Hello, I have started studying Gold GC contract on NYMEX. I before studied Gold Kilo and Mini Gold on CBOT but unfortunately the volume is too low and the spread is quite large on mini Gold. It seems difficult to get access to NYMEX (I use Patsystem JTRADER). Are other traders here trading Gold using JTRADER or other platforms? What kind of fees per contract are you paying for Gold? Thanks
Are you anticipating somehow short-term trading the big or small gold contract? Don't do it - very illiquid. If you want to make money in gold futures, figure on using some kind of trend-following method, because otherwise you'll get chopped to pieces. And don't use market orders! Put in a buy (or sell) stop or limit order and let yourself get "stopped" into the position. I'm not sure of the details, but you probably won't be able to use Jtrader to put on a Nymex position....see if your broker has a second system to put on standard commodity contracts. For instance, at my broker, Jtrader is for the daytrader types...but they have something called RAN, which I've played around on, which is a standard internet-order system...with a menu of the various commodity contracts offered.
George, You won't be able to use PATS to trade the large contract as it's pit traded, and PATS only trades the all electronic markets. You'll need to find another avenue into the market such as another platform or calling the orders in. A comment was made that you shouldn't use market orders, and this is definitely true for orders of 50-100 contracts and up. For these orders, I would use limit orders, or call the trading pit and ask for the bid and offer and the 'size' (how many contracts are up on the bid or offer). Or you could break the order up by timing, I find that most times the pit can soak up 50 contracts every 45 seconds or so without significantly affecting the market, at least for the 1st few hundred. If you do this, I would recommend doing so by phone so the clerk or your floor broker can tell you if pit conditions suddenly change. Matthew Shelley (broker) Futures and options trading involves substantial risk. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and is in no way guaranteed.
Matthew, My broker told me PATS was able to give access to NYMEX Gold for both pit & NYMEX Access. I had some doubts and that is why I started this link. Are you a REFCO Broker? If so which platform out of the many REFCO available platforms do you recommend? I was thinking about Refco e (for PMBe platform) but it seems also it is quite limited (platform is not working 24h per day) I really want a solution where I can trade Gold Futures both premarket (the NYMEX Access) and during pit hours. If possible the same platform would do both...
George, PATS does have a point to point feature that allows a broker to connect to a pit guy with a terminal, but you'll have to talk to your broker about whether he has this type of connection, and with who. I'm not a Refco broker, but I'll talk to some of my buddies who are and try to get an answer for you. Give me a couple of hours to get through the market openings. Matthew Shelley (broker) Futures and options trading involves substantial risk. Information is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and is in no way guaranteed.
There are 2 webbased systems you can look at, maybe other brokers use them with a different name (Lind-Connect = RefcoExpress, for instance) www.refcolive.com www.refcoexpress.com The second can be used as demo. 1) Go to Trading Login 2) Then hit Interactive Demo
hi guys! i just had a look on the second refco platform (demo), just because i was interested. all i can say: the traders utilizing this thing must have a real pain in the a** - only my personal opinion. i tried to create a test order, got various error msgs, best of all was "ERROR! OrderAcceptance -- Error: No one to review order". if this would be my only electronic order entry alternative, i would look for some other contract to trade with, or enter orders by phone (which of course can get costly for smaller retail customers).
hehe... but if GeorgeS still needs help, Google offers a very good service directory http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Commodities,_Futures/Brokerages/ There are over 300 commodity brokerages listed, some are full service, some not, i think you need a good system on gold to stay profitable there...