Hi, I have been interested in trading TOPIX futures through my Broker. I wanted to get your thoughts about this index. The Mini Nikkei 225 seems the best to me.
You can trade Nikkei through Topix, SGX, CME. Nikkei can be denominated in yen, or US$. I do day trading various futures. I avoid trading nikkei totally due to its very small day range. But that doesn't mean you can't trade Nikkei as there are many ways to skin a cat.
The Topix contract has a huge margin requirement & the mini has a small $ price fluctuation - like on avg around $225 the last time I checked using ATR20. I like using the Nikkie225(Yen) traded on the SGX - it has good liquidity nearly around the clock great for those trading unconventional hours.
In the European and USA session it has a 99% correlation with the NIKKEI and is one of the most algo'd markets in the world. It is a market for scum and scum-minded bottom-feeders; If you really believe you have edge in the TOPIX then you probably have intricate knowledge of the different companies listed in it and their relative value to the listed companies in the NIKKEI. You already probably know these, but for anyone else curious; The TOPIX is a wider representation of the Japanese stock market because it weights off the free-float of shares. Nikkei component weighting; 44% technology (Toyota is considered a Technology company), 20% consumer goods, 16% materials.... TOPIX component weighting: 12% Transportation equipment, 12% Electric appliances, 10% Banks (7-4%) I., Chemicals, Machinery, Retail... Food etc. Although, if you really had knowledge of those sectors, you should be trading the individual shares (or spreading the indices). For the past 4-5 years, it has had a total net deviation of +/- 4.5% against the Nikkei, which can be seen from my chart; Important.. you can't miss one of the most algo'd things in the world; Put up a ladder of the Topix or Nikkei with Yen together and you will see that they move inverse in a very aggressive way due to the insane amount of scabby algorithms. Here's a 60-minute chart showing the insane correlation of TOPIX vs. (1/Yen) (CQG code: 1/JY6) If you really have edge in trading a single leg of the Nikkei, Topix and Yen then it would not matter which product you choose.
The Topix index covers all issues on TSE. The Nikkei is made up of 225 stocks. There is a futures contract for each, both a Large and a Mini.
There are 3 contracts for Nikkei, I think. Where can I find stats about TOPIX? Like where I can trade it and margin? I want something that I can trade in the evenings on the west coast. For some reason googling this lacks the sites I need.
You can't use a local (Japanese) broker as you're not a resident. If you want to trade in Japan, you could use IB or AMP. http://www.jpx.co.jp/english/derivatives/
TOPIX confuses me. It says the smallest change is 0.5 but when I look at the index it has like .08. How much is it per smallest movement?