just saw this on another thread. Cheers. IBj Interactive Brokers Registered: Aug 2003 Posts: 56 02-10-06 05:31 PM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We (IB) hope to have the first CME pit products online in 1-2 weeks. CBOT sometime therafter. NYMEX and NYBOT by end Q1, earlier with a little luck.
I hope I speak for everyone when I say I'm really looking forward to letting the guys in the pit front-run my orders and run my stops. Is there some way to just pay them "protection" money up front to avoid having them screw me later? Then I can at least estimate my slippage up front
Now if they only would offer electronic trading in the big spoo. But I think it's not going to happen. Instead, they will probably just delist it when they close the floor some day (I doubt they will keep it open forever for SP/Eurodollars options and a few AGs only)
Can't wait for pork bellies. "Pork bellies. I KNEW it." Louis Winthorp, famous 1980's commodities trader.
Late on 21-FEB-2006, IB support told me in a chat to sign up for floor based access that day. I was told that the futures symbols would be available on TWS on 22-FEB-2006. Today, the 23rd, another chat to support to ask why the symbols don't work and I am told that there is no floor-based access and no ETA - that IB support doesn't know anything about floor-based exchanges. Granted, messages can change as support personnel change, but being told to sign up and trade one day, then being told two days later that no one knows anything seems like less than inspiring customer service. We're not trying to press for information, or speed up the go live date - rather we're just reacting to what we're told - but its tough when customer support answers seem to made after first shaking a "magic eight ball".
Please try again. They should be active now. IBj posted this in anohter thread and it's worth reposting here... CME floor products (pit) are now available through IB. The first offerings are futures as follows: 1. Euro Dollar IB Underlying: GE Trading Class: ED 2. S+P 500 IB Underlying: SPX Trading Class: SP 3. Live Cattle IB Underlying: LE Trading Class: LC 4. Lean Hogs IB Underlying: HE Trading Class: LH 5. Nasdaq IB Underlying: NDX Trading Class: ND 6. Euro FX IB Underlying: EUR Trading Class: EC 7. Canadian Dollr IB Underlying: CAD Trading Class: CD 8. Japanese Yen IB Underlying: JPY Trading Class: JY 9. Aussie Dollar IB Underlying: AUD Trading Class: AD We will release additional CME products, including options, by the end of next week. Commission info is posted on our website. For now, there is no minimum order commission, although we may add one to frankly discourage 1 lot trading. The pits are not efficient and the brokers will ignore small orders that are frequently modified or cancelled. Traders used to the unrestricted ability to control their trading in electronic markets will be in for a rude awakening. There is a risk disclosure when you sign up for the US floor access that is, if anything, an understatement of the issues you may experience. For instance, you can fully expect to only get a fill on a floor contract when the electronic version is already priced to make an easy arbitrage against your order for the local on the floor. Trade reports can easily be 30 seconds and 2 minutes will be not uncommon. The above is not meant to discourage use of the floor for products whose primary liquidity is on the floor. But we do want traders to recognize the realities of the floor, namely the order is being managed by people who will make errors, be slow, or have a conflict of interest (dual trading, for example). Additionally, there is a significant inherent latency in the execution/reporting process. IB will get your order to the floor in a few seconds. After that, we lose a significant amount of control because the orders will be in a non-digital environment. One of the main reasons IB has avoided pit access is that the trading environment on the floor effectively undoes all the work we have invested in high speed order routing, SMART technology, etc. But for those who need/want Lean Hogs, etc, they are now available. More CME products next week. CBOT in a few weeks. NYMEX a bit thereafter. Good luck and good trading.
Thank you for your reply. Only ED and CD seem enterable on our TWS at this time - we'll wait. Thanks for the clarification.
Once the pit closes(aka after hours) will these contracts be tradeable via globex? I dont' see commish for floor based index options/futures listed in the Bundled section. Unless it falls under "All products not listed below"? And the unbundled section makes no reference to floor based contracts.
I just checked under "Fees" on the home page and commissions are listed for the pit now. I am certainly not going to be the first to venture into this water (especially with Def's warning). But it might be very useful for those rare day's when the E-minis go down and you need to hedge.