New to Eurex

[Nicholle]

Hi,

I live in the U.S. and am interested in trading Eurex. I may have to start working during the day, so I will have to stop trading during the day and start trading at night. I believe the Eurex markets start trading at midnight or 1:00 a.m. for me, so the hours would be great.
I have been trading the mini Dow, and like it a lot. Any suggestions on which Eurex markets I should start watching? I like to day trade using either the 1 min. (preferred) or 5 min charts. Any ideas and comments would be very helpful to me, I have an account with IB. Thank you all very much, have a great day!

Nicholle

[AllenCook]

Probably the 3 most popular futures are the DAX (based on the DAX index), ESTX50 (EuroStoxx 50) and the GBL (Euro Bund). Thus, they are all quite liquid, however, the ESTX50 and GBL are the most liquid of the 3 while the DAX is a little expensive for some.

I would probably favor the ESTX50 to look at first due primarily to its liquidity and also, if you are not used to trading bond futures. I believe that it moves somewhat smoother than the DAX (although I must confess I trade primarily the DAX).

Of course, I would be interested to hear others' opinions but nothing beats just observing the markets firsthand.

[fabrizio]

Nicholle

DAX is a very rich contract, but is not as it used to be until last year about this period. furthermore the problem with DAX is the following:
- THe underliyng ( the dax stock index) close at 5:30 PM CET since november . So the calculation of the Future - which goes as usual trough the 8:00 PM- is from 5:30 PM ahead no more " reaL" since there is no more underliyng......
Hence the thin volumes, the erratic behave, the loss of harmonic etc..
I'm used to trade it heavily, now I reduced my operativity only until the US opening.

Beside that IB ends the 50% day margination (5750€)at 5:45 CET, bringing it to the overnight double.
If , you are in position with 6 contracts (around 36.000€ needed on your account ) and have maybe some other position on shares or US open) they close X contracts on dax in order to bring the margination limit within the required O.N. Boundary.

STX: is a very Harmonic contract , lets say a "mini dax" ; more affordable ; I do not trade it very often , since is very much a "blue print of S&P" ; so I prefer to trade directly S&P or Dax.

GBL: IS the most traded securities in the financial world. Affordable, low margination, fairly good inverse correlation with stocks markets.

My advice: go for STX and GBL . You'll have fun and - expecially with GBL- very good returns for capital employed.

[Austin]

Hi Nicholle,

I live in the U.S. (Chicago area) and have traded the ESTX50. I couldn't handle getting up at 1:30 AM as I have a full time day job as well.

A couple of things I discovered which might be helpful:

1. If the U.S. market closed up/down substantially after the Eurex closed, there would be a corresponding gap up/down on the Eurostoxx50.

2. It's basically a "lap dog" of the U.S. indexes. Once the U.S. markets open, it follows along obediently. This can be an advantage if you're able to trade that knowledge.


Hope this helps.

Austin

(I'm hoping now that Eurex US is open, there may be an expansion of the ESTX50 trading hours. I miss trading it, but I just can't handle the lack of sleep! )

[fabrizio]

Austin, Nicholle

It is not only an advantage, is the way to trade it!

I mean On the center screen I have the ES ( no matter night or day session) on the left DAX, on the right GBL.

I Know ( you can verify it by hands overlaiyng the two securities) that if during the night session the ES make a move , DAX with a lag of no more of 5 Sec. will make the same amplified by 2 or 3 times in size.

As Austin says , same for the opening: 9 out of 10 the gap will be in the direction of the Prior close of the ES or of the +/- max .30% range of the ES Night session.

Howvere be carefull because Dax is moving 45K contracts : so not so many and some funny guy can play strange games against you........

[Nicholle]

Hi Fabrizio, Allen and Austin,

Thank you all so much for your excellent advice, it is much appreciated! I will start watching/trading the ESTX50 and the GBL this week, I am hoping I will not have to work during the day for too long, because I have become really attached to trading the mini Dow, but it sounds like I should be able to trade the ESTX and GBL and it should work out well. Then, in a few months I can go back to trading the mini Dow again.

Thank you all very, very much,

Nicholle