I have been unable to see any realtime bid/ask data on the Mini Hang Seng. Can anyone tell me what the spread is like on average? I have been trying the free trial at www.futuresource.com(they don't show bid/ask) and have found that the last-price data is very volatile and I don't know if that's because of a slow data feed or wide spreads. For those interested, the above referenced website has a nice realtime charting service with many markets to choose from.
The symbol MHI is an e-mini of the Hang Seng. It is usually no worse than 1 or 2 ticks wider than the big contract. The big contract is usually 1 to 3 ticks wide. One word of caution which I was not aware of until the other day. The MHI contract is NOT appoved by the CFTC. Given the costs of gaining approval and the expected volumes from US customers, the HK futures exchange does not anticipate applying for approval any time soon. Thus if you are based in the US, you will be unable to trade the MHI.
i think should be ok but I'll need to check with our compliance dept. If you can add the symbol MHI to your screen and get quotes, you should be fine. sorry, I should know the answer but silly me assumed that since HSI was CFTC approved, the mini contract would be approved. This isn't the case. I've since spoken to a number of exchange officials in Asia about gaining CFTC approval. Unfortunately, it is a costly and time consuming task. Another area where the US regulators are saving us from nothing. In any event, I'll find out tonight who is and isn't approved to trade the contract.