I'd like to start learning about trading US/ European financial futures. Are there any books, DVDs etc that people can reccomend that go over the basic, introducing the more commonly used strategies etc?
Mkr Consistent, thanks for the tip, but I had a look there and there doesnt seem to be anything specific on T-Bonds,STIRs etc.... Id like to get some kind of idea of the sort of analysis and general strategies used in trading them ... anyone have any ideas?
What about starting with some Fixed Income required reading? Like Tuckman's 'Fixed Income Securities', Burghardt's 'Treasury Bond Basis' and 'Eurodollar Futures and Options Handbook', etc. Another one of my favorites is the old Solly's 'Understanding the Yield Curve' series by Antti Ilmanen.
Thanks, thats the kind of direction Im looking for. which of the instruments would you reccomend for a beginner?
IMHO, STIRs, such as Eurodollar/Euribor/Sht Sterling, are mechanically the easiest to play with, although there's quite a lot of positioning/flow that goes into them. Bond futures are OK, as well, but there's a few more moving parts. Caveat emptor, if you don't understand them properly.
maninjapan, You might be interested to read the following article: 18 advantages of daytrading the E-mini S&P 500 Hope this helps.
Totally up to you and depends on what sort of trading you like to do... If you like short-term macro sort of stuff, then outright probably is best. Otherwise, I really don't know. You should play with the two options and see which you're more comfortable with.