..futures to take off? The bid/ask size looks pretty good but the spread is about 0.5% on the INTCs and CSCOs. I see nice potential with the high volatility and decent margin (20% of underlying overnight and 10% intraday) but volume on NQLX and ONE looks pretty dead.
I've had my eye on SSF's for some time. I like the idea of them but it is dissapointing how slow they have been to takeoff. According to what I've read the depth of the market is probably deeper than what the bid/ask looks like on the surface. But I sure would like to see some tighter spreads and more trades, which is what most other retail traders are also waiting on I'm sure. It'll probably take some institutions getting envoled to really get'em going.
I get the impression that presently when you buy or sell SSFs the market maker just trades an offsetting position in the actual security. That is, if you sell a contract of 100 shares there will be a corresponding purchase of the actual 100 shares. So you're just paying someone else for their capital, transaction fees, and profit. Hence, spreads aren't good and won't improve until there is an active market between participants rather than market makers taking the offsetting transaction all the time.
Make them fully fungible between the contract and the common stock, and make them more widely available. I'd love to try arbing them against the stock, but I haven't found anywhere that will let you short the ssf and deliver common stock to settle the position. When they were introduced, apparently they were to be tradable in either an equity account or a futures account, but no one allows this from what I've found. I also can't find a professional trading firm that even offers trading in them.
i believe volume will pick up in ssf's as/if the market continues downwards and the cme's abscence of an uptick rule draws short sellers and hopeful arbitrageurs.....imo the product should begin to mature around the end of october or so , but we'll see....my firm doesnt offer them, but it may start to make enough of a difference that I would to trade elsewhere should they gain in popularity/volume........is there a best link to the cme for this product and what are the costs? grimer11
I'm tempted on the CSCO ssf with its earnings coming out tomorrow and Naz somewhat oversold. I'd like to see this market take off like ETFs and E minis.