Tag Archives: andrew mcormond

ETF-XLC-WallachBeth-McCormond
ETF News, People Profiles

ETF View: What’s Next: Telecom-Media Merge Into XLC

Leave a comment

Extra! Extra! XLC is the new ETF that ties telecom and media constituents into one exchange-traded fund! For those with a view towards latest and greatest ETF products, eyes and ears are on the Communications Services Select SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA: XLC) — “it tracks the Communication Services Select Sector Index and “seeks to provide precise exposure to companies from the media, retailing, and software & services industries in the U.S.”

etc-xlcWow. That’s a bucket full of precision when considering the constituents of XLC include among others, Facebook (NYSE:FB), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) The good news is that ETF maestro Andrew McCormond, Managing Director ETF Solutions for WallachBeth Capital distills the appeal of XLC, the latest innovative exchange-traded fund and one that might be the FANG-style ETF for portfolio managers who have yet to find a one-stop product that meets their portfolio allocation needs.

New ETF merges tech and media from CNBC.

If you’ve got a hot insider tip, a bright idea, or if you’d like to get visibility for your brand through MarketsMuse via subliminal content marketing, advertorial, blatant shout-out, spotlight article, news release etc., please reach out to our Senior Editor via cmo@marketsmuse.com.

If you’re on a path to raise capital for a new hedge fund, a fintech initiative or a blockchain-startup, the first step is packaging your pitch and presenting the opportunity within a properly-prepared Prospectus. The go-to firm to assist you? Prospectus.com LLC. Straightforward, Smart and Bespoke Services.

Continue reading →

ETF News, Global Macro Strategy, People Profiles

Top Execution Broker Pick for 2014: $IAI the Fincl Srvs ETF

Leave a comment

In the spirit of "..It takes one to know one..." and notwithstanding the "late print,"  one leading Wall Street broker who specializes in ETFs (and, who typically prefers to play down price predictions and remain focused on best execution vs. best picks)  has an interesting 2014 outlook for a select segment of financial service companies.. Here it is..(thanks to a delayed tape from CNBC)

ETF News, People Profiles

Professional ETF Trading Insight: Through The Lens Of A Leading Market Expert

Leave a comment

One of the best video elements for sophisticated investment managers [and all others] seeking expert insight re ETF portfolio management. Interview below with one of the global ETF market’s most recognized trade execution experts is courtesy of financial industry publisher and conference producer MarketsMedia. Many thanks to them for making this clip available.

ETF News, People Profiles

ETF Market Expert Speaks Out: Navigating Turbulence

Leave a comment

In the wake of the now spirited debate as to the direction of equities markets, the more relevant topic of how/where to move in volatile markets in order to get real best execution when trading in exchange-traded products is particularly poignant.

We extend our thanks to the folks at NorthStar Financial’s “Advisor Studios” and ETF market expert Andrew McOrmond, Managing Director at WallachBeth Capital, for shedding light on this very topic! Seeing and Hearing is Believing..

[vimeo 68798405 w=250 h=181]

ETF News, People Profiles

ETF Titan Trader Joins Spartan Race To Battle Leukemia & Lymphoma; Obstacle Course Competition To Raise Cash For Cures

Leave a comment
mccormondlls
Spartan Andrew McOrmond

Editors Note: MarketsMuse is not just an ETF and Options market news aggregator, as we take pride in spotlighting the off-market activity of trading Industry professionals who “do good by giving back.”

MarketsMuse is pleased to extend a Bravo! and a “bid on” to WallachBeth Capital Managing Director and ETF Execution Specialist Andrew McOrmond as he completes his rigorous 8-week training  in advance of his race to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team, as they compete in the June 2  Spartan Race in Tuxedo, NY.

For those not familiar with the Spartan Race format, think “Special Forces on Steroids”;  these are 5 kilometer events in which competing Spartans race against the clock over a military-style obstacle course replete with mud pits, rope climbing, rock climbing, and barbed wire barriers, before crossing the finish line.

Noted McOrmond, “From a competition standpoint, this is going to be a real fight to the finish, but we’re fighting to help save lives–particularly the hundreds of thousands of people who are diagnosed with blood cancer. ” McOrmond says that his take-away objective from this event is “to raise at least $12,500, and be able to get out of bed the next day!” So far, courtesy of friends, co-workers and even trading desk competitors, McOrmond’s “pre-market order book” has already reached $7500 in commitments. MarketsMuse encourages our visitors to click on this link and “bid on”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvJQDHPQzGM&w=280&h=160]

ETF News, People Profiles

Narrowing Spreads for Illiquid ETFs

Leave a comment

Excerpts Courtesy of James Armstrong/Traders Magazine

For some illiquid exchange-traded funds, the price isn’t always right. Spreads can be unreasonably wide, luring the less informed to take the bait and accept a price that is far from reasonable. Fortunately, those spreads are slowly narrowing due to competition.

With illiquid funds, the screen does not always match what an ETF is really worth. If a fund rarely trades, both the bid and the offer will be posted by professional trading shops and will be skewed to a premium or a discount. That means spreads can be more than a dollar wide at times.

Even if liquidity is present, it’s not showing up in the posted prices. Recent data from Index Universe shows more than 10 percent of ETFs still have spreads of 100 basis points or more. The vast majority of those funds have an average daily volume of fewer than 5,000 shares.

Many in the industry are trying to help investors who want access to these lightly traded ETFs but don’t want to get soaked every time they buy or sell. Gradually, they are starting to get some of those spreads down to more reasonable levels, though certain funds still have a way to go.

High-Touch + High-Tech Approach

The agency shop WallachBeth Capital has built a niche for itself with ETFs that trade in lesser quantities. Though liquid ETFs can be plugged into algos without much of a problem, less liquid ones cannot, so WallachBeth combines high tech with a high-touch approach to its trading. The firm uses a highly-sophisticated trading technology platform to support its ETF desk of 12 traders to find liquidity that doesn’t show up on the screen.

Andrew McOrmond, managing director at WallachBeth, said if a broker only calls one or two people, and counterparties know there isn’t much competition for that order, they won’t get the best price. But when a firm calls 22 people, he said, and their counterparties are aware of this, firms on the other side tend to give their best price rather than dangle an outlier number in hopes of catching a big spread.  Continue reading →

ETF News, People Profiles, Tech Talk

Bloomberg LP Touches ETF Hot Button: Where’s the Beef ?

Leave a comment
Bloomberg LP's Catherine Cowdery Feb 29 Interview w WallachBeth Capital's Andy McOrmond

For those gray-bearded former floor brokers who would gallop into an exchange specialist’s trading pit and shout, “I’ll buy what’s offered on the screen!”,  and were often dismayed when the specialist yelled back,  “Go ahead, trade with the screen..but I don’t have that offer anymore!”– you won’t be surprised to know that today’s “screen-based markets”, especially for the majority of ETF products, are not the panacea that electronic market promoters would have you believe.

Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, if one expects the ‘screen’ to be displaying the real liquidity that’s available.

To underscore that point, we’ve excerpted 2 minutes from the Catherine Cowdery and Pimm Fox Feb 29, Bloomberg Radio 20-minute podcast interview with ETF market specialist Andy McOrmond, the co-head of ETF Trading for liquidity aggregator WallachBeth Capital.

Before you (or after) you click on the logo above, what the extracted clip doesn’t include are the following and particularly poignant points that McOrmond made in the interview when speaking to the topic of ETF market liquidity and transparency of trading screens. Continue reading →