Anyone here trade the Nikkei from the US? Do you trade the Osaka or Singapore exchange? I am thinking about trading the Nikkei (Singapore) through IB. I have never traded in foreign markets before and was wondering if there are things that I need to be aware of, like impact on tax reporting, currency conversion, etc. Also, Singapore exchange has two Nikkei contracts: one with USD margin and the other in JPY. Which one is better?
why?- not just you, but why would anyone focus on a foreign index future? Whats the beta with the US? do you see an edge? I see people trading DAX and european rates.. is it purely because the volume is there during our nighttime?
I trade the Nikkei contract in Osaka. 10 JPY spread, good liquidity. I trade the mini JGB in Singapore which is 100,000 JPY per point, as opposed to the 1,000,000 JPY per point in Tokyo. Singapore JGB liquidity and spread may not be as good but it's enough for me and in JGB I only trade "half" a full contract, i.e. 5 small ones.
OTCkrak, My main reason for wanting to trade the Asian markets is because of time zone issues. I live in California and I am getting tired of having to wake up 6 am every morning to trade our markets. I figured trading the Nikkei would be the same as trading ES so the transition would be easy. Makloda, Did you have to convert all the funds in your account from Dollar to Yen because of all the Yen based trades? Also, do you pay taxes to Japan and US at end of the year?