does anyone know how liquid the full size electronic silver contract from the CBOT is ? Is it liquid enough to trade stops with it (without getting slaughtered) ?
It does a few thousand contracts per day. The bid-asked spread is not bad but not great either. I'd say it is liquid enough for limit orders or stop-limit orders and maybe small stop orders during the liquid part of the day. good trading to you, Aaron Schindler Schindler Trading
what about the mini-silver contracts? anyone suggest those instead of the 5000 oz contracts? i was thinking about starting to trade the minis.
interesting point about the smaller size electronic contracts - but I would think the full size electronic contracts would have more volume than the smaller ones - but I am just guessing - does anyone know ?
It seems silver spreads, at least in the mini contracts, have gotten wider since last year, at least in terms of where the arbs are straddling (30-40 ticks as opposed to 20-30). But I suppose that is natural for the increased volatility. The volume for the large contract was pitiful in the months after they began -- maybe setharb knows if ZI is actually tradable now?
Just go to the CBOT website and pull up the quotes and it tells you how much volume is currently in each month.
it's tradable, you should be good on your execution pad though, it's wide compared to more mainstream contracts the volatility makes up for it, if your trades are at least reasonably technically well informed. beware with thin contracts though. they tend to offer more opportunity, but at a greater cost if you're inexperienced and not managing volatility expectations carefully
I've been trading many ZI's for my clients, good fills in the spot month, lower margins vs COMEX, electronic fills don't keep you guessing if the pit filled you or not, always use limit orders.
I trade them both, personally I'd be very careful about using stops in the evening and overnight. The bid/ask is usually decent in the front month, but there have been a few days where I have seen this market move much more than its counterpart at the comex.