Looking To Day Trade Ftse Futures

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FTSEBOY

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Hi there,
I am quite new to these BB so please excuse me if I am a bit naive. Basically I have been working in a futures and options back-office for some good houses like Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers in London for the past 12 years. I really want to trade my own account in FTSE futures. I am aware of all the risks but feel like I have to get out of the 9-5 rut and day trade from home and make my own destiny. I have been studying the FTSE chart on ADVFN daily looking for patterns etc, and have a useful guide from the masteryoftrading.com from an ex-pit trader come electronic trader which has explained the mechanics i.e widening spread quite often indicates a directional change.
What I am now looking for establish a reputable online broking account. Looks like either Easy2trade.com or Mandirect.com . I am however open to any other suggestions. Also I am looking for a real-time pricing source that shows both the cash and futures market.
Finally if anyone has any useful tips (apart from don't trade FTSE futures) I would greatly appreciate them.
I am not asking for much but hopefully someone may be out there may be able to help.
Thanks in advance
FTSEBOY
 
Look at IB as well as the others. If you are working for yourself the bottom line on commission is really important. Reduce your outgoings as much as possible.


However I'd say start with a cheaper and more liquid futures contract first. Like the (I bet everyone on here knows what I am going to say!) I'll whisper it......Eurostoxx50.....

Oh and yes Mytrack are a good all round data feed, coupled with Sierra Charts about the cheapest combination available. Unless you just use Sierra with the IB feed.


Good luck
 
Hi FTSEBOY

Welcome to T2W :)

I agree with everything Helen has said.

My advice would be to start small, don't be a hero and work your way up.

HTH :)

Sign.gif


PS: FTSE Boy is not my son as I haven't got one that I know of ;)
PPS: You never hear a woman saying that :LOL:
 
If you want to actually have the chance of making enough money to live on forget ESTX, stick with FTSE it is more than liquid enough unless you are considering trading in excess of 50 lot clips.

ESTX moves 30% less in terms of physical points and is worth 30% less in terms of £ per point. If you feel that you are inexperienced enough to have to mess about with ESTX, then you are not in a position to consider trading for a living.

Why not try for a prop traders position rather than do it yourself, at least to begin with - then you get to keep the salary and use the company money for training yourself.
 
TBS said:
If you feel that you are inexperienced enough to have to mess about with ESTX, then you are not in a position to consider trading for a living.
Click to expand...


Oh I do love a debate with TBS first thing in the morning ;)


My argument would be yes it is easier to make money on FTSE and DAX (and I agree with TBS that in the long run as a full time professional it's a better vehicle) but by the same token it is also easier to lose it. As a new futures trader the odds are you will lose. So why not start by trading an instument that will keep you in the game longer so you can learn your craft?

Unless you are very very careful you can get wiped out very fast, start cautious and start small. If you can't afford to do that for a year or so and still afford to live then you probably can't afford to go full time trading. In which case the prop trading idea TBS suggested is probably a good alternative.


HTH
 
If you can't afford to do that for a year or so and still afford to live then you probably can't afford to go full time trading.

No debate, exactly the point. :)
 
FTSEBOY said:
and have a useful guide from the masteryoftrading.com from an ex-pit trader come electronic trader which has explained the mechanics
Click to expand...

I'm familiar with both of Malcolms courses, and would just warn that should you decide to go the ESTX50 route that Helen suggests, you'll find his strategies dont work anywhere near as well as they do on the FTSE - due mainly I believe to the relative lack of movement as TBS points out.

H.
 
Not sure an ex-pit trade turned electronic trader is the best place to go for advice? Very few locals survived the transition from the floor. I know of at least 2 who have just finished the knowledge...( my brother being one of them!)
 
I just stumbled across this site and your message.

Have you looked at selling the futures options on the FTSE 100 futures index? You could sell the calls 325 points away and the puts around 400 points away. Go out about 60 days and you should have a 80% to 90% success rate.

You have to be a UK citizen. The SEC, added that rule in Sep. or 2004. If and when the SEC changes the rule, somebody let me know.

Craig

FTSEBOY said:
Hi there,
I am quite new to these BB so please excuse me if I am a bit naive. Basically I have been working in a futures and options back-office for some good houses like Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers in London for the past 12 years. I really want to trade my own account in FTSE futures. I am aware of all the risks but feel like I have to get out of the 9-5 rut and day trade from home and make my own destiny. I have been studying the FTSE chart on ADVFN daily looking for patterns etc, and have a useful guide from the masteryoftrading.com from an ex-pit trader come electronic trader which has explained the mechanics i.e widening spread quite often indicates a directional change.
What I am now looking for establish a reputable online broking account. Looks like either Easy2trade.com or Mandirect.com . I am however open to any other suggestions. Also I am looking for a real-time pricing source that shows both the cash and futures market.
Finally if anyone has any useful tips (apart from don't trade FTSE futures) I would greatly appreciate them.
I am not asking for much but hopefully someone may be out there may be able to help.
Thanks in advance
FTSEBOY
Click to expand...
 
As I was; belay my last... This is a website for citizens of the U.K. I found this site on a search engine and I am from Las Vegas, NV.

Selling calls and puts on the FTSE 100 futures index, is a great way to go. You want to stay close to a delta neutral. The margin is low and the index stable. Use a probability calculator!

Craig

[





QUOTE=FTSEBOY]Hi there,
I am quite new to these BB so please excuse me if I am a bit naive. Basically I have been working in a futures and options back-office for some good houses like Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers in London for the past 12 years. I really want to trade my own account in FTSE futures. I am aware of all the risks but feel like I have to get out of the 9-5 rut and day trade from home and make my own destiny. I have been studying the FTSE chart on ADVFN daily looking for patterns etc, and have a useful guide from the masteryoftrading.com from an ex-pit trader come electronic trader which has explained the mechanics i.e widening spread quite often indicates a directional change.
What I am now looking for establish a reputable online broking account. Looks like either Easy2trade.com or Mandirect.com . I am however open to any other suggestions. Also I am looking for a real-time pricing source that shows both the cash and futures market.
Finally if anyone has any useful tips (apart from don't trade FTSE futures) I would greatly appreciate them.
I am not asking for much but hopefully someone may be out there may be able to help.
Thanks in advance
FTSEBOY[/QUOTE]
 
Stearns777,

Interesting post. As they're your first two posts you probalby have not noticed that the replies on this thread are two years old? Helenqu has long departed and perhaps FTSEBOY is a trading god by now (I don't know)? As a former Las Vegas resident (not native) I felt I should let you know. But welcome to the board.
 
When did you reside in Las Vegas? Where are you living, now? In Ireland? I am finding a 80% to 90% success rate in selling options on the S&P 500 futures index. It's a good way to boost your income.

Thanks for replying. I was quick to type and slow to look at the dates of the previous posts. I was doing a search on the FTSE and came across the Trade2win. I always lost trying to trade the direction of the markets.

Craig
 
Stearns, don't get too comfortable with what you're doing. Volatility is very very low so you're hardly getting compensated for the risk you're taking.

Selling options is like fashion, it comes and goes. The last 2 years has been very lucrative and many option sellers think that their trading is hot. Well, I'd say nothing more that right time, right place.

Somewhere down the line the fashion will change and selling options will not be the game to be in. Get ready for this because it might creep up on you and bite you very hard.

Not having a go but I used to broke options for many retail clients. 95/100 of the option sellers were all the same. They used to make good and steady income for many months or a year or so then just when they thought they'd cracked the code big moves would come. They would normally freeze and give all their money back and in sometimes a lot more.

One client opened an account with £50k, turned it into £400k within 6 months and then in 7 days lost £300k. Still a 100% return yes, but I can tell you the guy was not the same person afterwards, not only had his 'trading genius' been exposed as nothing more than right time right place but he was shellshocked beyond belief.

Selling options for 'regular income' - NO SUCH THING IN THIS GAME.
 
I have to agree with Anley........ people do it, but u must be aware of the risks- I think Mr Niderhoffer got wiped out on selling naked puts on the Sp-

Are u using condors or just doing one side?? I do them on a small scale but only through condors........ and someone else manages.

Al
 
Stearns777 wrote:

When did you reside in Las Vegas? Where are you living, now? In Ireland? I am finding a 80% to 90% success rate in selling options on the S&P 500 futures index. It's a good way to boost your income.
Click to expand...

I lived there in the 1970s when the total population of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas only came to 300,000 - so I guess it is a different town now. And I'm on the English side of the Irish Sea.

I have never traded options but have always regarded writing them to be a fairly risky business which anley and al-motor (with obvious experience) seem to think so. But you are in the town that doesn't sleep, and maybe, with all those punters visibly playing slots - and losing - every day, you are more aware than most of "risk". Good luck, mate.
 
Registration problem

Hi I get an error message when I click on your registration button. I am interested in (initially) opening a player account.
Is there a minimum opening balance on your real account?
Regards
Gerry
 
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