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November 7, 2007 - gold price per troy ounce = $845.50 (28-year high)

Interesting Dates

1783 - James Man established sugar broking business; 1860 - Edward Desborough Man and Frederick Man (grandsons) ran firm; 1994 - Man Group plc listed on London Stock Exchange; March 2000 - group of directors and senior managers acquired agricultural businesses in a management buy-out; company operated successfully as employee-owned company.

1848 - Commodity futures trading in North America spurred by construction of Illinois-Michigan Canal, growth of Lake Michigan commerce that followed, confluence of innovations (grain elevators, railroads, grain exchanges, forward contract); canal allowed farmers in hinterlands along Illinois River to ship grain to Lake Michigan dealers, who sent much of it to Chicago; elevators, railroad facilitated high-volume grain storage and shipment; commodity exchanges, spawned from boards of trade along Lakes Erie, Michigan, St. Clair, established system of staple grades, standards, inspections that rendered grain fungible; made organized trading in spot and forward markets possible; April 3, 1848 - 83 merchants founded Board of Trade of the City (CBOT) at 101 South Water Street; Thomas Dyer elected first president; 1856 - 122 new members admitted; 1859 - received charter from State of Illinois; 1860s - premier organized grain exchange; March 1863 - adopted its first rules, procedures for trading in forward contracts; May 1865 - formalized grain trading; transformed actively traded, largely homogeneous forward contracts into standardized agreements, called "futures contracts"; 1868 - Board of Directors stated any members engaging in transaction to corner market would be expelled from trading; 1874 - Chicago Produce Exchange (CPE) established; ; 1877 - futures trading became more formalized, "speculators" entered picture; 1878 - trading pit patented; 1898 - CPE renamed Chicago Butter and Egg Board; 1919 - renamed Chicago Merantile Exchange; futures trading grew enormously; public’s perception of its legitimacy, calls to more-heavily regulate it waxed and waned.

May 21, 1878 - Reuben S. Jennings, of Chicago, Il, received a patent for an "Improvement in Trading-Pits" ("to be used by stock, provision, and grain boards, or boards of trade or exchange, or other associations of a like nature, as a convenient stand while trading...in the form or approximating a circle or octagon, or of other convenient shape or form, facing each other...and is, for convenience, made in sections, so as to be easily removed, and it is ventilated or warmed through apertures").

1922 - Federal government established Grain Futures Administration to regulate grain trading; 1923 - U.S. Supreme Court upheld Capper-Tincher Act (Grain Futures Act) to eliminate price manipulation, other trade abuses; 1925 - Chicago Board of Trade Directors given authority to declare emergency situation, establish daily price limits; 26.9 billion bushels of grain traded; 1926 - Board of Trade Clearing Corporation founded to guarantee trades made on CBOT; 1929 - CBOT seat sold for $62,500, record at the time; 1936 - launched Soybean futures contracts; 1956 - introduced industry's first examination for commodity brokers; 1968 - iced broilers, first non-grain related commodity, began trading; 1969 - began trade in Silver futures contract, first non-grain product; 1973 - started Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), world's first stock options exchange; government established Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate futures industry; 1975 - launches first interest rate futures contract, Government National Mortgage Association futures; 1977 - launched U.S. Treasury Bond futures contract; became most actively traded contract in world; January 7-8, 1980 - closed by CFTC order; suspended trading after President Carter placed embargo on grain shipments to Soviet Union; October 1, 1982 - launched first options on futures contract, for U.S. Treasury Bond futures; 1986 - trade volume topped 100 million contracts for first time, set world record; February 18, 1997 - opened world's largest trading floor, 60,000 sq. ft. for financial futures, futures-options; April 14, 2005 - 99 percent of votes cast in favor of CBOT’s restructuring proposal, includes demutualization of Exchange into for-profit, stock-based holding company, for-profit, membership exchange subsidiary; 2006 - highest yearly total volume recorded in history, more than 674 million contracts traded in 2005; January 2, 2007 - set new record for annual trading volume, with 805,884,413 contracts; July 9, 2007 - Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., Chicago Board of Trade Holdings, Inc. completed merger, created world's largest, most diverse exchange.

May 2, 1968 - Gold reaches then record high ($39.35 per ounce) in London.

August 18, 1970 - Chicago Board of Trade posted the single biggest day of trading in its 122-year history when a record 309 million bushels of grain changed hands; bested the previous record by 13 percent.

August 2, 1972 - Gold hits record $70 an ounce in London.

February 10, 1974 - Silver futures hit record $4.81 an ounce in London.

April 3, 1974 - Gold hits record $197 an ounce in Paris.

December 31, 1974 - Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

July 28, 1978 - Price of gold tops $200-an-oz level for first time.

January 14, 1980 - Gold (released from government control) trades at record price, exceeds $800 an ounce; 1821 - units of English currency were redeemable for a fixed quantity of gold, a change that Britain hoped would stabilize its rapidly growing economy; late 19th century - most industrialized nations were on the full gold standard (facilitated international monetary transactions and stabilized foreign exchange rates); 1914 - curbing of gold exports at the outbreak of World War I forced recourse to inconvertible paper currency; 1920's- economic growth overtook gold reserves, some nations supplemented their reserves with stable currencies like the pound and dollar, which like gold had obtained a measure of permanent abstract value in people's minds; 1930 - world economy and gold standard collapsed (in response, most governments sharply limited the convertibility of paper currency); 1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt prohibited the circulation of gold coins (though gold was still used in defining the value of the dollar); 1930's-1960's - currencies remained "pegged" to gold until global reserves dwindled; 1971 - the United States suspended the free exchange of U.S. gold for foreign-held dollars; 1974 - lifted its four-decade ban on the private purchase of gold (gold bullion trading in European markets at highs approaching $200 an ounce); 1975 - U.S. government began to sell some of its holdings on the open market ; 1978 - officially abandoned the gold standard.

April 1980 - Crude-oil closed at an inflation-adjusted record price of $101.70 per barrel.

November 2, 1985 - Hunt brothers quietly sell off "substantially all" of their $350 million silver holdings (59 million ounces of silver) acquired in an attempt to corner the silver market (had languished in the $6-an-ounce range), lost roughly $1 billion on the sale.

November 23, 1987 - In the aftermath of the "crash of '87" The Chicago Board of Trade implemented a daily price ceiling on the Major Market Index future and the Institutional Index future; the 20 stocks on the Major and Institutional indices were restricted to moves of no more than 40 and 25 points, respectively.

September 16, 1992 - George Soros, head of Quantum Fund, made 'global macro' $10 billion bear-raid bet against British pound; speculated (correctly) that Bank of England would not support pound participation in European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) indefinitely (pound pegged to set limits, linked to German mark since, around 3DM to pound, October 1990) by jacking up interest rates in economy in recession (UK adopted anti-inflation policies of German Bundesbank); Bank of England let British currency devalue (dropped below 2.20 DM to pound in spring 1995); Prime Minister John Major's government suffered blow of 'Black Wednesday'; Soros made $1 billion overnight, 'broke' Bank of England; severe blow to Conservatives' reputation for sound economic management; aftermath -  inflation, interest rates, unemployment fell immediately; Britain began longest period of continuous growth in its history (pound recovered  to 3.20 DM to pound).

March 29, 1996 - New York Mercantile Exchange began trading on a new commodities market for power supplies; first power contract - to be delivered that summer at California-Oregon border; more than 1,000 contracts first day.

January 23, 2005 - Raw sugar for March delivery rose to 18.75 cents/pound on the New York Board of Trade, highest price in 24 years (June 2, 1981 = 18.85 cents/lb.).

March 17, 2008 - CME Group (result Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s $11 billion takeover of Chicago Board of Trade in 2007) finalized deal to buy Nymex for $9.4 billion; controls about 98% of US-listed futures, offers contracts on wide range of underlying commodities, events (interest rates, foreign exchange, stock indices, oil, metals,  agricultural products).

March 20, 2008 -

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March 26, 2008 - Rice prices jumped 30% to all-time high (doubled since January); global rice stocks are at lowest since 1976 (foreign sales restrictions have removed about third of rice traded in international market): 1) Egypt, leading exporter, imposed a formal ban on selling rice abroad to keep local prices down, 2) Philippines (world’s largest buyer of the grain) announced plans for a major purchase of the grain in the international market to boost supplies, 3) Indian government imposed further restrictions on the exports of rice to combat rising local inflation); 4) Indonesia stopped its farmers from selling rice abroad ( joined Vietnam, Egypt, China, Cambodia, India in banning foreign sales); 5) Australian rice production collapsed due to draught - down 98% since 2003

May 2008 - Decline in research which created higher crop yields; demand for rice exceeds production.

(source: Organization for Economical Cooperation and Development; International Rice Research Institute; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via The World Bank; http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/18/business/0518_for_FOCUS.gif)

November 9, 2010 - touched a high of $1,424 an ounce (well below all-time high of $2,387/ounce, adjusted for inflation, on January 21, 1980).

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(CBOT), James E. Boyle (1920). Speculation and the Chicago Board of Trade. (New York, NY: Macmillan, 277 p.). Chicago Board of Trade; Speculation; Grain trade --Illinois --Chicago.

(CBOT), Jonathan Lurie (1979). The Chicago Board of Trade, 1859-1905: The Dynamics of Self-Regulation. (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 234 p.). Chicago Board of Trade.

(CBOT), Bob Tamarkin (1985). The New Gatsbys: Fortunes and Misfortunes of Commodity Traders. (New York, NY: Morrow, 295 p.). Chicago Board of Trade; Commodity exchanges--United States. 

(CBOT), William G. Ferris (1988). The Grain Traders: The Story of the Chicago Board of Trade. (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 223 p.). Chicago Board of Trade -- History; Grain trade -- United States -- History; Commodity futures -- United States -- History. 

(CBOT), William D. Falloon (1998). Market Maker: A Sesquincentennial Look at the Chicago Board of Trade. (Chicago, IL: Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, 341 p.). Chicago Board of Trade; Commodity exchanges--United States.

(CBOT), [interviewed by] Arlene Michlin Bronstein (2008). My Word Is My Bond: Voices from Inside the Chicago Board of Trade. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 400 p.). Chicago Board of Trade--History; Chicago Board of Trade--Officials and employees--Interviews; Futures market--United States--History; Investment advisors--United States--Interviews; Floor traders (Finance)--United States--Interviews. Oral history of some of most influential members who have shaped exchange's history inside trading pits and beyond as told by oldest living Chicago Board of Trade members; effort to document its history as markets have converted from open outcry to electronic trading, just before its merger with Chicago Mercantile Exchange (approved by shareholders on July 19, 2007).

(Chicago Mercantile Exchange), Bob Tamarkin (1993). The Merc: The Emergence of a Global Financial Powerhouse. (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 465 p.). Chicago Mercantile Exchange--History; Commodity exchanges--Illinois--Chicago--History.

(Chicago Mercantile Exchange), Emily Lambert (2010). The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 240 p.). Senior Writer (Forbes magazine). Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Commodity exchanges --Illinois --Chicago --History; Chicago (Ill.) --History. History of Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade; emergence of futures business meeting place for gamblers, farmers; subsequent transformation into sophisticated electronic market where contracts trade at lightning-fast speeds; disastrous effects of Wall Street's adoption of futures contract without rules, close-knit social bonds that had made trading it in Chicago work so well; real "free" markets; speculators can serve a vital economic, social function; how markets should work (written, cultural limits).

(London Metal Exchange), Robert Gibson-Jarvie (1983). The London Metal Exchange : A Commodity Market. (New York, NY: Nichols Pub. Co., 203 p. [2nd ed.]). London Metal Exchange; Metal trade--Great Britain.

(E. D. & F. Man), Alan C. Jenkins (1985). The House of Man. (London, UK: Rainbird Publishing, 176 p.). E. D. & F. Man; commodities -- Great Britain --history; commodity brokerage. Brokers in sugar, other commodities for over 200 years.

(New York Mercantile Exchange), Leah McGrath Goodman (2011). The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market. (New York, NY: Morrow, 389 p.). Ted Scripps Fellow (University of Colorado). New York Mercantile Exchange (N.Y.) -- History; Stockbrokers -- United States; Petroleum industry and trade -- United States -- History; Petroleum products -- Prices. New York Mercantile Exchange-- secretive, members-only club of men and women who live lavish lifestyles, cavort with politicians, strippers, celebrities, jacked up oil prices to nearly $150 barrel, profited from misery of working class (many come from working-class families themselves); created world's first free oil market.

(Philipp Brothers), Helmut Waszkis (1987). Philipp Brothers: The History of a Trading Giant, 1901-1985. (Worcester Park, UK: Metal Bulletin, 294 p.). Philipp Brothers (Firm), to 1985; Great Britain Foreign trade Companies.

(C. Tennant Sons and Company), The Company (1947). A Saga of Commerce. (New York, NY: C. Tennant Sons and Company, 105 p.). C. Tennant Sons and Company. Major international metal trading organization.

Ralph M. Ainsworth with a new introduction by Edward D. Dobson (1980). Profitable Grain Trading. (Greenville, SC: Traders Press, 246 p. [reprint of 1933 ed.]). Grain trade--United States; Speculation.

Clifford Bennett (2006). Warrior Trading: Inside the Mind of an Elite Trader. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 173 p.). Founder of FxMax (Sydney, Australia). Speculation; Stocks; Investments. How to develop the focus, attitude, and mental discipline of top traders.

Jacob Bernstein (1994). Market Masters: How Successful Traders Think, Trade and Invest and How You Can Too! (Chicago, IL: Dearborn Financial Pub., 154 p.). Floor traders (Finance)--United States; Futures market--United States; Stock exchanges--United States.

Peter L. Bernstein (2000). The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession. (New York, NY: Wiley, 432 p.). Gold--Folklore; Gold--History; Gold--Social aspects.

Peter L. Brandt (2011). Diary of a Professional Commodity Trader: Lessons from 21 Weeks of Real Trading. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 283 p.). Full Time Professional Commodity and Foreign Exchange Trader for Over 30 Years. Commodity exchanges; Commodity futures; Speculation. Play-by-play diary of 2009 trading (trades for 21 weeks); inside look at difficult process, what it takes to excel; what it's like to trade, uncertainty that surrounds every trade, discipline required to make tough decisions in face of losing money; on speculation, market analysis, trade identification, selection, risk management, more: methods and rules to trade successfully for so many years; charts, analysis of trade, play-by-play account of how trade unfolds; running account of profits and losses.

Philippe Chalmin, translated from the French by Erica E. Long-Michalke. (1987). Traders and Merchants: Panorama of International Commodity Trading. (New York, NY: Harwood Academic Publishers, 310 p. [rev. 2nd ed.]). Raw materials; Commerce; Trading companies.

Ed. Philippe Chalmin and Jean-Louis Gombeaud with an English edition translated and edited by Charles Prager (1988). The Global Markets. (New York, NY: Prentice-Hall, 380 p.). Raw materials; International trade; Commodity exchanges.

Edward Jerome Dies (1975). The Plunger, A Tale of the Wheat Pit. (New York, NY: Arno Press, 249 p. [orig. pub. 1929). Hutchinson, Benjamin P., 1828-1899; Chicago Board of Trade; Grain trade--Illinois--Chicago.

Stephen Fay (1982). Beyond Greed: How the Two Richest Families in the World, the Hunts of Texas and the House of Saud, Tries to Corner the Silver Market - and How They Failed, Who Stopped Them and Why It Could Happen Again. (New York, NY: Viking, 304 p.). Reporter (London Times). Hunt family; Silver. 

David Greising and Laurie Morse (1991). Brokers, Bagmen and Moles: Fraud and Corruption in the Chicago Futures Markets. (New York, NY: Wiley, 337 p.). Chicago Board of Trade--Corrupt practices; Chicago Mercantile Exchange--Corrupt practices; Futures market--Corrupt practices--Illinois--Chicago. 

Jeffrey Owen Katz and Donna L. McCormick (2000). The Encyclopedia of Trading Strategies. (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 376 p.). Commodity futures.

Perry J. Kaufman (2005). New Trading Systems and Methods. (New York, NY: Wiley, 1174 p. [4th ed.]). Commodity exchanges--Statistical methods.

Cari Lynn (2004). Leg the Spread: A Woman's Adventures Inside the Trillion-Dollar Boys' Club of Commodities Trading. (New York, NY: Broadway Books, 320 p.). Writer, Clerk (Chicago Mercantile Exchange). Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Commodity trading advisors--United States; Women in the professions--United States; Brokers--United States; Commodity exchanges--United States. 

Victor Niederhoffer (1997). The Education of a Speculator. (New York, NY: Wiley, 444 p.). Private Speculator Specializing in Futures and Options Trading. Commodity futures--United States; Brokers--United States--Biography; Speculation; Commodity exchanges--United States. 

Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan (1994). What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars. (Nashville, TN: Infrared Press, 190 p.). First Vice President in charge of the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. International Energy Unit; Foreign Exchange Trader (AmSouth). Commodity exchanges; Speculation; Speculation--Psychological aspects. 

Jim Rogers (2004). Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market. (New York, NY: Random House, 250 p.). Cofounder (Quantum Fund); Adjunct Professor of Finance (Columbia University). Commodity exchanges; Futures market. 

Paul Sarnoff (1980). The Silver Bulls. (Westport, CT: Arlington House, 199 p.). Silver.

Jerome Tuccille (1984). Kingdom: The Story of the Hunt family of Texas. (Ottawa, IL: Jameson Books, 384 p.). Hunt family; Businessmen -- United States -- Biography; Capitalists and financiers -- United States -- Biography.

Ray Vicker (1975). The Realms of Gold. (New York, NY: Scribner, 244 p.). Gold--History.

Abram Wakeman (1914). History and Reminiscences of Lower Wall Street and Vicinity. (New York, NY: Spice Mill, 216 p.). Coffee trade--New York (State)--New York; New York (N.Y.)--Streets--Wall Street. 

------- (1999). Trading Chicago Style: Insights and Strategies of Today's Top Traders (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 271 p.).  Commodity exchanges; Commodity futures; Futures.

Larry R. Williams (1979). How I Made One Million Dollars Last Year Trading Commodities. (Brightwaters, NY: Windsor Books, 130 p.). Commodity exchanges.

Robert G. Williams (2006). The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets. (New York, NY: Zed Books, 256 p.). Voehringer Professor of Economics at Guilford College, North Carolina. Foreign exchange market; International finance. What goes on in sector of foreign currency trading that has exploded during last twenty years - almost $2 trillion per day in trading volume.

Caitlin Zaloom (2006). Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis= (New York University). Stockbrokers.; Stock exchanges; Electronic trading of securities; Finance--Social aspects; Business anthropology. Implications of digital age on traders, brokers, market as whole; how changes at world’s leading financial exchanges have transformed economic cultures, craft of speculation.

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Commodities Trading Hand Signals                                                                                         http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/07/opinion/ 20080407_TRADING_GRAPHIC.html#step1        

An oil trader for 20-years demonstrates the hand signals used on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange: Buy - open hands pulled toward body, amount to buy - palm facing in, fingers extended; sell - open hands pushed away from body, amount to sell - palm facing out, fingers extended; months of year; miscellaneous.

Gold Statistics and Information                                                                                               http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gold/                                                     

Data on gold from statistical publications such as Mineral Commodity Summaries, Minerals Yearbook, and Mineral Industry Surveys. Features brochures on gold prospecting, gold prices in the U.S., and other mineral and metal publications with data on gold. From the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Historical Currency Exchange Rates                                                                                        http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory                                                                
Largest foreign exchange database on the Internet.

Historic Gold and Silver Prices                                                                                                        http://www.kitco.com/charts/                                                                                     

Gold (1833 - Present); Silver (1792 - present).

What Was the Price of Gold Then?                                                                                                 http://www.eh.net/hmit/goldprice/                                                                                

Find the price of gold for a specific year or time period. Includes options for British and U.S. official prices, New York market price, gold/silver price ratio, and London market price. Dates vary for each section and range from 1257 through 2001. Includes related essays on the history and importance of gold prices. From Economic History Services, based at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

World Gold Council: Frequently Asked Questions                                                                                            http://www.gold.org/value/markets/faqs/                                                                       

This FAQ provides a starting point for learning about the ways to buy and sell gold, types of gold investments (such as bullion bars and coins and gold options), gold prices and statistics, and material about demand for gold and gold mining. From "an association of the world's leading gold producers dedicated to the promotion of gold."