Its funny, I just did a search on this topic earlier today because I'm interested aswell. Thanks for the list Kiwi. Which would you say are the most liquid?
doesn't look like kiwi is around to answer so I'll do it for him. The Nikkei is quite liquid, though it can have some pretty small ranges intraday. HSI is by far the least liquid out of the major Asian markets, but far and away the most volatile. The STW and SPI are pretty decent these days for liquidity and volatility(though the SPI can still get fairly quiet around lunch time). But it all depends on what kind of a line you throw around. If you want something that can take a 20 lot without budging, then you should probably look at the nikkei. The STW isn't quite as liquid, but can normally handle a 10 lot(but it's a fairly small contract compared with the other Asian markets) If you're a 5 lot piker like I am, then the SPI is pretty good fun to trade, especially in the first two hours of each session.
Thanks alot. I'm small time too, so I'm not concerned with the number of contracts I can throw at something... I just want there to be some good volume with a bid/ask at every tick... something that behaves like the ES would be ideal actually. I'm not sure if I can trade these with my broker (MBTrading) but I'll check it out. I noticed that each SPI point is $25AUD but the .pdf on their website isn't working... is this the minimum tick size aswell or does it get broken down into .25 or .5 a point? What kind of range would you consider "average"? TIA
The nikkei is probably what you are after then for our region. Have a look at either the mini nikkei that trades on the Osaka exchange, or the singapore nikkei contract. Both are very liquid and move 5 points per tick(which can be a big help when it doesn't move much during the day). If you get sick of the ranges, then the STW will definitely be worth looking at as well. minimum tick is a point on the SPI. Todays range on the SPI has been 43 points, which is below average. Usually you'll get about 60, and a good day presently is about 90-100.
I actually just went live a couple of weeks ago trading the mini Nikkei on the Osaka exchange through IB, and I've been posting my modest results in the P/L thread. It's a great contract if you don't want to put too much at risk but still want to dip your feet into the game. The comment about not much range can be very true... the range of the first 1.5 hours of this morning's session was a whopping 12 ticks. In my short experience with the contract, I've found the morning session tends to be more rangebound and the afternoons tend to be more trendy. Of course, volitility in the US market and where the Nikkei market opens compared to its previous close can cause the morning session to be volitile too... you might just need to come up with a strategy that can effectively deal with both types of markets. The only broker I know of that lets you trade the mini Nikkei from the US is IB, so you'd have to switch brokers to get involved. BTW, the IB symbol is N225M.
and i thought only contract which is good enough id FDAX which is europe exchange and starts at 2.30 EST and u can trade 6 EST...with fulltime job u can practice this as it closely represent ES or NQ cotracts... i have done some research on this website and did not get good feedback on trading nikki contracts....may be things have changed now
I thought about trading the European markets but I live in the central time zone and getting up at 1:30 am to trade would be brutal. Only way to know if the nikkei contracts are for you is to pull up a chart and have a look. I had to adjust my strategy to be able to trade it, but I'm starting to get a feel for it. Now if I could only get more consistent, aggressive, and disciplined....