Commission is not a big deal, it's only a few bucks when exchanging up to $25,000. What you should ask yourself is can you trade at 3 am? It can get pretty damn boring at that time.
Rofl, well, I am somewhat of an insomniac... generally up most of the night, trade the us, then take a nap... very strange schedule (especially for an east coast trader). I'm used to boredom (hey, I'm a trend-follower, what more boring [yet if done right very profitable] strategy could you pick?), I'd say 99% of my trading is pure boredom and 1% is extraordinarily stressfull and exciting! Yeah the commisions aren't a huge deal, I'm just a cheapskate Thanks,
You might also want to look at the Hang Seng Index and the Mini Hang Seng. IB provides free data for the HSI so you might as well subscribe to it and take a look. It starts trading at 9:45 PM EST. and ends at 4am I think. Today it opened at +125 and is at around -70. Seems like it has a good range. I've just started watching it for the past couple of days though. Thought you might be interested since you are a night person.
Thanks I will look into it! My concerns are always liquidity and range, seems like this baby has the range down, I'll get it up on sierra and see what kind of spreads and volume it has. Thanks again,
Just one other note, use the sept contracts on the HSI, since the rollover is one day before the month ends. The oct is not "chartable" right now. The HSI is 50HKD per point or around $6 a point. The mini is 1/5th the size of the HSI. Just noticed that IB also provides free data for Australian futures. Might as well check out the SPI too
This is another UK site that trades the estoxx etc. Articles and data on most European instruments. A traders site founded by one of the people on the Eurostoxx50 site. http://www.thetradepit.com/ You can pick up links to other sites from the trade pit. Hope this helps.
My ESTX50 First Impressions: Well I worked my first order on the estx50, for a monstrous (ok a measley..) 8 points. With 3 contracts it doesn't even pay for a set of nice italian shoes, however it was a good experience. This is expiration day so things were a bit choppy but I saw the tape working the downside hard so I took it for a ride. My first impressions of this instrument follow: 1. This baby has liquidity. You want to trade 100-150 contracts? It says "Bring it" (or some near fascimile in a variety of european languages). 2. "The Whales are active and trackable". This means that, even though this is an index product, the tape tells the tale of the strong and the weak. 3. Turtle or the hair? Try snail. Ok, now albeit it's expiration day and things are likely to be a bit quirky, but I must say that this thing t r a d e s i n s l o w m o t i o n. Overall I like it, low risk, high liquidty, a good intro to european markets. It does trade quite slow (so far...) and volatility isn't moonshot, but that's good for newbies and the occasional pro who wants to take it easy (refreshing sometimes). Well there's my first impressions, now watch me completely reverse my impressions and ride them the other way. That's this business for you . I'm going to work this index for a month or two, then perhaps I'll check out the DAX. Soon I will be working the asian futures over as well (assuming I don't run out of caffeine). It's like a magical financial pirate tour around the world, yarrrrr. Goodluck me mateys (can you tell I haven't slep?),
Are you using time and sales to read the tape or just looking at the trade size as the prices update?
Time and sales, it's the only thing I can really trust as far as the tape is concerned! Everything else (order size, market depth, etc..) can be mischievously manipulated (perhaps I am a bit paranoid due to NYSE specialists and level II games) by fish bigger than I. Transactions rarely lie though (unless it's the CME, ok sorry low blow to the trade breakers). I believe if you can combine time and sales with effective chart/sentiment readings for a larger perspective, you're ahead of the game. Goodluck,