I understand what you are saying...by the way, Joesan - I recall that you were interested in the Kospi Options some time ago...are you still active in that market ?
Last year I only traded HSI. Nowadays I am also trading SGXNK . In the near future there will be the first mainland Chinese stock index futures contract,I want to trade this product of my own country. ( People in China has little knowledge of index futures while I think the last 3 years in the HSI market has given me some edge. :=) ) Since I do not think I will be able to follow more than three markets at one time, so I had to choose between SGXNK or Kospi 200. Kospi is also a good candidate for daytrading, I think if judged independantly, it is a better instrument than Nikkei/SGXNK, with more liquidity and volatility. But since the main purpose of trading Japan/Korea market is for diversification, and the Japanese market has more influence on the Hong Kong market than the Korean market, so at last I thought I'd better choose SGXNK.
I always have more then one broker. If one platform connection with broker "A" has issues then I can still trade my systems with a different platform connection with broker "B". It gives you a choice for the times when you are encountering technical issues so you are not shut down from taking your system trades.
I have no idea where people actually make such false claims - "it is one of the highest". I know for a fact in HK our intraday margins are very reasonable and competitive.
Margins at IB are 50% for everything intraday (with futures). It is a good deal for the most part. Def, clue me in on all those companies you have listed under Hong Kong futures margin section. I just noticed them. I take it they are single stock futures. Are any of them liquid? Any of you guys trading these?
If we are talking about intraday futures margins, at IB you can't open a new position if you have gone below 2K. On the other hand there are plenty of other futures brokers with 500$ intraday margins. So 400% difference does make it one of the highest, or am I being picky??
last I saw, this is a thread on HK and Nikkei Futures Overnight margin for both futures is 6+K USD and 2-300 point moves intraday are not uncommon. An 80 point move - equal to your $500 min quote in HK can happen in the bat of an eye - so yes you are being picky. There is also a difference between an account min and a min margin. If you are happy putting your money with a broker that will let you trade with only $500 in the account that is certainly your choice. TGM, yes those are single stock futures. There is liquidity but it isn't great as only one market maker (timber hill) is showing continuous quotes. Another will respond to quote requests on some of the names. Size of quotes range from 15-100K shares depending on the stock and other factors. Spreads are about 5 cents wider than the underlying but given costs (no stamp tax, lower commission) relative to stocks, they aren't a bad deal. Volumes are starting to pick up so maybe additional liquidity will come in as well. They are cash settled and the HKFE promises to start promoting them.