DALLAS-Paging Network Inc. announced it has created a new customized wireless service for the Chicago Board of Trade that will allow futures traders to monitor futures pricing and market trends while they are away from the trading floor.
The commodity-monitoring service sends data feeds every three minutes of the trading day, including graphs and spreadsheets breaking down the day’s price trends and customized alerts notifying traders when specific pricing thresholds are crossed.
The service is the first of its kind for PageNet, which has made clear its intention to begin providing customized solutions of this type.
“The key to our success is that we took the time to assess the specific needs of our customer and then built an information solution that addresses those needs very well,” said John P. Frazee Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer of PageNet. “We are pursuing this approach and expect to announce similar successes with other corporate customers and partners in the months ahead.”
The monitoring service was developed initially to track 13 futures contracts, including commodities such as beans, wheat, corn, oats, rice, meal and oil; the Dow Jones Industrial Average equity index; and financial futures including bonds, notes and municipal bonds. Additional contracts are planned in the future.
The service’s data feed is compiled by the Chicago Board of Trade and sent via PageNet’s network to users. Information is organized and displayed on four screens on the paging device.
An alert screen permits the trader to set high and low thresholds for specific contracts.
A tone or vibration alerts the trader when a threshold is crossed.
The futures price screen is a spreadsheet display giving users instant access to price information, including the latest price and net change from the previous day’s settlement price. Information on this screen is updated every three minutes, with time and date of the update also displayed.
The futures graph screen provides an instant graphic view of the day’s price trends, updated every 15 minutes.
The futures close screen gives end-of-day close information, including last price, net changes, settlement price and the day’s high and low.
Traders need only download the application updates and other information directly from their PCs to the pager to make use of the service.
While the initial target audience for the service is futures traders, PageNet said the service also is available to the public.
PageNet is marketing the service on the trading floor and plans to develop additional distribution avenues in the months ahead. About 400 Chicago Board of Trade members already have purchased the service, PageNet said.
