I have about 50 round trips under my belt in the YJ's, they have wide spreads but are tradeable (Especially on a 5 minute tick chart). The trick is to find your entry point, then place your opening trade about 5 to 10 points in your favor away from the current bid or ask (Depending on which way you are going). More often than not, if you wait a minute or two, you'll get filled as the market wiggles around. As for market makers, there are none. Like the globex, A/C/E/ is first come first serve, no mm games.
easier on the mind ... and wallet with all these wild swings in the DOW If I am especially brave or foolish ( yikes) I will put on 2 contracts of either YJ or YM and some DIA as well .... but usually I cannot take the heat ... and stick to 1 contract at a time ... and hedge when needed
I agree with this. I think firms are making two sided markets in Dow Mini but it is still electronic and if they have a bid you can take it. Now, of course they may only have that bid for a short time so be quick!
I had the similar experience to yours whilst trading e-mini Dow. I was also concerned with my sell stop orders being hunted down in an up-trending market. I have directed a few questions at CBOT people and this was their response: âMiki - Your experience is not uncommon when trading stock index futures - the tick volatility is high, and prices change rapidly. Market makers have automated electronic market making programs, which constantly chnage their bids and offers as the overall market changes. for example, if the market if 8300 - 8304 , with size of 10x10, and you enter an order to buy 2 at 8304, but the order is unable, it is because the market is changing quickly - nobody can actually see your order, or any stops. I have seen this happen in amny different stock index futures markets personnaly. If you do not like to use 'market orders', but also you do not want to chase the market for 10 tics, you should enter the order in the above example as 'buy 2 at 8308 - if the 8304 offer is still there, you are filled at 8304, otherwise you can filled at 8305/6/7/8 - at least you are not chasing the market. There's an old market saw: " enter positions with limit orders, exit at the market" but for here you can also enter to buy above , or sell below the market.â Good trading
I don't trade futures but may in the future. I am mostly interested in the DOWmini since I trade DIA a lot. Anyway, I've been watching them lately and noticed that they haven't been trading at a premium to the index like the ES and NQ do to their indexes. Today they've been at a 10-15 point discount all day and as much as 20+ points yesterday. My question is: Is this normal or is there an opportunity here,(ie,short DIA and buy YM)? Does this happen because of relatively low liquidity? Thanks, Tony
Premium cash vs. futures also depends on dividends that companies pay to their shareholders. Unfortunately it is not easy to explain the relationship between cash and futures exactly. Nasdaq companies do not pay dividends at all (AFAIK), unlike DJ companies. But maybe I am completely wrong.