Trader

Rusty Braziel, the founder of electronic trader Altra EnergyTechnologies Inc. based in Houston, stepped down as chairmanyesterday to oversee the launch of his new e-markets consulting andsoftware company, Netrana. Although Braziel will remain on Altra’sboard of directors, CEO Paul Bourke assumes the chairman’s role andwill now set growth and operating strategies.

Bucking the tech trend, five-year-old electronic trader AltraEnergy Technologies Inc., coming off a year of trading and revenueincreases, expects to make it into the black in this first quarterof 2001.

Bucking the tech trend, five-year-old electronic trader AltraEnergy Technologies Inc., coming off a year of trading and revenueincreases, expects to make it into the black in this first quarterof 2001.

More than one trader was surprised Friday when prices rallied byvarious amounts at most points. With more OFOs disappearing (see Transportation Notes), milder weatheralmost everywhere and the typical weekend drop in demand, it seemedreasonable to expect further softness, they thought. Instead, themajority of markets ranged from flat to about a half dollar higher.

Adding to gains achieved in Tuesday night’s Access tradingsession, natural gas futures spiraled higher Wednesday as tradersprobed into uncharted price territory in reaction to anotherbullish storage report. Fueled by that buying pressure, theDecember contract finished 24.9 cents higher at $6.265, almost$2.00 above lows notched two weeks ago.

It is a trader’s rule of thumb not to go home for a long holidayweekend with a large long or short position because of thepotential for fundamental or political forces to produce a severeprice move when the market reopens. Yesterday’s energy complex wasa textbook example of this rule.

The meltdown in weekend prices Friday made at least one traderthink of Chernobyl. A few points fell only a little more than 15cents, but a majority of the declines exceeded 20 cents, andOFO-infested California numbers were down about half a dollar atthe border.

What goes up, must come down,” was one trader’s description ofyesterday’s late sell-off in the natural gas pit at Nymex. However,a more appropriate expression might have been “what can’t keepgoing up, must come down,” because after pressing through stubbornresistance at $3.20 Monday morning, the June contract hadlanguished on either side of $3.20 for two days, unable to attractmuch in the way of follow-through buying. That range-bound tradingcame to an abrupt end Wednesday when fresh storage data wasreleased. The June contact finished down 9.1 cents at $3.126.

A “comfort zone” was one trader’s description of the relativelyflat cash market over the last few days. And why not? After asummer chuck full of record setting temperatures and hurricanehype, supply and demand appear to have reached some semblance ofequilibrium. Many sellers saw their best prices early yesterdaybefore the market slipped lower in lackluster late morningdealings.