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Sounds like SFB is still excited about the prospects for SMCC, the joint venture with Spooz to meet a major challenge in the options industry...
From: LClifford (lclifford@sfbms.com)
Sent: Thu 7/03/08 6:04 PM
Reply-to: LClifford (--------@sfbms.com)
To: [Gbathat] (-----------@hotmail.com)
Cc: Lisa Becker (------@sfbms.com)
Hi [Gbathat],
SMCC has introduced SymbologyDNA to the FIF committee. There is no other company that does what SMCC does in the industry and for the exchanges. The exchanges use our technology to manage options and SMCC is the central server which validates and manages all of the exchanges data in a central location. I only know of one other proposal that that company does not manage options. You can read more about us on www.SFBMS.com...
SFB/SMCC is a software development company, data management company and market data provider to the financial industry.
Thank you for your best wishes and hope you have a great weekend...
Lee Clifford, CEO
SFB/SMCC Symbol Management Clearing Corporation
856-853-1800 (office)
www.SymbolMaster.com and www.SFBMS.com
----- Original Message -----
From: [Gbathat]
To: info@sfbms.com
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 2:28 PM
Hello SFB representative,
I was wondering if you could provide any information regarding the recent SMCC presentation about the OSI at the FIF conference. How does the SMCC system compare to the other proposals? Have you received any formal feedback yet? I saw that there was a recent report posted on FIF.com but do not have access to it.
Thanks for your time. Best wishes for continued success.
[Gbathat]
Spooz Inc Shareholder, x million shares
Well stated Bird.
I think that though we are in the dark, we can remain confident in Spooz. Think about all our dd- FIA panel, SMCC, Vcapfx.com , fedfunz ... 85% success with 141 models ... good updates from the company, even though many delays
not a guarantee for success, but I remain very optimistic despite the pps
peace, and a good 4th unto you
gbathat
July 11, 2006 - OCC Symbology Discussion Document [Posted: 2006-07-13]
Reviewed at FIF Service Bureau Meeting with market data vendor participation to assist in the creation of a comment letter to the OCC.
Anybody know someone who can access this document??? You need to be an FIF member or prospective member.
http://www.fif.com/symbology_wg/
low low volume today, not much success for the bidwhackers it seems (not a rip, I do it too)... hopefully a sign of good things to come if we trade like this for a few days, imo
peace,
gbathat
although, if I was a company trying to buy back shares on the open market, under the radar, I just might increase the a/s before doing so... hmmmm
would not increase the o/s though.. hope that one stays put after this recent jump.
peace,
gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
o/s of 3,466,100,458
Thats up about 450 mil since I last checked a couple weeks ago.
Sure hope we're close to inking those deals because this is getting out of hand, imo.
Yes, we did hear about continued dilution at the meeting. That does not make it easy to chew, especially at the current rate.
I simply do not see how the company will buy back billions of shares under the radar, especially if/once good news comes out. My guess is they will delay announcing that news to buy back shares. I think watching the o/s is the best indicator of the company health right now.
JMO. Good luck to all.
Peace,
Gbathat
just doing some mental exercises on a Sat morn for fun... any comments welcome
disclaimer: assumptions built on assumptions built on assumptions... this may be way off the mark
about 2.5 billion trades since March
assuming 80% of those were dilution associated, that'd give about 1 billion shares issued to mm's... seems reasonable with our o/s now, which is about 1.5 billion higher over the same time period.
Avg pps over that time period was about .0005
Company would probably then make about .0003 x 1 billion, or $300K
let's say 10 employees w/ avg salary of 5K/month (not including shares payed), that'd burn about 50K/month.
What other costs are there... lease, utilities, travel... maybe another $20K/month
So to get to the end of July, we'd need 70K x 5(March to July), about 350K.
I'd say we're going to get there without any more a/s increase. Maybe a little o/s increase. Just my opinion.
What happens in July and after, well that is what we're all dreaming about...
Peace,
Gbathat
perhaps they are... :D
Thanks for your dd Allie!
Bird,
I'm with you on the buying history and as of this morning, on the doubling down.
Fact is I still believe in this company. I just doubled down for 1/20th the total amount of money I invested over the last year. For me, that risk is well worth it in the big picture.
Just my opinion.
Good luck to all.
Gbathat
Awesome!
Thanks Allie.
Everything is making sense now, and the plan is quite impressive.
Good luck to all here.
Gbathat
Q&A in ibox
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
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Article about Spooztoolz in Traders Magazine
(don't recall seeing this posted before, sorry if repeat)
http://www.tradersmagazine.com/issues/20_281/100514-1.html
AlgoServer Expands Buyside's Horizon
By James Ramage
May 2008
Buyside traders seeking more power and control over their algorithm generation and trading strategies have a new helper. Spooz Inc. introduced a new tool, AlgoServer, to accompany its middleware platform for developing and launching algo trading systems, called SpoozToolz. AlgoServer, an application that resides on a server, lets buyside traders create algos on the fly, according to Darryl Dennis, Spooz's chief marketing officer.
But AlgoServer doesn't have to be used by traders. "You can have an OMS database running into it," Dennis said. "You can have a matching engine working with it. You can use a FIX server with it. You can use it to control order flow. You can attach a scripter to it."
Likewise, a broker could load AlgoServer into its server to push algorithms relevant to current market conditions out to buyside clients using SpoozToolz. Brokers could also give the buyside trader a choice of trading with certain algos automatically.
AlgoServer could be co-located at an exchange or ECN's data center. So, a trader can be sitting at home using a low-latency, high-speed algorithm to scalp the market, Dennis said. Meanwhile, the trade execution "is being done server-side." The trader can also adjust that algo from a remote location.
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Algos/DMA
same here, but for 2.5 M
maybe tomorrow
Hi Endub.
Welcome back- sorry for the bad pps.
I don't think we need wild success or even much success. We just need some success. We need revenues. If our revenues are in the million dollar range, we'll bounce back fine, imo.
Last check on the o/s was 3.081 billion, but I haven't called today.
Good luck to you.
Gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
Are we sure the o/s is locked at sub 300 mil... we've had some big volume the last few months for such a low o/s
i agree we are way undervalued
just my opinion
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
Catani, I will be more convinced/hopeful when I see the o/s stabilize AND the volume die down and/or pps go up.
I think Allie said that, if they were to dilute into the open market, they put restrictions on how many shares can be sold per day. So we might see periodic spikes in the o/s followed by sustained volume, if that is indeed happening, which is a contested issue.
Hi Zep,
The o/s (outstanding shares) count is not important by itself.
However, if you multiply the o/s value by the pps (share price), it gives the market cap, which is a measure of a company's worth in the eyes of the market.
A general rule that I have seen applied on this board is that the market cap of a startup company should be equal to the annual revenues multiplied by 10.
If you apply that to Spooz currently, it would mean that the general market anticpates that Spooz's annual revenues will be 3 billion shares x $0.0003 / 10, or $90K.
That is probably why the CEO (reportedly) said the current market cap was "insane" at the shareholder meeting last week.
The recent o/s discussions have been focused more on the change in o/s that has occurred this year. A company can issue more shares and increase its o/s. This has a negative impact on shareholders who previously bought shares, because their piece of the pie gets smaller. It also often has the effect of decreasing the share price.
I'm no expert, just some tidbits I've picked up since hanging around this board. Please consider this my opinion only.
Gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
I concur- I thought ITguy or peeved had posted it last week at the same value.
o/s 3.081 billion
a/s not available
per olde monmouth this morning
1-732-872-2727
not sure why the a/s was not available, as others have posted it
the om representative may have just been new, since he first told me the o/s was 392 million and didn't know what a/s was... that scared me when I first heard that! Then he said, "whoops, wrong file." :D
peeved, i don't think they have to announce the buy back as per allie's dd provided in a previous post about buybacks
i agree with you for the most part though... how will they get the shares back? It will be a surgical maneuver but I hope they can pull it off...
1. they'll need money, which will require deals
2. they'll have to do it before announcing the deals, before joe investor has a means to measure the revenues and estimate an associated pps value
3. they'll have to control the volume of buys, so it is not obvious that they're buying them all up, and so that the demand does not drive up the price too much
Can they do it? Allie makes a great point- one month's revenues could buy a lot of shares. If they make enough to buy 30 million per day for 30 days, that would be 900 million shares.
Thinking about it, this might actually provide reason for them to release news slowly. Something to keep in mind as shareholders. Perhaps keeping a close eye on the o/s will give us a better feel of the state of things than PRs for a while.
It will be tough though. May depend a lot on how tightly the new buyers who got in at .0003 and .0004 hold onto their shares.
good luck sir
gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
this is probably a stupid question, but employees can't just buy shares on the open market due to their inside knowledge, right?
So, having that inside knowledge, how agreeable might one be to getting paid partly in stock rather than cash?
Thanks ITguy! great info... things moving along, slower than once hoped, but surely it seems.
have to agree partly with catani here... though obviously, allie was just making a point- not saying what is realistic.
Spooz should be able to get a lot of shares back cheap from people who have gotten in at basement prices.
unless you are issuing shares to employees who may value the stock higher than the open market does currently.
Do some math for us- what is spooz's monthly operating expense? how many shares would they need to issue every month at .0001 to cover that?
assuming 10 employees with an avg salary of 5000 per month, plus other expenses, lets say they need 60K per month.
60K / .0001 = 600 million per month
Our o/s has risen, but NOT at that rate over this year.
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
nice!! thanks jackson
Hi Allie, I'm not seeing a 'pending' status futures commission merchant on the nfa website for xxis. Do you think this will be a relatively quick process with a short pending period? I briefly glanced through a couple other profiles for other companies and the shortest time period between the pending and approved status was 1 month.
perhaps their approved CTA status is enough to get rolling...
A CTA is defined as "any person who, for compensation or profit, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications, writings or electronic media, as to the advisability" of buying or selling commodity futures or option contracts.
TIA
gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
I disagree. Often great ideas seem simple after they have been conceived. Sometimes a development participant will feel a sense of ownership after working on it. But while their skills helped make it possible, the idea was not theirs. They were paid for their services and should have known what they were getting into, imo.
Excellent point Allie. The lack of payments for SWARM, except for the shares, has to do with the litigation. It's not good news, but just as importantly, it is reasonable news.
mg, congrats on a good re-entry point
i look forward to your posts and all of us will appreciate civility as we move on to hopefully brighter days ahead
I am curious to see how the buyback would play out. They will have to buy back rather stealthily if they want the pps to stay low.
As soon as they announce revenues, the pps will probably rocket from the current levels. Even revenues of a few million a year should bring us about 10X the current pps.
And if Spooz wants my shares, they're going to have to offer about 1000X's .0001 , and that's before I've heard any news:D
I think they'd be lucky to buy 500M shares at an avg of .001 , just a wag on my part.
peace,
gbathat
whoops! sorry, got you confused with Shinebox... my bad! thanks shinebox!
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
Thanks Allie.
I guess I do not understand it all just yet. Your patience and insight is appreciated.
gbathat
Thanks to Capndon, ITguy, Song, and Enforcer for the SH mtg recaps so far... my thoughts on the news so far:
1. Dilution question answered pretty clearly it seems. Allie, this seemed to contradict a fairly recent post by you about a conversation with Paul. Any comments on this would be appreciated.
2. Great news- 141 has another system with 85% success rate! 10 grand to 33 grand in two months sure is nice! The question still remains- how scalable are these strategies? I was happy to hear this news and am surprised it has not been discussed more.
3. Though tragic, the fact that He and Groves tried to steal SWARM speaks to its immense value.
4. It seems the 3-yr revenue projection is down quite a bit- Why is that? Is this projection just based on Spooztoolz and the 141 revs? Does it reflect a slight shift in the long term business plan of the company? How might projections change if the SFB deal goes through?
5. I think anyone who reads the Ibox above can realize this company is not a scam. It's not guaranteed to succeed, but it is definitely a real company with potential to succeed. I am surprised to see long term posters here saying, "See, it's not a scam."
6. The developments with SFB are more recent than I thought... I think someone said the initial interactions took place in Q4. So, what was the iceburg mentioned in late July/early August? Did it melt away? Or is it still lurking somewhere.
I look forward to ITguy's report with more info. Thanks again to all who went to the meeting and shared their dd.
Gbathat
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
I think some people did raise the issue here and most of us thought they were just trying to drive down the pps.
I believe martingale may have brought some dd on this to the board, but I can't remember exactly.
The problem is with the CUSIP system (traditional approach)
The solution (hopefully) is Spooztoolz/SFB aka SMCC
that is my interpretation, just an uneducated opinion, but I am now even more excited for tomorrow
Birdito, I think the stars are aligning on this one. Tomorrow could be huge, imo.
My guess is that Paul's/SFB's statements about saving the industry billions was based on the comparison to the CUSIP approach.
That document was written in late March of '08.
:D
interesting commentary on OSI, particularly about "cusip" methodology... are they saying that approach is cost prohibitive??? that name sounds familiar from somewhere...
http://www.theocc.com/initiatives/symbology/symbology_initiative_v1_6.pdf from page 5....
General
The notion of creating a unique identifier similar to the cusip methodology used in the
cash markets was discussed at length. The cost and processing overhead associated with
a central repository responsible for the maintenance and distribution of the unique
identifier was considered prohibitive. The OSI Committee acknowledges the fact that the
string of data used to define each unique option contract in the symbology key requires
larger messages for data transmissions but smaller data storage requirements (all of the
data elements must be stored somewhere even under an encoding structure). The OSI
Committee further acknowledges the fact that organizations will design internal systems
to suit their specific needs and desires.
God grant me the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and should; and wisdom to know the difference.
"At this time, the Options Symbology Committee is in discussions with CUSIP and Symbol Management Clearing Corporation (SMCC) to understand their offerings and to determine if there is value in establishing an industry options identifier. "
Thanks Critter & MC
1. Based on the above, stated on June 6, it appears it might be premature to expect any kind of deal just yet.
2. Is CUSIP the competition? Or are they offering something different the SMCC that is also relevant to the OSI?
https://www.cusip.com/static/html/webpage/about.html Looks like a pretty big competitor if they are in fact offering an alternative solution.... hopefully the Spooztoolz advantages will shine today.
Peace,
Gbathat