5 Questions with Anthony Crudele of Futures Radio, 5 Years Later
We first spoke with Anthony Crudele here on Trade Talk nearly five years ago, in June of 2016. Anthony has interviewed hundreds of traders since that time, and we’re taking this opportunity to better understand what other traders have been telling him and where he’s seen true innovation and growth in the futures industry.
Anthony is a career futures trader and the host of Futures Radio. He migrated out the S&P 500 pit as an early adopter to its electronic version, the E-mini. Anthony saw the value provided by our trade execution tools and has been a Trading Technologies customer since the year 2000, first using X_TRADER® and now using the TT platform. You can find him, as well as his long list of interviews, at his website and on Twitter.
Welcome back, Anthony. Let’s start off with your personal trading. In a recent podcast interview with Jason Shaffer of Trading Technologies, you mentioned that you’ve been looking more at spreads after leaving them behind for a few years. What can Autospreader do for you now that might have been missing over the past few years?
Anthony: For me there is nothing new that Autospreader can do for me, it’s more about the environment we are in and why I think that spreading some futures markets is a better trade than trading outrights. For example, I am trading the Russell 2000 vs. the S&P or the Nasdaq vs. the S&P instead of trading the S&P. I like to find which is the strongest indice using technical analysis and trade that market long vs. a short position in the S&P. What Autospreader does that I love is that it creates a market for me in the DOM, MD Trader, where I can see the bid and offer in that spread. I can set the ratio to what I want and boom, the spread comes up on the DOM for me to trade it as if I were trading outrights. This is so much better than legging into a spread because I’ll try and leg in, and all of the sudden I may be trading two outrights instead of one spread. 😉
How has the futures industry changed in the five years since our last interview?
Anthony: In two major ways…crypto and micros. Crypto has become a huge part of the futures industry. Just look at what CME has added over the past couple of years; Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin options, Micro Bitcoin futures and Ethereum futures. I think this trend continues in a big way because the demand for these products is there. CME doesn’t create products unless the customers want to trade them.
As for micros, they are by far the biggest story in the futures industry. Micros have changed the game for retail and professional traders. Micros allow pros to more accurately hedge portfolios and for day and swing traders like myself. I use the micros in ways I was unable to use E-minis. I am now able to scale into positions in the Micro E-mini Nasdaq over a very wide range. This helps me manage my risk better. I also use micros in my longer-term account to accumulate longer-term positions in markets that I want to hold for weeks, months or maybe even years. Micros also offer a great starting point for new traders. A lot of positives from my view point in the micro contracts.
Are there any big trends in futures trading that you have perceived from the long list of traders you’ve interviewed over the years?
Anthony: There were many, but I would say the few that stick out the most over the past year are my interviews with Yra Harris, Danielle DiMartino Booth, George Goncalves and a few others about the amount of Quantitative Easing (QE) that the Fed did when the markets were crashing during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. When these great macro minds explained to me that the Fed did more QE in a month during the pandemic than QE 1, 2 and 3 combined, I turned bullish on the stock market. This helped me tremendously as a day trader during that time as I was still a little bearish because the technicals were just awful. Because of these guests coming on the show and explaining to me what was happening, I ended up focusing a lot more on longs in my trading and was very cautious of being short.
Are there any memorable interviews that you’d like to tell us about?
Anthony: There are many memorable interviews I could name, but I will give you two that come to mind that were actually back-to-back interviews in 2019, and they remain on my top 10 most popular shows. First was my interview with Jim Rogers, Investing in the Real World. It was a huge moment for me to have him on the show. I followed his work for so many years and to be able to speak with him was awesome. The second show was with someone who had no social media following, and probably only a handful of listeners to the show even knew who he was. That show was with Tommy Crouch, Hog Buyer to Futures Trader. Tommy is great. He holds nothing back. His story about the old days in the pits and his journey from being a hog buyer to extremely successful futures trader was just awesome. I still get messages about that show.
CME recently announced support for Micro Bitcoin futures. What’s your view on this new product and micro contracts in general?
Anthony: This will be a huge product. I think there will be many crypto traders coming to trade this contract that are currently not using futures. Micro Bitcoin futures will be 1/10 of the size of one Bitcoin, and that opens the door to so many levels of traders and investors. I know that many CTAs, LOD strategy creators and day traders are already very excited about it. I will be looking to trade Micro Bitcoin on day one. I shared my thoughts earlier on the micros…they are the story in the futures industry right now. The micros have changed the game in so many ways in our industry that I see micros coming out for many if not most of the existing futures contracts in the coming years.