PDT rules apply to securities accounts. Trading SSF in futures accounts may not have the same restrictions but you should check with your brokerage or FCM. Best
Hi David, Is there any plan to make a scanner (even delayed), preferably customazible for months /dividend or not/ price range etc, for EFP discount and premium on the website? I would think it is real useful for EFP users.
First to the PDT question: Out of our control I'm afraid. SEC mandate. Please remember that even if PDT question gets resolved the use of SSF is most applicable to customers who are holding long/short postions on margin. Using the SSF instead of the underlying you will be able to carry the trade at a lower interest expense than you do today. With that said there are customers who trade using the SSF as the price movement of the future is in lockstep with the underlying. To the EFP Scanner question: This is a bit difficult for us to do as OneChicago is an exchange, a utility if you will, for the reporting of transactions. We are able to scan our bids and offers and report pricing opportunities but without prices we have nothing to show. Which brings us to EFPs. EFPs are really an off-exchange transaction as they are not supported natively by the CBOEDirect match engine. In addition the EFP market is sensitive to 1. Dividend streams 2. Interest Rate fluctuations (and any forcasts that marketmakers will price in 3. Stock inventories at brokerage and trading firms that those insititutions would like to EFP out of. Obviously larger positions in expensive stocks would tend to motivate firms/customers to reduce their financing costs more than a small position in low price issues. We don't have that information. With that said Interactive Brokers has a nice EFP scanner on their site. Perhaps I can scrape that and display it on OneChicago. In addition their customers can display relevant EFPs ( depending on whether you have access funds available or perhaps are paying too much for the margin loan) and actually display the contract months for the SSF as well as the EFP markets for those months right on the TWS. If I recall right it is selected in the COMB line from the drop down when entering symbols. SPREADTRADER also displays EFP markets on demand. In the future if we are able to gather more relevant information in real time then naturally we would put it out to the public. Best
As of Wednesday May 7, 2008 OneChicago will begin listing these additional ETF products. All SSF on the products listed below will have a 1000 multiplier meaning that each SSF represents 1000 of the ETF units. UltraShort Oil & Gas ProShares DUG1C Claymore/BNY BRIC ETF EEB1C iShares® MSCI EAFE Growth Index Fund EFG1C iShares® MSCI Australia Index Fund EWA1C iShares® MSCI Malaysia Index Fund EWM1C iShares® iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond Fund HYG1C iShares® Lehman 3-7 Year Treasury Bond Fund IEI1C iShares® Goldman Sachs Software Index Fund IGV1C iShares® S&P Global Technology Sector Index Fund IXN1C iShares® S&P Global Telecommunications Sector Inde IXP1C iShares® Dow Jones Transportation Average Index Fu IYT1C iShares® Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Sector IYZ1C PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Portfolio PXJ1C Ultra S&P 500 ProShares SSO1C United States Oil Fund USO1C PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund UUP1C SPDR® Homebuilders ETF XHB1C Best.
Now if you can get ThinkorSwim to offer them then I'll be grateful. I like to use SSF as part of my hedging strats.
We have talked with ThinkorSwim several times about offering the product.....as well as Optionsexpress and Ameritrade and TDWaterhouse etc. Remember that SSF offer improved financing for the CUSTOMER and not the brokerage firm. They will act in their own economic self interest which is participating in loaning you money on margin at rates that exceed their own and keeping the interest on any credit balances produced from short sales AND using your stocks to loan out for their profits. Using SSF you can reduce your finance costs and actually participate in the Stock Loan profits by buying SSF under fair value. Best
Two reasons. First to make it more attractive to the hedge funds and secondly so we could offer it at a more attractive transaction cost. OneChicago charges 14cents for 100 multiplier contracts and 50cents for the 1000 multiplier. We have had many calls to bring up the smaller contracts and that is still under consideration. Best
it will be great if you guys can consider something like the Big S&P and the emini S&P for the ETF futures contracts, so basically 2 contract size for the same product. To be honest, as much as i love SSF, i cant afford the 1000 mulitiplier. Also, IB doesnt seem to make markets for the 1000 multiplier SSF, so for example, even if we want to swap a 1000 shares position in USO to an EFP, we might have to pay a normal spread instead of the discounted IBEFP spread. Furthurmore, if someone can afford to trade a 1000 multiplier in the USO, they can just trade front month crude on globex directly instead of USO. Therefore, it is unlikely that a 1000 mulitiplier USO ETF would attract huge interest.