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Newbie: Trading Futures?

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sunny_123

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Hi all,
i am a newbie who try to get into futures market. i have a few questions:
1. what type of broker i should use: full service broker Or internet broker?
2. could you please recommend the brokers? what about MF Global? i want to do paper trading first. which broker provide such function?
3. what trading platform do you use? i did research on this, and found TradeNavigater has highest rank. Has anyone used it?
4. I want to trade both US and OZ market, if trade US market, do I have to stay up some nights to trade some products? because we have 15 hours time difference.

some questions might seem silly, but i really want to know the information about how you guys trade global market especially US market.

thanks a lot
 
Re: Newbie:Trading Futures?

1. An internet broker.
2. I can only suggest Interactive Brokers, as that is the only broker I've used. They offer a very large range of markets with low commissions. They require an equivalent of a 10k deposit, but if you were to trade futures with them, you wouldn't be despositing less than that anyway.
3. Interactive Brokers has their own trading application but horrible charts, so I use Amibroker (for the charts).
4. Depends on the timeframe you trade. If you're trading the 4hr chart or slower, you might be able to get away with just placing overnight orders - seems a number of people here do just that.
 

Sunny,

I use Halifax Online (Halifax Investment Services. They supply the Trading Platform (Includes Charts & most common Technical Indicators), Live Data from Globex (major Currencies & Commodities). Brokerage is approx $30 AUD per completed Trade (both sides). Margin per Contract less than 2k. I don't know what others use, but I think I'm on a pretty good wicket.

Regards

Darren
 

Ouch, that is hefty brokerage for an online round trip on a futures contract.
 
sydney_hawka said:
1100 Initial Margin, 800 Maintenance Margin. Thats a fact!!! I'm assuming you're talking about Nymex Crude.
Click to expand...

Overnight Margin on Nymex Crude is $5,400 - $4,000 maintenance.

The mini contract is $2,700 - $2,000 maintenance.

These margins are set by the exchange, NYMEX in this case and as far as I understand, cannot be varied downwards by brokers.

Intraday margin is a whole 'nuther bowl of wax however.

Intraday on the mini (with my broker) is $1,350 - $1,000 maintenance, which is the only margin even remotely close to yours.

So exactly which margin are we talking about here?

BTW I pay USD $2.75 a side on CL trades.

$2.40 a side for ES etc. $1.81 for options
 
Re: Newbie:Trading Futures?


thank you, does IB has any account for me to do Paper trading? does IB provide free live data? if you use different platform such as Amibroker, do you have to pay the live data?

If you're trading the 4hr chart or slower, you might be able to get away with just placing overnight orders----could you please explain what 4hr chart is?

thanks heaps
 
Yes, you can set up a paper account with IB - but you must first have a real account (which requires a 10k desosit). Data is free or for charge depending on the market. US markets are free, but you'll have to pay for most Asian and Euro data. The ASX is about $35 if I remember correctly.

If you're trading the 4hr chart or slower, you might be able to get away with just placing overnight orders----could you please explain what 4hr chart is?
Click to expand...

Charts are usually measured in time, and the 4 hour chart is one the common ones. It means that every 4 hours a new data point will be formed (or a bar/candlestick).
 

Using an online broker is enough for your needs. I assume you won't be trading large amounts of capital and you're a retail investor.


Yes if you plan to trade the US markets you will have sleepless nights and it might affect your day job. That is, 'if' you trade ... if you invest for the long haul then you might be able to sleep a little easier. But it can still be a harrowing experience, derivatives can move a very wide range in one trading day, and you could get wiped out if you don't have your stops/limits in place.

Right now, markets in the US usually open at about 12:30am or 1:30am Australian Eastern time for equities. So you will need to stay up late.

I would consider this in the context of how busy your lifestyle is, if you want to pick up overseas trading.
 
Interesting thread.

From the very very little I know... I beleive that if you are to try your hand at day trading; then the futures are the market to do it in. This is because of the liquidity.

I believe though that you need an account of $10K-$20k to cover margins.

Are these assumptions correct?

I've got an IB account and am thinking of paper day trading the SPI. I've got no idea of any day trading stratergies though. I fully understand expectancy etc.

any trading stratergy ideas?
 
RazzaDazzla said:
Interesting thread.

From the very very little I know... I beleive that if you are to try your hand at day trading; then the futures are the market to do it in. This is because of the liquidity.
Click to expand...

There's more liquidity in large cap equities, or even options. With futures however you have more of an ability to generate an income from your trading due to the large margin and leverage built into futures positions.

But yes, you will need to maintain initial and maintenance margins.
 
so if someone wanted to day trade one or two days a week, what would be the 'best' instrument to trade?

From what ou say, sounds like they'd be better of watching a RIO chart all day rather than a SPI?
 

Even though the SPI is fairly thin, in terms of value its far more liquid than big cap stocks though
 

I'd pick futures for liquidity and low commissions (daytrading stocks is quite expensive by comparison). There's the SPI, but the better choice in my limited experience was the STW, K200, and the HSI/mini. There's also the FTSE on London open. Forex is another alternative, with very low margin (good for keeping a minimal account balance), massive liquidity, low trade cost, and free data. I can't say which market is best, because to me they all seem alike - my view being that markets are markets.

so if someone wanted to day trade one or two days a week, what would be the 'best' instrument to trade?
Click to expand...

Only intraday? I'd suggest futures or forex, due to the liquidity and low trade costs. I'm surprised so many trade the ASX, as the commissions are immense.

any trading stratergy ideas?
Click to expand...

I would approach intraday trading the same way as I approach a slower timeframe. The only difference would be the speed of action.
 
Just browsing here;
http://www.asx.com.au/products/futures/equities/index/index.htm

Now;
There's the SPI 200 - I beleive this is the $25 contract over the ASX200
There's also mention of XJO futures with a $10 contract size.

I'm a little confused. I thought the SPI 200 which was the futures based on the ASX200 aka XJO.

so apart from the $25 and $10 contract size, whats the difference between th SPI 200 and XJO futures?

I'm guessing the XJO futures with the $10 contract size would be comparable to the e-mini in the US?
 
When using Interactive Brokers do the initial and maintance margins apply to a specific market or also the number of contracts per market. For example would margin for US e-mini (ES) differ depending on whether I bought 1 ... or 4 contracts.

Also can anyone comment on their experiences trading forex via interactive brokers. Just wondering what advantages/disadvantages are if any (cf a forex only broker)... and can you use the same leverage ... etc

sleepy
 
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