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Day Trading the Forex
- Thread starter showtime23
- Start date
Quote from msfe:
in the IMM/Globex Euro FX contract (IMM symbol EC, Globex symbol 6E, contract size ⬠125.000) $ 500 represent a 40 tick ($ 12.50/tick) move or just 20 ticks for 2 contracts - nothing special for a contract that regularly ranges 40 to 100 ticks on a daily basis.
http://www.cme.com/products/currency/products_currency_eurofx.cfm
The symbol on IB is EUR.
Quote from CMBFX:
Although it is possible to day trade for profit, the bid/ask spread involved makes it necessary to trade larger lots to reach the $500 level referred to above.
At the IMM/CME you pay a broker commissions, plus the spread, usually 2-3 points. On FX you pay the spread in and out. Basically amounts to the same transaction costs.
The spread is okay, although I don't recommend to scalp the currency futures. There's a tendency to accelerate the trend after 0830 CT, due to NY, and if you get it right with some more leverage (I do 6 to 8 contracts), there is a $1000 win during the first hours, let's call it a day. Just be careful for those violent reversals which can be costly (let's call it a day again?)
If you need to think youre riding a position after initiating a daytrade, you can hold on, because Globex IMM is a 24hour market as well. (Only spreads are much wider during night session)
Berliner
but are the futures and spot forex the same, from a backtesting perspective? for one, forex doesn't gap. [/QUOTE]
There is constantly arbitrage going on between IMM and Forex. If you adjust your fx charts to lets say RTH IMM (0720-1400 CT), you should get basically the same patterns (not numbers of course). Stick to the volume times. (London and east coast).
Berliner
but are the futures and spot forex the same, from a backtesting perspective? for one, forex doesn't gap.
Corso,
Great question. I have the same question. The problem for us TS 6.0+ users out there is that TS (for some reason!?) doesn't provide a spot-market data feed for currencies. All we have is the Globex...so until TS provides it we need to 1.) either use GLOBEX data to backtest systems or 2.) Use WealthLab....
So, are the Globex markets fair comparables?