I have notice many traders that trade just about everything, from stocks, futures, forex but not too many trade the HSI. The "excuses" that I read and see, is that is not liquid enough or that the spread is to wide and etc. But trading the HSI, can be very profitable and very rewarding than the other markets. Let me explain, the HSI likes to move and with the proper trading techniques and money management, one does not need many contracts to trade to make good money and only trade either the morning session or the afternoon session. The range on the morning or afternoon session is wide enough that there is plenty of trading opportunity for one to capture 80-100 points. Each point is $10 Hong Kong Dollars or about $6.44 (various) depending on what the US Dollar trades against the Hong Kong. As I write this it is $6.44. And capturing 80-100 points can take literally seconds or just a few minutes I generally only trade the morning session. I only buy or sell on breakouts, but occasionally will go "fishing" and buy on support and sell on resistance, which generally I try to avoid. I also use the MACD and T3 (Period Volume Factor) to help me determined whether or not to take the trade The great thing about trading the HSI, is I only need 2 hours in the evening and I am done. I am in the East Coast and trading in the winter starts at 8:45pm and finishes at 11:30pm Afternoon session starts at 1:28am and finishes at 3:30am (winter time) I generally trade 2-5 lots, sometimes 10 for a quick scalp, and I get filled with no problems. When trading my normal 2-5 lots, I keep all lots until my target gets hit or try to liquidate 1 or 3 contracts (depending of course how many I started with) to cover my cost and get some "SURE" profit and bring the other contracts at my entry point in case it comes back. My losses are very minimal. If the trade doesn't go my way, RIGHT AWAY...I get out and take my loss of only a very few points. If it goes my way and is up 20-30 points (again literally takes seconds), I bring a stop loss at entry and wait if my target gets hit. Comments are welcome and question will be answered.
Have you been trading that for a long time? I mean, do you know if the current volatility is a standard for the Hang Seng or could it be because the market is more volatile with the credit crisis? I had some very wild moves on the GBP/JPY during the asian session lately but I think it was mostly due to the increased vol caused by the crisis. But, for sure, Asia vol is much more interesting than US vol on indexes.
For about 2 years now, and when checking back history on volatility, for the last 10 years it has been there. There are massive gaps on opening, but I don't trade those gaps, I only trade the actual prices
looking at HSI now for a few days. i also trade the TW future on the SGX (singapore) exchange. less volume but tight spreads and good charts, not as violent either
Be careful, trading the HSI can be profitable, but it can be deadly if you are not fast in getting out, I traded the HSI last night and got hammer