Hello, I am still new to trading and Im using TWS with IB. This may be a stupid question but its baffled me somewhat. If you wanted to create a butterfly by adding the individual legs that it is consisted of how would you go about it? E:g -If I want to Sell 4 contracts of ZC July/Sep/Dec 17 Is the above the same as Selling 4 July/Sep17 and Buying 4 Sep/Dec 17? Appreciate any help,
From Classic Trading, enter ticker "ZS". From the menu, select Combinations --> Futures Options (Directed-CBOT). In the Combo selection window, select 3rd Tab (Pair or Leg-by Leg). And, enter each leg manually. I recommend manual entry to save yourself years from your life. As the selection windows do not have intelligent selection, window tabbing or any modern conveniences. If you want to be able to track/evaluate multiple combinations at the same time, the other tabs will be useful for setup.
Hi Xandman, I currently don't trade options, my usual route is combo - pair or leg by leg - then select my months etc. I have no problem creating the butterfly like this, however if i wanted the same trade but for 2018 (Sell 4 contracts of ZC July/Sep/Dec 18) this will go all the way till you try and transmit. Then I get a message Jul 18 exceeds the limit of 5. Maybe there is not enough liquidity for that contract because its so far ahead.So I thought I could get around it by entering each leg of the butterfly separately by creating each spread it holds. Hence, why I thought Selling ZC 4 July/Sep18 and Buying ZC 4 Sep/Dec 18 would be the same as Selling 4 ZC NUZ
I think that contract limit is something that you had set yourself in global configuration as a safety precaution. No volume in ZCU8.