Hi, I am looking for indexes to trade in the Pacific Time Zone. Can you please recommend one to me? Basically I am looking for an index to day trade, so liquidity and intra-day trending are preferred. I have heard about Nikkie and Heng Seng, but how about others? Between Nikkie and Heng Seng, which one has better intra-day trends? Thanks indeed.
i would get some intra-day and inter-day data for a variety of markets that interest you. that way you can go over the price action and liquidity for different timeframes. i'm sure www.futuresource.com would be a good place to start. also, www.prophet.net or any other data / chart service can help. another possibility is to check out www.analyzerxl.com for some MS Excel plug-ins that extract data for whatever market you are trying to research. then you can run a variety of studies against them to see how they behave. hope this helps. good luck in your pursuits. take care and trade well! omni
eutrader2, Do you know a US broker that offers this? I use IB and couldn't find anything more than the contract specifications so I emailed them asking about it. Esignal has the quotes so that's putting me half way to trading the "open" at 5:15 PM. --opm8
The KOSPI does not have CFTC approval and thus as a US resident, you will not be able to trade it. I personally prefer HSI over all the markets mentioned. The major reasons being, cost, liquidity, volatility, and speed of access.
Def is correct. Kospi does not currently have CFTC approval. Hopefully this will change soon. Here's a recent quote from the following link http://www.futuresindustry.org/fimagazi-1929.asp?iss=141&a=900 "Kospi Contracts Transferred to Kofex As part of a broad effort to centralize the Korean derivatives market, futures and options on the Kospi 200 stock index have been transferred from the Korea Stock Exchange to the Korea Futures Exchange, effective from Jan. 2. The trading and clearing of these contracts will continue to be handled by the KSE, however. The two exchanges will share the ownership of the contracts during 2004, but thereafter Kofex will be the sole owner. Several international firms have applied to Kofex for membership in order to trade the Kospi contracts, including ABN AMRO, CSFB, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. Foreign investors now account for around 20 percent of the trading in Kospi 200 futures and options, according to Kofex. Foreign market share in the Kospi 200 options, the worldâs most actively traded derivatives contract, rose from 10.7 percent in 2002 to 15.4 percent in 2003, and hit a new high of 18.2 percent in January 2004. With respect to the Kospi 200 futures contract, the fourth most actively traded equity index futures contract in the world, foreign participation rose from 10.8 percent in 2002 to 16.3 percent in 2003, and jumped to 23.2 percent in January. Kofex recently unveiled a long-term plan to attract more overseas customers and expand its product range. The exchange said it plans to seek joint business initiatives with foreign exchanges and improved cooperation with independent software vendors. It also said it is hoping to receive U.S. regulatory approval to begin offering Kospi 200 futures and Korea Treasury Bond futures to U.S. investors, and expand its product range to include foreign exchange, gasoline and crude oil futures."