Could anyone explain why one needs to pay a spread when one trades thru an exchange and who pockets it. Are there market makers for Index futures also.Is there a way to trade Index futures at zero spreads.
Well, I'm no expert, but I've been trading the indexes for 6 months now. While there are no MM's in futures, there are "commercial" (professional) players involved who function in the same capacity. They create the open interest, and apparently run stops (well, somebody is doing it!). So there is always a spread.
Quite simply, bid is price buyer willing to pay, ask is price seller willing to sell, the difference being the spread. Highly liquid futures such as stock indices have very tight spreads, usually 1-2 ticks. More illiquid things such as options have wider spreads
The exchange already makes money on transaction fees, so a fixed spread between the bid and ask is only justified if there is a liquidity provider making a market.
From a day trade standpoint I think the ER is the best. Most of the daytrade systems that we have been tracking over the years have performed much better in the ER as of late. The ER doesn't have the knee jerk reaction that is exhibited by the ES and intraday trends seem to last longer therefore providing more profit opportunity. Since the ER carries a bigger punch, execution fees are easily covered with winners. On the other hand, losers take a larger bite out of trading capital.