012
• What it all means to option traders

You can replay the recorded webinar or simply view the webinar slides below.

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Parity Energy

Parity Energy and Options City jointly hosted a webinar on the latest integration in energy trading.

If you trade same-day options, calendar spread options or monthly options in crude oil or natural gas, this webinar will show you how to take advantage of OptionsCity Metro to trade OTC markets on the Parity Energy Platform. This webinar also reviews the ongoing transition of the OTC market from voice to screen.

You can replay the recorded webinar or simply view the webinar slides below.

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Parity Energy

This memorandum describes a proposed CFTC regulation setting start dates for new execution and clearing requirements established by the Dodd­Frank Act. Proposed regulations like the one described here are published before adoption for public comment. Because the CFTC sometimes adopts and finalizes proposed regulations without modification, such regulations may be useful for companies to review when planning for future regulations. However, because the regulation described in this memo is merely a proposed regulation, the Commission may still elect to revise its terms before it comes into effect.

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Sara Lesch
In-house Legal Counsel
Parity Energy

With the launch of Short Term Options (STO) in WTI, Natural Gas, and Gold on the Parity Energy Platform (PEP), Parity provides a cost-effective way for customers to manage short-term risk. By expiring every business day except on standard option expiration and being listed 5 business days forward at a time, STOs allow market participants to manage risks related to short-term events, such as weekly storage numbers, weather events, natural disasters and macroeconomic incidents. STOs clear through CME ClearPort.

For more information about Parity Energy's offering of STOs, please view slides from the CME Group-Parity Energy STO presentation below.

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Louis Pellathy
Vice President, Brokerage
Parity Energy