Half of the ex-pat community and a good chunk of the rest of HK is on holiday. Thus the markets are extremely thin and it doesn't take much to move the market. Don't use this week as a judge to whether or not you want to trade the market. The risk is higher but so are the rewards - ie. what if you're on the right side of that 100 point move ? As for market makers, there are no market makers for the HSI futures. What happens is large size comes in to take out the bid/offer and it triggers a bunch of stops which triggers more etc. For the most part, anyone trying to manipulate the market gets run over as it will not trade out of line for long. On the options side, we do make markets in the options and we are very fast but the markets are two sided and the spreads are good. For those who have no idea what you're doing, you shouldn't be trading options and HK isn't probably the place to experiment. However, for someone who understands options, there is real opportunity and can be a great way to hedge your risk. I'd agree with Vegas though and say trading this market isn't for the faint of heart.
did anybody see the up-spike on the january contracts at 12527 aroiund 10am.. that was me...my series of stop(about 80 contracts) got triggered like dominos..I was careful about where I put it but there was simply no liquidity today, I can't believe I only got 10 contracts at 12500...I lost a lot of money today.. as to whether there are market makers,locals on HSI? well..who's on the other side of my stop orders?? may be I am using the terminology wrongly, a better term would be "scalpers" but of course, they use the same strategy to make money..searching, touching off stops, fake size, pushing the market..and the guys on the HSI are fast and vicious.. I remember reading some material that suggest that arbitraging and program trading represent very little volume on the HSI unlike most other stock index futures, and I think this has a lot to do with the volatility on the HSI, the market often goes to extreme and create huge excesses( the market came back a 100 points right after the move down) because there are no buffers. actually, I think the HSI is pretty good for small traders but once you start doing a bit of size, you are better trading something else. This is the only market that I trade where I have to reduce size as my account get larger
won't disagree with you on that, trying to scalp anything over 25 contracts in this market is difficult. however, if you place a stop limit instead of a stop market, you probably will have better luck.
i am down 40k today..(was up 400k at one point) was down 530k(HK) last wednesday..got chopped to death.. so I am having a relatively good day it's all relative...
Good to see you taking it well . I am down 3000HK today, I don"t feel happy. But I learned a little. Good luck in the coming weeks!
Vegasoul, How about starting a thread where you tell us about your trading, you must be one of the larger size tarders on the board . I live in japan so probably trade the same markets as you. Got a bit burned on the nikkei recently but want to try it again the future especially if IB drop the commission ($700yen!). I mainly trade HSI, dax and first hour of american markets. I hope Ib will bring down the com. price on HSI
I trade all the asian and european markets... the osaka nikkei 's tick size is too large for my liking.. too many whipsaws (the scaplers love it though), so I trade the n225 on simex.. it sort acts like a filter sometimes...may be you want to check it out.... stick with the HSI if you are not trading size..it's good for some type of trading(not mine), but you got to have mutant reflex, or just the computer trade it for you.. as to a thead, I would propably get flamed for being the poser.. PM me if u need to .. p.s. are u japanese? or ex-pat..
Yeah the 10,000yen tick size is pretty scary on the osaka Nikkei. Which broker to you use for simex Nikkei? Unfortunately I don't have mutant reflexes so am a bit up and down on the old HSI. A pity about the flaming on this board - especially if it includes real traders like yourself. I am still nisemono (imitation) at the moment but am improving month by month. I'm an expat here for 7 years now.