You work for a conservative investment management firm. You recently asked one of the senior partners for permission to open a futures account so that you could trade interest-rate futures as well as cash instruments. He replied, Are you crazy? I might as well write you a check, wish you good luck, and put you on a bus to Las Vegas. The futures markets are nothing more than a respectable game of craps. Dont you think youre taking enough risk trading bonds? How would you try to persuade the senior partner to allow you to use futures?