Anybody trading 100+ SPX options per order

Another possibility that has not been mentioned is the S&P500 "big" traded at the CME. It's 5 times the size of the ES and 25 times the size of the SPY, so that would keep your transaction costs down.

It's also pit traded, in a futures options pit (which is what I'm used to), so the comments and suggestions I've made in this thread are probably more accurate for it than for the SPX.

If the firm where you have your account agrees, you can definitely call into the pit and talk directly to a broker. IB might not let you do it, but the smaller futures firms will if your account is big enough.
 
this might seem like seem like a stupid remark, but it's only meant to help: why don't you stick to what worked in the past, you can easily up your size in the dax and eurostoxx to a tenfold of what you are doing now imo. The phrase, 'never change a winning team' comes to mind. Good luck on your endaevours however.
 
Quote from dmo:

Another possibility that has not been mentioned is the S&P500 "big" traded at the CME. It's 5 times the size of the ES and 25 times the size of the SPY, so that would keep your transaction costs down.

It's also pit traded, in a futures options pit (which is what I'm used to), so the comments and suggestions I've made in this thread are probably more accurate for it than for the SPX.

If the firm where you have your account agrees, you can definitely call into the pit and talk directly to a broker. IB might not let you do it, but the smaller futures firms will if your account is big enough.
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Thanks, I will take a look at it
 
Quote from cvds16:

this might seem like seem like a stupid remark, but it's only meant to help: why don't you stick to what worked in the past, you can easily up your size in the dax and eurostoxx to a tenfold of what you are doing now imo. The phrase, 'never change a winning team' comes to mind. Good luck on your endaevours however.
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True but because of the market downturn (low levels) they don't work as good anymore as they used to. Trading US markets have several advantages: (1) lower fees, (2) the best option market in the World and Last but not Least (3) It's getting difficult to combine it with work.
 
Quote from DutchMan:

True but because of the market downturn (low levels) they don't work as good anymore as they used to. Trading US markets have several advantages: (1) lower fees, (2) the best option market in the World and Last but not Least (3) It's getting difficult to combine it with work.
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By number (3) I take it you mean that you can trade the US markets in the evening (Europe time)?
 
Quote from dmo:

By number (3) I take it you mean that you can trade the US markets in the evening (Europe time)?
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yep, the markets are changing and imo the US options market is the biggest, cheapest, liquid and most transparent in the World, so for me it's easier to adapt to it.
 
There is some decent information on this thread, but a great deal of misinformation.

The S options are meant for institutions. That is why people on ET have problems with it. It is like saying I want to go into Charlie Trotters and expect to pay McDonalds prices. It doesn't cater to you by design.

If you have a decent account size, open an account with XFA or Lakeshore or a myriad of other brokers with presence in the S, and they will work an order for you in the pit and get you as close to the mid as humanly possible. The wide B/A spreads you see on the screen means nothing. In the pit, the spreads are far far narrower.

If you have large size, many of the orders are shopped first by calling upstairs MMs (all the big ones in the pit also have a presence upstairs) and that often gets you an even "better" price, normalized for size.

The S could have gone electronic many times - there is no real reason it can't from a technological point. It was up to the members and it was voted down in full Hybrid 3.0. It is the crown jewel of the CBOE, and while many believe it will eventually go electronic, I would not hold my breath. As others have pointed out [and I have at least several times over the years] If you want a fully electronic contract version of the S options, trade the ES options. They have 99.9% correlation to SPX options, since the driver is the same. The only problem with ES options is doing e.g. 2000+ contracts at a shot, which is why the S still lives in pit traded form. BTW, there is a product that may interest people on ET but there is currently no volume,

http://www.cboe.com/micro/xsp/introduction.aspx

I think this product has huge potential for the retail trader. If any product goes fully electronic between the S and the XSP, it is the XSP.

IWM RUT NDX options are all good products, but nowhere near what the S is.

nitro
 
Quote from DutchMan:

Thanks for your information regarding SPX and other index options! Why is RUT not a good product to trade? It’s listed on more than 5 exchanges (incl. ISE) and the volume is getting better and better. I also looked at NDX but the volume and Open Interest is lower but don’t have your experience.

I find the SPY and IWM not interesting to trade because I have to trade 10 times the size so trading costs will increase. The spreads are lower but because I have to increase my position 10 times it doesn’t really makes a difference.

Any idea when SPX could goes electronic? Do you know what is interesting. In Europe all index options are single listed but the spreads are much lower compared with the US. The DJ EuroStoxx50 and DAX are the biggest products in Europe and it’s more than normal to get executed at midpoint or around midpoint (max. 5 cents from midpoint). It doesn’t matter if you trading outright, 2 leg or 3 leg spreads. Currently trading around 50 / 100 per leg and getting executed around midpoint is easy in Europe, you don’t even need to work your order. Competition between Market Makers is huge.
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Do the EuroStoxx50 and DAX options have customer priority on their order books?

Are there any non-U.S. options that have customer priority?
 
Quote from nitro:

There is some decent information on this thread, but a great deal of misinformation.

The S options are meant for institutions. That is why people on ET have problems with it. It is like saying I want to go into Charlie Trotters and expect to pay McDonalds prices. It doesn't cater to you by design.

If you have a decent account size, open an account with XFA or Lakeshore or a myriad of other brokers with presence in the S, and they will work an order for you in the pit and get you as close to the mid as humanly possible. The wide B/A spreads you see on the screen means nothing. In the pit, the spreads are far far narrower.

If you have large size, many of the orders are shopped first by calling upstairs MMs (all the big ones in the pit also have a presence upstairs) and that often gets you an even "better" price, normalized for size.

The S could have gone electronic many times - there is no real reason it can't from a technological point. It was up to the members and it was voted down in full Hybrid 3.0. It is the crown jewel of the CBOE, and while many believe it will eventually go electronic, I would not hold my breath. As others have pointed out [and I have at least several times over the years] If you want a fully electronic contract version of the S options, trade the ES options. They have 99.9% correlation to SPX options, since the driver is the same. The only problem with ES options is doing e.g. 2000+ contracts at a shot, which is why the S still lives in pit traded form. BTW, there is a product that may interest people on ET but there is currently no volume,

http://www.cboe.com/micro/xsp/introduction.aspx

I think this product has huge potential for the retail trader. If any product goes fully electronic between the S and the XSP, it is the XSP.

IWM RUT NDX options are all good products, but nowhere near what the S is.

nitro
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Could you give us more inside regarding trading SPX? I understand if you trade 10 lots or so the SPX is not market to trade but if I trade 100 per leg I'm an average SPX trader (the average contract per trade is around 90 for 2007). will I receive better quotes trading 200 or 300 lots per leg? Why don't IWM, RUT and NDX don't come near SPX? They don't have the liquidity as SPX but if you want market exposure for IT or Small Caps it's a great place to be. Sorry for all the questions but I'm curious about the statements you made.
 
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