Each month in this Journal, our technical support staff addresses issues of interest to many CSI subscribers in a question-and-answer format. 

Notice:
  The views and information expressed in this document reflect the opinions and experience of the author Robert C. Pelletier.  Neither CSI nor the author undertake or intend to provide tax advice or trading advice in any market or endorse any outside individual or firm.  All recommendations are provided for their informational value only.  Readers should consult competent financial advisors or outside counsel before making any software purchase or investment decision.  CSI does not stand behind or endorse the products of any outside firms.

Copyright (c) 1998 Commodity Systems Inc. (CSI).  All rights are reserved.

   UA's Uninstall function should only be used if UA is stored in its own directory (probably C:\UA). Do not use Uninstall if the software is in your root directory (probably C:\).

Always back up your hard drive before using any Uninstall program!
 

Questions and Answers

Q.
    I am interested in combining pre-Euro and post- Euro contracts into continuous series to obtain a longer history for analysis. Do you offer this?

A.
   Yes. We have added the data as history for the new Euro-traded contracts. A summary is below:

   Data from Commodity #132 - Long Bund (DTB) has been added to new #552 - Euro Long Bund (EUREX). Although the EUREX Long Bund began trading on Oct. 5, 1998, the data prior to Mar. 1, 1999 has been replaced with data from #132 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.

   Data from Commodity #306 - Schatz (DTB) has been added to new #554 - Euro Schatz (EUREX). Although the EUREX Euro Schatz began trading on Oct. 5, 1998, the data prior to Mar. 1, 1999 has been replaced with data from #306 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.

   Data from commodity #288 - Med. Bobl (DTB) has been added to new #553 (EUREX). Although the EUREX Euro Bobl began trading on Oct. 5, 1998, the data prior to Mar. 1, 1999 has been replaced with data from #288 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.

   Data from Commodity #531 - Pfandbrief (DTB) has been added to new #555 - Euro Pfandbrief (EUREX). Although the EUREX Euro Pfandbrief began trading on Oct. 5, 1998, the data prior to Dec. 11, 1998 has been replaced with data from #531 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.

   Data from Commodity #78 - 3-month Pibor (MATIF) has been added to new #578 - 3-month Euribor (MATIF). Although the MATIF 3-month Euribor began trading on Sep. 15, 1998, the data prior to Dec. 21, 1998 has been replaced with data from #78 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.

   Data from Commodity #182 - Euro-DMark (LIFFE) has been added to new #565 - 3-month Euribor (LIFFE). Although the LIFFE 3-month Euribor began trading on Dec 8, 1998, the data prior to Mar. 1, 1999 has been replaced with data from #182 in this series because of a lack of liquidity in the early days of the new commodity.
 

Q.
   Do any discontinuities exist between futures when older non-EURO contracts are combined with the new EURO contracts?

A.
   Combining data from these similar contracts does not create a disparity in the prices because the exchanges changed the contract sizes so that the prices would not be affected. The prices of the pre-EMU and post-EMU data within the same commodity, and the old commodities and the new, blend together without any adjustment necessary

Q.
   Would it be possible to chain together the 78 (3-month Pibor from MATIF) and 546 (3-month Eurobor from Eurex) contracts into one contract?

A.
   We recommend against combining #78 with #546 because they are from different exchanges.

Q.
   Can both QuickTrieve and Unfair Advantage handle the combined data from pre- and post-Eurex trading?

A.
   Not in the same way. The change described above was made through Unfair Advantage's database management feature and does not affect the raw database accessed by QuickTrieve. If users of QuickTrieve wish to combine these data series, they must do so manually using QuickTrieve's Copy/Split Data File option. Please contact Technical Support if you need assistance.