Elections, rate hikes and Brexit may have dominated financial news in 2016, but for OpenMarkets readers, commodities, economists and financial technology attracted the most attention based on visits to our site. These are the top ten most viewed stories of 2016.
1. A historic week for soybeans
In April, soybean trading skyrocketed after weather patterns signaled lower output from South America. The reaction from the market led to consecutive record trading days for a market that is more than 80 years old.
2. Why Nobel prize winner Bengt Holmstrom is an economist you should know
In October, Bengt Holmstrom was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in contract optimization. Soon after, our 2013 profile of Holmstrom received thousands of visits from people looking to learn more about the economist and his career. It was enough to make it our second most visited story of the year.
3. Did these technology trends define 2016?
Ari Studnitzer wrote in January about four trends that would define 2016 financial technology. Was he right?
4. Why cash and futures must converge in cattle markets
Commodity futures rest on an underlying cash market for the commodity at a future date. Tim Andriesen wrote about why this is fundamental to futures markets when in March, a futures price was adjusted in live cattle at the Worthing, South Dakota delivery location.
5. More options traders are using analytics tools
Options trading, especially electronic options trading, is seeing more and more interest in recent years. In August, Kira Brecht profiled QuikStrike, an options analytics firm, about how they are helping to make options trading more accessible to more people.
6. Meet the world’s top student traders
Each year, CME Group hosts a trading competition for college students from around the world. In 2016, a team from Singapore beat nearly 500 other teams to claim the top prize. We interviewed them about their strategy, and whether they want to be professional traders.
7. How a trader brought America’s Cup racing to Chicago
In June, the first ever fresh water America’s Cup race took place on Lake Michigan. This is the story of how Chicago trader Don Wilson helped make the race happen.
8. A new lesson for high school econ students
In early 2016, CME Group and Discovery Education launched Econ Essentials, a site aimed at providing key lessons for high school-level economics students. Jacqueline Prester, a high school business teacher in Mansfield, Mass., wrote about how she’s using the site in her classes.
9. How food goes from farm to market
No better time than World Food Day to remember the critical role of futures markets in helping food move through the value chain. In a video conversation, CME Group’s Tim Andriesen talks with Nidera’s Tom Coyle about the challenges of efficiently getting food where it needs to go.
10. The effect of negative rates
The interest rates story of the year in the U.S. was the anticipation, then realization, of the Fed raising rates. But back in April, more attention was on the European Central Bank and their decision to extend negative rate policies. Blu Putnam wrote about the trend that was taking place in Japan and the EU and what it was doing to their currencies.
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