Cant buy bonds with IB

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by easyrider, Aug 26, 2003.

  1. I cant take a long position in bonds this week because IB has some problem with "physical delivery". What I dont understand is the contract specs say that trading stops 7 business days before the last business day of the contract month. This is August!! How come the September contract is a problem already. I hope Def or someone can explain to me whats going on. Other people I trade with dont have this problem with other brokers. Apparently its an IB idiosyncrasy.
     
  2. Yeap

    It is something very strange. Why just bond?
     
  3. I know that the trading month for bonds (and maybe T-notes -- ZN) rolls over earlier than index futures, don't know the exact dates, but it's at least 2 weeks.

    see this regarding delivery (paragraph 1809.1)

    http://www.cbot.com/cbot/docs/19586.pdf
     
  4. If you go to the CBOT site and to the Notice calendars (under Calendar on the menu) there is a scedule of all of the contracts. For example, for notes and bonds, first notice for the September contract is Friday, August 29 while first delivery is Tuesday, September 2.
     
  5. bone

    bone

    Check the bids and offers for Dec. if it's a few tics wide, just do the Dec.

    Why couldn't you or IB just sell the calendar spread a couple of days before first notice - which would negate the possibilty of physical delivery and automatically roll you into a long position for Dec. outright?

    PS - in alot of ways, IB has a point. Having speculators getting caught into first notice is a royal pain.
     

  6. If you are scalping 10 contracts, i don't think the Dec future is attractive. Best is not trade at all. Just wait for next week.
     
  7. sammybea

    sammybea

    Agreed, the dec futures are not liquid at all. Very frustrating IB did that. I think i have to get a backup broker for real instead of just talking about it.

    By the way, IB let you trade bonds this morning for at least an hour after the open. Their "brilliant" policy went into force in the middle of the trading day without warning.

     
  8. Really, it happen to me yesterday, so I stop trading bond today totally. You can short/sell, but i am not sure what if you short, can you cover you short or not.

    I just totally skip trading it today.


    Does this mean also, you cannot trade currencies future,
    indices future in the next few days...
     
  9. 3dog

    3dog

    Yes, you can initiate new shorts for Sep, and yes you can cover your shorts. But they won't let you initiate any new longs.
     
  10. sammybea

    sammybea

    Ahh, yeah thats quite possible. Thanks for the clarification.



     
    #10     Aug 26, 2003