Planning in opening an account with Berkeley Futures

[dwoodwar]

All,

I have been paper trading for some time now using simulators such as Track n' Trade Pro and Berkeley Futures IQ trader with some success and am now on the brink of opening my first real account.

I am planning on opening an account with Berkeley Futures as I have heard good things regarding the level of service that they offer and also like the functionality of their IQ Trader platform, allowing detailed analytics to be used, back testing, and trading direct from the platform, supporting automated stops etc.

I am also aware though that they are at the expensive end of the scale (£30 per month for the platform, £50 per month for each futures feed, and £7.50 per contract per side). This will quickly add up to a sizable bill.

Are there any other solid platforms enabling technical analysis of charts and trading direct from the platform in the same way as Berkeley Futures but at a more competetive cost.

Thanks.

Dave.

 

[pboyles]

All,

I have been paper trading for some time now using simulators such as Track n' Trade Pro and Berkeley Futures IQ trader with some success and am now on the brink of opening my first real account.

I am planning on opening an account with Berkeley Futures as I have heard good things regarding the level of service that they offer and also like the functionality of their IQ Trader platform, allowing detailed analytics to be used, back testing, and trading direct from the platform, supporting automated stops etc.

I am also aware though that they are at the expensive end of the scale (£30 per month for the platform, £50 per month for each futures feed, and £7.50 per contract per side). This will quickly add up to a sizable bill.

Are there any other solid platforms enabling technical analysis of charts and trading direct from the platform in the same way as Berkeley Futures but at a more competetive cost.

Thanks.

Dave.

£7.50 per side on a futures contract, I think you must have got that wrong. The most popular contracts like the Bund, Eurostoxx and E mini S&P should be costing between $2 and $5 per round trip.

You'll generally pay $50 or so for even the most basic platform but that will include data and charts. Look at Global Futures, Velocity Futures and so on.

 

[dwoodwar]

£7.50 per side on a futures contract, I think you must have got that wrong. The most popular contracts like the Bund, Eurostoxx and E mini S&P should be costing between $2 and $5 per round trip.

You'll generally pay $50 or so for even the most basic platform but that will include data and charts. Look at Global Futures, Velocity Futures and so on.

Thanks for the rapid response pboyles. Please find attached extracts from email correspondence with BF.

"The basic IQ platform costs £30 a month and the advanced platform costs £60 a month. The advanced platform gives you everything in the basic platform plus back testing and optimisation and automated trading."
"One exchange costs £20 a month, two exchanges £30 a month and all futures exchanges are £50 a month."
"Commission would be charged at £7.50 per lot per side or currency equivalent and there would be no other charges apart from platform charges."

I don't think that I have misunderstood but very happy to be corrected if I have. I will take a look at your suggestions also.

Thanks again.

Dave.

 

[pboyles]

Thanks for the rapid response pboyles. Please find attached extracts from email correspondence with BF.

"The basic IQ platform costs £30 a month and the advanced platform costs £60 a month. The advanced platform gives you everything in the basic platform plus back testing and optimisation and automated trading."
"One exchange costs £20 a month, two exchanges £30 a month and all futures exchanges are £50 a month."
"Commission would be charged at £7.50 per lot per side or currency equivalent and there would be no other charges apart from platform charges."

I don't think that I have misunderstood but very happy to be corrected if I have. I will take a look at your suggestions also.

Thanks again.

Dave.

Which instruments is that quote for? Is it forex futures or something?

 

[dwoodwar]

Which instruments is that quote for? Is it forex futures or something?

That wasn't specified in the email exchange. This was just the information volunteered by them following my initial questions regarding charges. The response lead me to believe that this was a standard charging structure for all instruments.

 

[pboyles]

Which ones are you interested in, I'll give you an idea of what is available out there

 

[dwoodwar]

Which ones are you interested in, I'll give you an idea of what is available out there

Still to be decided but based on a starting fund of £10k (based in the UK) I am looking for something with low margin requirements to allow me to run some loses without blowing my pot too quickly. Had been thinking about CBOT mini grains for example.

One other piece of information that will probably be relevant is that I am planning on day trading to avoid the prospect of leaving positions open overnight intially.

If any of this seems misguided please shout. Happy to be pointed in a different direction if any of my thinking is flawed.

You mention Bund, Eurostoxx and E mini S&P above. What makes them popular?

 

[arabianights]

If you could increase your starting fund to around £25k you could find plenty of arcades who would be charging pennies a round trip (+ exchange fees) with you as a remote client... although there would be relatively substantial monthly fees as well.

 

[pboyles]

Still to be decided but based on a starting fund of £10k (based in the UK) I am looking for something with low margin requirements to allow me to run some loses without blowing my pot too quickly. Had been thinking about CBOT mini grains for example.

One other piece of information that will probably be relevant is that I am planning on day trading to avoid the prospect of leaving positions open overnight intially.

If any of this seems misguided please shout. Happy to be pointed in a different direction if any of my thinking is flawed.

You mention Bund, Eurostoxx and E mini S&P above. What makes them popular?

Mini Sized Corn (XC) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip
Mini Sized Wheat (XW) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip
Mini Sized Soybeans (XB) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip

Global and the others will be similar so shop around.

Regarding your choice of instrument having low margin requirement will actually increase your chance of running bigger losses because you will be able to trade ore contracts. Of course just because low margin is available you dont have to use it but you would have to really be disciplined and not trade too many contracts for your account size.

Bund, Eurostoxx and mini S&P have the biggest volume of any futures contracts. That means that you will get little or no slippage and you will be able trade from 7am UK to 9pm UK time if you so wish.

Volume today so far for the e mini S&P is over 1 million contracts, and that's on a slow day. E mini corn or wheat is probably about 1000 contracts. I dont think those are very good contracts for day trading, the price action looks like the e mini S&P at about 3am, horrible.

 

[dwoodwar]

Mini Sized Corn (XC) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip
Mini Sized Wheat (XW) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip
Mini Sized Soybeans (XB) on Ninja Trader platform with Velocity $3.44 USD round trip

Global and the others will be similar so shop around.

Regarding your choice of instrument having low margin requirement will actually increase your chance of running bigger losses because you will be able to trade ore contracts. Of course just because low margin is available you dont have to use it but you would have to really be disciplined and not trade too many contracts for your account size.

Bund, Eurostoxx and mini S&P have the biggest volume of any futures contracts. That means that you will get little or no slippage and you will be able trade from 7am UK to 9pm UK time if you so wish.

Volume today so far for the e mini S&P is over 1 million contracts, and that's on a slow day. E mini corn or wheat is probably about 1000 contracts. I dont think those are very good contracts for day trading, the price action looks like the e mini S&P at about 3am, horrible.

Thanks for your advice. Greatful that you are taking the time. I will look closely at your recommendations.

Can you explain the link again between lower margin and greater losses?

 

[pboyles]

Thanks for your advice. Greatful that you are taking the time. I will look closely at your recommendations.

Can you explain the link again between lower margin and greater losses?

Say you are trading a $10,000 account. If broker A offers you a margin of $1000 per contract then you will be able to trade a maximum of 10 contracts. If broker B offers you margin of $500 per contract you will be able to trade 20 contracts with your 10k.

Assuming you utilised the maximum margin you could lose money twice as quick with broker B because you are trading twice as many contracts. Therefore low margin does not lower you risk, it does the opposite.

 

[dwoodwar]

Say you are trading a $10,000 account. If broker A offers you a margin of $1000 per contract then you will be able to trade a maximum of 10 contracts. If broker B offers you margin of $500 per contract you will be able to trade 20 contracts with your 10k.

Assuming you utilised the maximum margin you could lose money twice as quick with broker B because you are trading twice as many contracts.

OK, understand your point. My plan is to trade single contracts initially to gain confidence that what I can do papertrading with a simulated feed can be replicated with a real feed and with real money. I am wary of the psychological differences when dealing with real cash so want to minimise exposure anyway. Not worried about the size of the profit, as long as its not a loss !

 

[pboyles]

OK, understand your point. My plan is to trade single contracts initially to gain confidence that what I can do papertrading with a simulated feed can be replicated with a real feed and with real money. I am wary of the psychological differences when dealing with real cash so want to minimise exposure anyway. Not worried about the size of the profit, as long as its not a loss !

Speak to the brokers, some of them will set a limit on your account so that you only trade 1 or 2 contracts. That way you wont be tempted to go crazy.

 

[dwoodwar]

Speak to the brokers, some of them will set a limit on your account so that you only trade 1 or 2 contracts. That way you wont be tempted to go crazy.

Will do. Thanks again for you advice.

One more question then I will leave you alone. You are UK based. Have you had any issues using US based brokers in terms of connectivity and/or time lag? Would you say this would be a suitable reason to go with a UK broker? (Though I suppose not an issue if not day trading).

 

[pboyles]

Will do. Thanks again for you advice.

One more question then I will leave you alone. You are UK based. Have you had any issues using US based brokers in terms of connectivity and/or time lag? Would you say this would be a suitable reason to go with a UK broker? (Though I suppose not an issue if not day trading).

There are no issues at all with US brokers from the UK. Remember the exchanges are in Germany and the US and its broker to exchange time that counts.

 

[dwoodwar]

There are no issues at all with US brokers from the UK. Remember the exchanges are in Germany and the US and its broker to exchange time that counts.

Thanks for all your help.

Dave.