Some E-Mini newbie questions

[ycomp]

Hi,

I am just looking into E-Mini's right now and have some questions, hopefully someone can answer.

1) Because E-Mini S&P, etc. are exchanged traded, I guess all brokers have the same liquidity?

2) Trying to understand margin... if a broker says Margin is $1600 for E-mini S&P 500, then with a 4k account I could trade as many as 2 contracts? if Margin is $400 then that would be as many as 8?

3) I guess you can only trade whole contracts? no 1.5 contract trades?

thanks!

 

[Xymox]

some brokers will offer 'daytrading' margins, low margins below the daily maintenance margins..

but if you find that your looking for these type of situations, the probability is against you. Excessive margin use is a sure way to the poor house. Its similar to the low margin requirements offered in spot fx, position sizing rules dictate that your positions have excessive capitalization to 'float' in the sea of price variation. With excessive capitalization, your boat becomes more sturdier to weather the maelstorm of price day to day price volatility.

 

[ycomp]

some brokers will offer 'daytrading' margins, low margins below the daily maintenance margins..

but if you find that your looking for these type of situations, the probability is against you. Excessive margin use is a sure way to the poor house. Its similar to the low margin requirements offered in spot fx, position sizing rules dictate that your positions have excessive capitalization to 'float' in the sea of price variation. With excessive capitalization, your boat becomes more sturdier to weather the maelstorm of price day to day price volatility.

Hi, yes, thanks... not looking to capitalize on excessively low margins, was just trying to understand if I understood this aspect of emini trading properly. maelstorms... not good.. better fly instead

Still would like to know the answer to #3 if anyone knows...

 

[dcraig1]

Hi,

3) I guess you can only trade whole contracts? no 1.5 contract trades?

thanks!

That is correct. Only integer multiple of contracts.

 

[PKFFW]

I have one.....

If limiting in and out of positions about how many contracts is doable on an "average" day before you start having to worry about partial fills?

I'm expecting it to be way way way more contracts than I currently trade(1 contract! hehe) but was just curious.

Cheers,
PKFFW

 

[Rhody Trader]

There' s massive liquidity in the eminis. Two million contracts in a day isn't unusual volume. Partial fills will basically never be a problem.

 

[Silent.Trader]

Excessive margin use is a sure way to the poor house. Its similar to the low margin requirements offered in spot fx, position sizing rules dictate that your positions have excessive capitalization to 'float' in the sea of price variation.

Excessive of course ain't good, but there's no reason not to prefer low margins. When trading properly you need to put up at least enough money in the account to cover the margin AND an adverse movement till your stop. The higher the margin the more you have to put up to make the trade. Whether the amount you need to put up is excessive or minimalistic for money management reasons is a completely different story. There is no reason why your reserves needed from a moneymanagement perspective should be in your trading account. In contrary, I can make up several reasons to park the money somewhere else.

grtnx
Wilco

 

[ycomp]

Why 99 contracts? Why not 100?

watching the DOM I see 99 come up a lot... but not 100.. however I have seen much bigger also, so I'm wondering is there any advantage to doing 99 instead of 100?

or are there just a lot of Gretzky fans out there?

 

[PKFFW]

Anyone know of anywhere I can get free historical tick data for the emini? Been looking but can only seem to find paid for stuff.

Cheers,
PKFFW

 

[ycomp]

watching the DOM I see 99 come up a lot... but not 100.. however I have seen much bigger also, so I'm wondering is there any advantage to doing 99 instead of 100?

or are there just a lot of Gretzky fans out there?

are you only allowed to trade 99 contracts at a time on Eurex?

 

[knlge876]

Hi there,

I also started trading eMini S&P not long ago.

My questions are, Does eMini S&P has market makers like the stocks do?

Who place the big bid or ask size orders (couple of thousands contracts at a time) on the market from time to time?

Any answer would be appreciated.

 

[Slapshot]

Hi there,

I also started trading eMini S&P not long ago.

My questions are, Does eMini S&P has market makers like the stocks do?

Who place the big bid or ask size orders (couple of thousands contracts at a time) on the market from time to time?

Any answer would be appreciated.

Hello and welcome.

There are market makers for all markets, it's their job to 'make' the market.

The large orders come from the trading syndicates/professionals/banks/etc etc

Hope this helps.

 

[knlge876]

>>Hello and welcome.

There are market makers for all markets, it's their job to 'make' the market.

The large orders come from the trading syndicates/professionals/banks/etc etc

Hope this helps.<<

Thanks a lot. Hopefully, I can learn a bit more everyday here.

Could someone also suggest a good strategy to trade the fast moving eMini S&P on Nonfarm payrolls or the Fed meeting days, or provide a link to a good article on the subject? TIA.

Good trading

 

[Slapshot]

>>Hello and welcome.

There are market makers for all markets, it's their job to 'make' the market.

The large orders come from the trading syndicates/professionals/banks/etc etc

Hope this helps.<<

Thanks a lot. Hopefully, I can learn a bit more everyday here.

Could someone also suggest a good strategy to trade the fast moving eMini S&P on Nonfarm payrolls or the Fed meeting days, or provide a link to a good article on the subject? TIA.

Good trading

There is plenty of information on this board about strategies. I suggest you take a look through the tradepedia first.

With regard to trading NFP,FED Days etc my advice would be to steer clear of them until you're confident you know what to expect. The moves on these events are often very fast and often feature false breakouts/reversals etc in extremely short timeframes. I personally stand on the sidelines on these days.

 

[rverheyen]

There' s massive liquidity in the eminis. Two million contracts in a day isn't unusual volume. Partial fills will basically never be a problem.

When you are compounding expect to get partial fills, even for the 'biggest' eminis.

For ER2 you can expect partial fills from 10 cars and up.

Check the bid and ask they will give you an indication on how many cars there are available.

 

[AItrader]

Have you been able to resolve this?

Anyone know of anywhere I can get free historical tick data for the emini? Been looking but can only seem to find paid for stuff.

Cheers,
PKFFW

Hi,
Have you been able to locate a free e-mini datasource?
If so, can you pls share the link?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[PKFFW]

Altrader,

Unfortunately, no i have not.

Cheers,
PKFFW

 

[Macklefinch]

Can anyone recommend a good news feed or news provider that covers Eurex?

 

[min_loss]

Could someone also suggest a good strategy to trade the fast moving eMini S&P on Nonfarm payrolls or the Fed meeting days, or provide a link to a good article on the subject? TIA.

First I would read a couple books on e-mini strategy; John Carter's mastering the trade comes to mind as a decent introduction. Before making a living off the e-mini's you should be concerned with taking profitable setups, and taking profits when you have them while keeping losses to a minimum. Use a stop-loss and profit target with all trades to reduce emotional attachment. Trade hard but lose easy.

min_loss

 

[Mr.J-Arthur]

I <3 the mini market!

Leverage is a double edge sword so just trade 1 contract at a time until you're really sharp!
USE STOPS!

EDIT: LOL @ the question about 1.5 contracts...it's okay, we'll get you trading like a pro!