I am interested trading credit derivative. Does anyone know how large the liquidity is for the market? is it possible for day trading? and what are the most popular symbols for them if I trade from Interactive brokers?
Do a little research on credit derivatives (i.e. Google it ) and all your questions will be answered.
OTC. Typical deals are in the 10s of millions. ISDA governs the netting process and you'd need to be a ISDA "subscriber".
No, ISDA governs documentation, collateral, and basically the whole trading process. And you aren't to become a 'subscriber'. You sign an ISDA agreement with EACH of your counterparties.
Most CDS are traded with one ISDA member as couterparty. Sure a lot of CDS are traded between buy-side entities. I can sign an ISDA but it wouldn't mean much.
I'm really confused by your reply (which I assume was to me)? You (atticus) can't sign one. Except, in the literal sense that you go download a copy from somewhere and sign it yourself - which, without a counterpart signature, means exactly nothing. My whole point is that you need to sign an ISDA with a counterparty, which in the most obvious sense is the sell side. An ISDA 'subscriber' (in the sense of http://www2.isda.org/about-isda/join-isda/subscriber-members/benefits/) has nothing directly to do with having the ISDA Agreements in place to CDS/CDO/etc. It's more or less a subscription to a bunch of industry publications.