Loading ...I had a commodities account with a MAJOR broker and ample cash in the account. This was long before the Internet age. I had been intriqued by the very low price in OJ futures. Nightly news indicated a growing, cold weather pattern developing that could even reach northern Florida. The next day I went long on OJ futures quite modestly but, based on price only which continued to dip lower. That night the weather forecasters said this deep cold spell coming could now even reach central Florida. I bought more the next day as the OJ price continued to sink even more. Then the bitter cold hit deep into OJ territory and the growers brought out the smudge pots in desperation. The OJ crop was soon to be devastated and the Brazil marker was in its infantcy.
Well, I was rolling in dough and in no rush to sell. This was the big hit of them all. No use shorting this market…you would be wiped out quickly. And up, up, up went the futures. And then I got the phone call. Was my broker giving me 3 hours to come up with oodles of cash or he was instructed to sell me out.
Seems that the CFTC just made an emergency ruling that there would no longer be any margin longs for OJ…must now be all cash! OJ futures continued to climb ever higher but, I was sold out. The sold out longs were scooped up by insiders that had full banking credit to go long on a 100% cash basis. Never played futures again.