If I trade on both US and European exchanges, and the fund is in both USD and Euro. 1. Can I use T-bill as margin for European markets? 2. Does Eurex accept any bond as margin? Is there a Euro equivalent of T-bill? if so, can it be used as margin for US markets?
Can't speak for other firms or about bonds for margin. Howver, IB has a unique feature that allows you to use one currency as margin for both. Ie. if funded in USD IB will use the USD to cover euro margin. Profits/losses would remain in euros for you to convert back as you please. When an account becomes flat, your cash would revert back to the base currency. Thus you could theoretically trade ESX or DAX in the AM and swap over to E-minis in the PM using the same capital.
I have no problem with cash, my FCM doesn't convert Euro to USD even when my account becomes flat. I think currency conversion should be as less as possible, because it would incur a small loss due to the spread of buy/sell price. Any idea about depositing bonds as margin?
Guys you can always trade the Share Pirice Index contract in Australia. The day market opens about three hours after the US market closes. Margin is about the same as the ES. Moves about $12.50 US a point and it pretty much a one point spread all day. Plus you can trade it from your IB account. A bit of light after dinner entertainment. It trades pretty light sometimes though which creates a lot of wipesaws. Only suitable for the skilled daytrader. Runningbear
ESTX50, DAX, Cac, Z (ftse), SPI, HSI The easiest way to get the IB future symbols for an exchange is to go to the exchange products page http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/retailAccount/products.html and click under the product heading next to the exchange in question.
Could someone explain what's the starting time of Euro Bund futures? I looked at MyTrack chart, which has data feed problem recently, it starts trading at 2:30 am ET most of times, but sometimes it starts at 2:00 am. Thanks.