Was wondering if anyone in US is trading foreign markets at night. I'm on the East Coast and would like to find something to trade in the evening, i.e. 6pm-11pm EST. I looked on IB's website and thought maybe futures on the Hang Seng??? Anyone else have any other experience or ideas?? Thanks, Savage
The Hang Seng can be pretty volatile but there is plenty of liquidity (if your trading less than 10 contracts) and I think it is a great product to trade and/or scalp. There also is a mini contract that is almost always within 2 ticks of the big contract. The hours are 9:45-12:30 and 2:30 to 4:15 but will be increased from 9:45 till 1:30 in a few months. Each tick is 50 HKD. You can also consider the SPI futures in Australia. It starts trading 2 hours earlier and doesn't have a lunch break. It isn't as volatile and I think you'll have a tougher time picking out trends. Nevertheless, there seem to be plenty of retail traders who like to trade it. Multiplier is 25 AUD. If you have particular questions about the SPI or HSI, just ask as i've been trading these markets a number of years. Other markets are Korea and Japan. Korea is insanlely liquid but commissions will eat you alive. Japan is tradeable but as I think it is more of an institutional market.
Def, how correlated are the asian markets to the states? And what do you mean when you say that Japan is "institutional"? Does that mean you need to trade large size just to get executed?
Woooow, More markets to trade in addition to the NYSE? I am already getting hemorrhoids from sitting on this chair for 8+ hours a day. nitro
Def, On your website it shows only daytime SFE hours. Do you connect for the evening session as well (5.10 pm - 7am)? Also is there a way of getting a quote for the S&P ASX 200 index (which the SPI is based on) in the TWS? Thanks.
Def: Is the DAX also available for trading through IB.... I have heard from a number of people that this has become a favorite of US traders looking to trade overnight markets.
how does one get quotes for these products and whaat is the cost on the various brokers or trading software platforms?
www.eurexchange.com www.esignal.com/international/default.asp www.manfutures.com - www.mandirect.co.uk
Dax: That's great if you want to wake up at 3 AM (east coast) to start the day. The question was for the asian markets so i'll stick to that. But yes, IB offers it, check out the web site for details. SPI: We don't support the overnight sessions at this time. They aren't very liquid and we haven't had much demand. Correlations: SPI, not great. The Share Price Index is heavily weighted with natural resource companies and thus any bad news in the US which could drive stocks like news corp lower is often offset by moves in those companies (and vice versa). Hong Kong: there is a pretty good correlation to the US markets. I.e. a big overnight move in the states usually leads to a strong opening. However, the last two weeks it seems that large overnight moves in the Hang Seng have led the large moves in the states. (could be a reflection of news occurring after hours in the states). SPI cash: I'll see if I can get it added. Quotes: IB's quotes are direct from the API's at the exchange. Our feed is faster than the major data providers. Our prop side trades off of these feeds and I can attest that they are excellent. Japan: what I mean by institutional is that it tends to be driven by large orders and/or news that you'll be the last to find out. However, it definitely does trend. Fees: IB has the same philosophy overseas as it does in the states. For HK we charge 41.5 HK per HSI trade (17 for the mini) which includes all exchange and gov't fees. I do not know of any brokers offering lower fees. For SPI: 7.95 AUD, ditto includes all fees including 10% GST and I do not know of a cheaper broker for those trading small size.