Any Eurodollar Traders here? I've got an implieds question

[H2O]

rt is round-turn, i.e. a buy and a sell, so half that amount for each side.

Note that I quoted in £ because I was doing most volume on LIFFE (Euribor, Short Sterling) - I just asked some friends who indicated their current pricing starts ~$1.45 and goes down depending on size.

ZIRP means the front end of the curve is basically fixed (i.e. low volatility), which results in traders being forced to increase size to make a living. This in turn means that in order to get a decent fill you either need to work SIZE (with all associated risks), wait for the market to trade through your price, or hit / lift, which greatly reduces what little edge you have. (especially amid low volatility.)

 

[MCT]

rt is round-turn, i.e. a buy and a sell, so half that amount for each side.

Note that I quoted in £ because I was doing most volume on LIFFE (Euribor, Short Sterling) - I just asked some friends who indicated their current pricing starts ~$1.45 and goes down depending on size.

ZIRP means the front end of the curve is basically fixed (i.e. low volatility), which results in traders being forced to increase size to make a living. This in turn means that in order to get a decent fill you either need to work SIZE (with all associated risks), wait for the market to trade through your price, or hit / lift, which greatly reduces what little edge you have. (especially amid low volatility.)

Interesting, is there perhaps a chart of rates based on size? I looked on the cme website but didnt find much.

Yeah I have definitely experienced that, it seems that the higher up the curve I work, my size grows exponentially. Isn't it just as simple as changing your operating range to a lower section of the curve though? Or were things substantially difference before ZIRP? I started working the front 6 contracts and have recently transitioned to working the 2-8th contracts, with M5 close to expiry and quarter ticks it seems that things get much more volatile, almost every day there is a 20000-30000 lot trade that just wipes out the front month. I'm not the biggest fan of quarter ticks.

 

[dsch11]

If you do a lot of volume per month you get lower commissions, if you trade through a prop/arcade that's a member of the exchange you get even lower plus lower exchange fees as well. You will probably need this if you start doing some size and "only" go for a tick in the spread. But it depends on your trading style i guess, if you leg in/out a lot or maybe hold the pos for a day or two..

By the way, are you trading live or on sim? Just so you don't delude yourself with unrealistic fills on the sim..

 

[MCT]

If you do a lot of volume per month you get lower commissions, if you trade through a prop/arcade that's a member of the exchange you get even lower plus lower exchange fees as well. You will probably need this if you start doing some size and "only" go for a tick in the spread. But it depends on your trading style i guess, if you leg in/out a lot or maybe hold the pos for a day or two..

By the way, are you trading live or on sim? Just so you don't delude yourself with unrealistic fills on the sim..

haha! Yes I started out on the simulator and I was in for quite the shock when I started on a live screen. The simulator fills you on your price anytime it trades, its like always being at the front of the line. Then I got on a live screen and realized its a bit harder to get a fill.

I figured price goes down as volume goes up, but I was interested in seeing a chart/ table/ any kind of values. I just got that STIR book though so maybe I'll browse through it real quick before starting to read it and see if there is anything in there.

I definitely prefer to leg in and leg out, I've tried leaving positions on while I'm away and I've had same bad experiences so I prefer to make my money and walk away with a clean slate.

 

[dsch11]

haha! Yes I started out on the simulator and I was in for quite the shock when I started on a live screen. The simulator fills you on your price anytime it trades, its like always being at the front of the line. Then I got on a live screen and realized its a bit harder to get a fill.

I figured price goes down as volume goes up, but I was interested in seeing a chart/ table/ any kind of values. I just got that STIR book though so maybe I'll browse through it real quick before starting to read it and see if there is anything in there.

I definitely prefer to leg in and leg out, I've tried leaving positions on while I'm away and I've had same bad experiences so I prefer to make my money and walk away with a clean slate.

Indeed, well it's nice that you trade live. You might be able to find some stuff if you search for it, or just drop an email to some trading arcade/prop firm. That sounds nice, legging in/out and squeezing some extra ticks in the spread.

 

[MCT]

Indeed, well it's nice that you trade live. You might be able to find some stuff if you search for it, or just drop an email to some trading arcade/prop firm. That sounds nice, legging in/out and squeezing some extra ticks in the spread.

Yeah, I'm pretty new to it but like I said I am really liking trading. What do you trade?

I see a lot of the guys on here are the kind of guys that do long term positions, maybe one day I'll get there but for now I like to get in and get out. Though I will see tons of opportunity to leave positions on. Last week I was selling 64's in GEZ6, and today we were down to 54's, would have made a nice profit on 20 ticks instead of just 1 tick. But like I said for now I am young in my career and don't mind taking my profits early, maybe once I get some reasonable money to back me I will consider trying more risk prone positions.

 

[dsch11]

I'm pretty new myself but i'm trading eurodollars, looking at short sterling as well. I wouldn't wanna hold outright positions overnight but that's just me maybe, holding a spread overnight is a bit different.

 

[MCT]

I'm pretty new myself but i'm trading eurodollars, looking at short sterling as well. I wouldn't wanna hold outright positions overnight but that's just me maybe, holding a spread overnight is a bit different.

What platform are you on? I'm using TT and seem to be liking it, wish their charts were a bit better but overall pretty solid. I like trading flies so they are usually pretty safe, but I've had some experiences where they shift out a ton. I was long the U5 fly like 2 weeks ago and it broke like 1.5 or 2 ticks. I was shocked, hadn't seen movement like that before.

Do you just trade short sterling as a hedge? I'm seeing most of the guys here trade multiple products, I've just been looking at Eurodollars, maybe I need to step my game up!

 

[dsch11]

I'll send you a pm, easier to talk there