Single stock futures. Is anyone trading them, now that they have been active for a while, and what are the results? Thanks!
i have been trading SSF's since the first mon after they were released. I think they are great, i also have a sub 25k account and SSF's are the only way i can trade stocks so my opinion is biased . I do not know what kind of info you are looking for, and i really cannot understand the negativity and skeptisim i have read from people on this board re: SSF's, so i cannot defend them. they are not perfect and i would rather be trading the actual stock, but i have had my first profitable month in trading with SSF's so i cannot complain. trading ssf's with IB beats the hell out of trading stocks with datek or the bs of trying to trade on a cash account.
Shaman What is the symbol format for IB. I know the first part is CNC1C etc. but how do you enter the month, etc.?
here is a link that shows the letter for each month http://www.onechicago.com/040000_trading/oc_041000.html and the year follows the month so that the january contract of C looks like: c1cf3 where as f=january and 3 is the year though with tws it is made easy cause all u need to do is type the underlying symbol C for instance then select future and then chose the month you would like to trade and the market and tws pulls the symbol up for you.
Shaman, please inform people the detail on how you made profit in the first month of SSF trading with a sub-25K account with some broker? Thank you.
It is much easier to enter in underlying mode. Just type in the symbol (say IBM) hit return, choose future, then month and you're set. (to toggle modes use the view button).
do not try to scalp these maybe a swing trade or daytrade if you catch most of the move can bring you some potential profits the emini's are much move liquid of course as they have been around for a while ... however the leverage is much higher in them ...
no special secret methods. made most of my money at the end of the year shorting the "new bull market", i.e. right around the middle of nov all the experts and fools were declaring the bear was dead and the dow was shooting thru 10k...i was shorting the rallies did decent on overnights. and when i wasnt doing that i was just scalping 4 dimes and such. and ssf's can be scalped its just not as profitable as you have to overcome the spread. THere are at least a few ssfs that trade at a 4 cent spread find one of these and learn how the lmm moves the price and there is no reason why you cant scalp em. btw i am no guru or expert these next 6 months might see me give everything i have made back. that is why i do not like this question. patience some good calls not gambling and avoiding stupid trades that is how i earned money out of ssf's.
how far out in time do SSF's go and what is the best future to pick for swing trading? with options i used to trade front month or two months out. With Futures there has to be some time value involved although i'm sure its not as bad as options. I guess basically which contract will just track the stock price and not have a lot of fancy calculations to consider ?