<i>I did not spend much time trading bonds but the charts appear to have less noisse than SnP. One thing is that spread on IB for eminis is 4-5 ticks (x $15 and change) and there is not much liquidity unless you want to sell bid/buy ask </i> Not true. During regular stock market trading hours the spread on the eminis is 1 tick for over 90% of the time (and most of the remaining 10% is that brief moment of time when either the bid or ask changes, then the other follows.) The tick is $12.50 for the ES and $10 for the NQ. Both are very[/v] liquid. As far as selling at the bid/ bying at the ask...since the spread is almost always equal to the minimum increment, obviously if you want to join the bid/ask to save on the spread, you have to wait in line. None of these things have anything to do with any particular broker. voodoo
voodoo - read the subject @!!! we are talking about BONDS and Emini for TBONDS.. spread is 3-4-5- ticks for Emini Bonds ($15.625 per tick = 1/32); full electronic contract one tick ( 2 x $15.625) man-o-man.....
i think you guys are wrong about the spread. ZF is extremely liquid and trades continiously with a minimum spread (105'115 - 105'120 -- that is 0.5 * 1/32, just the MPV) the mini contracts offer only less movement for the same commission
Didn't notice the date on the thread until pointed out...but.... I day trade the bonds and 10 yr notes based on the 5 min charts, and have been watching NQ (which seems to me to be better than the ES). The bonds are very liquid and offer quick fills and can be very predicable at times. My feeling is the mini bonds and notes are not liquid enough for me. If I get a signal but don't feel overly confident I will trade the notes instead of the bonds, as they do not move quite as fast, allowing adjustments if necessary. I also lean towards the 5yr notes for longer, 60 min, time periods; they are going the same way just not quite as fast.
"have been watching NQ (which seems to me to be better than the ES). " Would you mind sharing why? I keep jumping back and forth but seem to be favoring the ES which seems, to me, slightly more predictable.
sure thing easyrider..........and these are just a couple of weeks of observations.......... First note I am looking at 5 min charts, for both NQ and ES, and using a breakout type system. I think I see the NQ to be more volitile than the ES, and I like the volitility, but of course it does have the drawbacks of stop placement (being to close, see friday morning!). I think I also find a larger price swing, making more money than in the ES. Friday as an exampe: based on my system, I would have had a late day entry for both markets, the ES would have made about 500 and the NQ about 520. (in a perfect system) Not much difference, but it seems to be consistant, as much as can be consistent in trading. That being said, I went back and looked at Thursdays drop and the ES could have made about 1025 and the NQ only 860. (both held till close.) I did use the word predicable in my previous post, but let me say I do not really try to predict or guess the market movement. I use a simple trend following, (albeit short term) breakout and the NQ seems to also give less false signals (i.e. Friday morning)