Futures

[rafik]

I am planning to start trading futures but a lot of providers ask how many lots I will trade a month, before they quote me a rate. As I am new to this game I would like to know how many lots people trade per month so I can see the kind of range I will be looking at.

I am planning to trade a 100lots is this to high or low?

Thank you for all your help.

 

[herbie14]

100 lots of which market.....
have you traded futures before
100 lots on the dax is 2500 euro a tick 10 ticks off side and you will have no account left!!!
good luck

 

[rafik]

Thank you for your reply

I plan on prgram trading mostly, using the fair value to arb the index.

 

[BBB]

100 lots a month is fairly low. 100 lots a pop for a beginner is suicide.

How many times do you think you will trade a day/week? x trade(lot) size.

Don't worry though, it's not set in stone.

Gotta have a plan. Gotta know where your going or you'll never get there!

 

[herbie14]

i think 100 lots is a big size to start with is you have not traded futures before?
the margin you would need will be very large, are you going to hold postions overnight?
index arb what ftse dax etc?
if you are doing index futures i would start very small, a 30 tick offside move in seconds in the dax would cost you......
im not trying to put you off but... 100 lots is not advisable unless you have very very very deep pockets

 

[herbie14]

i may be going mad i thought 100 lot clips... if 100 lots a month then this ssounds more in line...
i suppose it depends on your trading strategies, are you in and out in minutes or in for a 20 tick move?
dont forget most brokerage houses will count one lot buy and sale (1round turn) as 2 lots

 

[rafik]

BBB

I have traded futures on the companies book for 4 years. What king of sizes do you do a month.

 

[anley]

Rafik

If as you say you've traded futures on the company's book for 4 years then why are you saying a) I am new to futures trading and b) asking a stupid question like how many lots other people are trading so as to give you an idea.

Sorry to be harsh, nothing personal but get your facts straight.

 

[rafik]

Anley,

What I meant was that I am new to futures trading with my own funds. I was trading on the companies book, but this was only program trading. This type of trading is all done by a computer program, and my input was limited at best. We were also trading with a £500 million limit, and we were trading >10,000 lots a month.

I would like to get a feel for what size you need to trade as an independent. I have £150,000 to start of with.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[herbie14]

did you make the models?
or did you just watch the results.. if you traded futures for a firm then how can you trade them if it is a machine? or did you execute the trades? 2 very very different things
i would say to start trading very small size then once or if you find a plan that makes money increase... how much of your 150k are you willing to loose?
as a rule the size of your clips will dictate the stop you have in place so build this into to your plan what kind of stops do you think you wil be using ?

 

[jpwone]

Hi Rafik

With your background, the markets you intend to trade and the capital available I would suggest a quick call to 'TBS' real name Sandy Grogan. He posts on these boards.

If I remember correctly he made a similar transition to the one you are contemplating and trades the Futures markets. He offers tuition and it may be wise at this point in time to get some paid for professional advise. He will also be able to help you with broker introductions, broker costs and recommend data feeds.

Ps. I have no connection with Sandy other than having met him a few times and been impressed by his skills and depth of knowledge. Be warned though - he his a man that calls a spade a shovel

Seriously, with the amount of money you are looking at using a small amount spent now could save you a lot in the future.

 

[rafik]

jpwone

Thank you for all your help, I will get in touch with Sandy.

 

[anley]

OK, if you have £150k to play with then this is a good amount.

What mkts are you going to be trading? Say stock futures; FTSE is now at 4500 so that's £45k a contract. If you trade 3 then you won't be able to get into a lot of trouble because you're using no margin but you'd still be able to make/lose some good money with that size of position.

Play around with numbers and workings like this. As for brokers then I'd use InterActive if I were you, good software and the same rate whether you trade 1 or 500 a month.

If it was me then I wouldn't trade more than 3 lots for my first 6 months and would stop trading if I lost say £25k in that timeperiod. Not stop trading altogether but just to re-evaluate the situation.