Why is the spread between Dec 11 WTI and Dec 12 WTI a negative -1.55? And another question, what is the effect on margin requirements for trading a spread. If I long and short a contract, will I have to have 2x the margin requirement or will it count as one contract?
If we trade stocks we (individual traders) also can get paid to add liquidity (IB offers that option for commissions). But as far as I know, NYMEX doesn't work that way.
Hey, great minds think alike, I was short almost same time as you 99.79, out 99.21, but didn't it seem like an eternity (a good 2 or 3 minutes) waiting for the break through previous S and then those pesky buyers stepped in!
Most brokers I believe will not do 2X...I am long CLM1 and I scalp the CLJ1 short against it and margin changes only very slightly when both are on.
In the computer information systems department that I've been taking some classes from they say, "Devious minds think alike." My trade was from 7:04 to 7:08 AM PST. Same as yours? I was just looking at the 1 min and it retraced that same trade 2 or 3 more times during the day. It was so volatile, I just wanted to take as big of a chunk as I could but left about 30 more ticks on the board. Oh, well. I was in and out and had some other business to take care of. Plus, unfortunately, my software is still dropping the bids and asks from the SuperDOM from time to time and I have to reboot. Cost me several hundred last Friday. I spent hours with tlow and the NinjaTrader reps trying to resolve this. Always a drag. Hopefully we'll get it sorted out shortly. Onward and upward (or downward as the case may be. ) Off to bed. Good trading to all of you overnight traders.
Maybe the slogan from the CIS department is "Deviant minds think alike". Take your pick. Up in the middle of the night for a few minutes. Don't see anything that compelling. Back to bed.
The trade I was talking about was 6:08-6:10 PST; but I also traded 7:05-7:10 PST short from 99.77. I too was trading off the 1-min chart, which has felt like trading off a 5-min chart this week in terms of price moves. In fact, I'd say half the time I'm checking the 1-min chart to get a quick picture of direction, then I'm trading straight off the DOM by "feel".
That was Less sweat entry exit for the day from this 97.50 price , next overnight session should provide run up to 99 as it is next new day for Libya and events
-what a wild $9 range for Brent yesterday - Nymex margin increase a factor in selling , interesting http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/us-markets-oil-idUSTRE71192R20110224 ---------- Markets had earlier eased on news top OPEC exporter Saudi Arabia was in talks with European refiners affected by the disruption to fill any supply gaps. "After three days of moving to the upside, the market was prone to profit-taking and then we heard the rumor that Gaddafi was dead," said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover in New Canaan, Connecticut. "It was almost like the fever was breaking anyway, and this was the bucket of water that brought the temperature down quickly." Traders said an increase in margin requirements for U.S. crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange in London also added pressure to prices late in the day. Brent crude hit $119.79 a barrel -- the highest since August 2008 -- in early activity then dropped to $110.51 late, marking the widest trading range for the benchmark since September 2008. Brent settled up 11 cents at $111.36 a barrel, dropping more than $1 in post-settlement activity.