|  SEP 1983

Crooks, Cranks and Honest Citizens: Commodity Conferences by FRED S. GEHM

Crooks, Cranks and Honest Citizens: Commodity Conferences by FRED S. GEHM/ Technical Analysis staff writer I wanted to title this column ""How I Spent My Summer Vacation."" But the conferences were in Chicago and no reasonable individual would ever believe that another individual, reasonable or not, would go to Chicago for a vacation. Especially in the summer. Be that as it may, the National Association of Futures Trading Advisors (NAFTA) and Managed Account Reports (MAR) held conferences in Chicago this summer. Attending these conferences is either A) absolutely essential or, B) a complete waste of time, depending on who you are and what you are trying to accomplish there. The NAFTA conference was obviously geared toward the needs of commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and commodity pool operators (CPOs). It consisted solely of panel discussions on securities law and registration requirements, National Futures Association (NFA) compliance and audit procedures, the exchanges, the futures management industry's future trends and potential problems, and cooperation between futures commissions merchants (FCMs) and CTAs and CPOs in order to raise captial. The MAR conference was not as narrowly focused. It had panel discussions on portfolio expansion and specialized trading programs, and on institutional investing in commodity money management.

by Fred S. Gehm