Nikkei 225 futures on SIMEX vs. OSE

I normally trade HSI which is a good US nighttime market.

I am looking at the SGXNK 225 as a backup and it looks ok so far ... if a little boring compared with HSI.

You might also consider JPY (yen) either on CME or at a currency house as it has good moves during this period. Eur can do but often tends to stagnate over the asian period.

 

Take a look at STW contract. Now that pit has closed volume and liquidity is meaningful- seems somewhere between the two regarding volatility and liquidity and much better behaved technically than HSI.

 

I'd go with Singapore. Institutions certainly trade there. The depth may not be as large as Osaka but it is normally 100-300 contracts. The main advantage is the smaller spread (5 points instead of 10) . The other added plusses are speed, cost and after hours trading.

 

Chood,

I hope so though there's been trouble at that 12k level earlier this year. I remember one of the moves on that level earlier this year (such as we are seeing now) where I had a whole list of green lights and had my clock cleaned in a violent reversal down after lunch break. There have been a number of these this year in that zone.

Geo.

 

Agreed that there may be as many landmines as true green lights in the position, and most likely that's part of the prevailing sentiment (today). My expectation over time is for upward move to continue as caution and wariness become priced out.

 

Well, we're at the witching level (just before 9 am Wednesday Tokyo), so today's action may be interesting.

 

I bet Nick Leeson knows the differences between the contracts.

 

Today’s news on Nikkei 225, Japan’s stock market index, showing 4-year high:
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Asian Stocks Have Biggest Weekly Gain in 17 Months. . .

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks gained this week . . .

Japan's Topix index jumped 4.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 4.2 percent. Both indexes touched four-year highs on optimism an election called by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for next month won't derail economic growth and corporate earnings.

 

See my post on July 27th, below: anyone else along for the ride?

 

Bloomberg reporting today, Sept. 21st:

"Japan's recovery is 'becoming sustainable' as rising corporate profits help spark business investment and consumer spending in the world's second-largest economy, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said."