Greedy CME Raises Exchange Fees Again as of February 1st

[schizo]

Do you have a link?, this PDF for Jan 24, says its $1.50 they charge for Level 1. Maybe your broker/data-provider is marking it up more, because it looks like AMP/CGQ/Rithmic/TT etc are marking it up to $3 for their customers. Which I guess is the cost of redistributing the data.

https://www.cmegroup.com/market-data/files/january-2024-ila-market-data-fee-lists.pdf

https://www.ampfutures.com/trading-info/exchange-data-fees

 

[schizo]

Oh, I now understand.
I think with retail brokers nowadays such standard level-1 data is free for non-professionals; one just needs to sign an agreement or so for each marketplace.

You still need to pay for Level 1 ("top of the book") futures data. Could be different for stocks and options.

 

[schizo]

Do you have a link?, this PDF for Jan 24, says its $1.50 they charge for Level 1. Maybe your broker/data-provider is marking it up more, because it looks like AMP/CGQ/Rithmic/TT etc are marking it up to $3 for their customers. Which I guess is the cost of redistributing the data.

https://www.cmegroup.com/market-data/files/january-2024-ila-market-data-fee-lists.pdf

Hmmm.... In the PDF you posted, it states $4.50 per BUNDLE but I believe this is only CME and doesn't include NYMEX, CBOT, or COMEX (but not sure, so let me know if otherwise).

Amp/CQG also offers Level 1 for separate markets ($3 each). But the "bundle" includes all 4 markets for $10.

Also I found this at EdgeClear. Not sure what to make of it.
https://edgeclear.com/2024-cme-market-data-fee-increase

 

[schizo]

if you have the depth of market, you don’t need level 1. anyway data is reasonable, fees are not.

will see if micro is 62 cents per side, i read it somewhere.

Why do they need to jack up the fees every friggin' year? Who do they think they are, Apple or Samsung? At least those companies are providing something tangible. These idiots do absolutely nothing but siphon off money from the middle.

 

[schizo]

But one thing to consider is fees vs notional contract value:

Back in 2004 i was paying $5 round trip to trade $50,000 notional in ES.
Back in 2019 i was paying $3.6 round trip to trade $125,000 notional in ES
Now in 2024 (after this increase) i think i will be paying $4 dollars to trade $250,000 notional in ES.

But what does the notional got to do with the fees? It ain't like the index futures shot up in the last decade because of CME. These greedy MOFOs would have raised the fees whether the notional is valued at $50k or $250K...regardless.

 

[hilmy83]

Maybe we should all go to the small exchange? CME needs some legit competition in the US

https://smallexchange.com/

 

[Businessman]

But what does the notional got to do with the fees? It ain't like the index futures shot up in the last decade because of CME. These greedy MOFOs would have raised the fees whether the notional is valued at $50k or $250K...regardless.

Do I have to spell it out for you?

Lets say you trade $1 Billion total notional per year in ES. You would have traded 8,000 contracts/ round trips for the year when ES was trading at 2,500 back around 5 years ago paying $28,800 in total fees for the year when all in fees were about $3.6 per r/t.

Now ES is around 5000 you only have to pay for 4,000 round trips in order to trade the same $1Billion total notional, but this year you only have to pay a total of $16,000 in fees at a higher $4 per r/t all in fee.

The total fees paid from your account have fallen by 45%.

Now official inflation in that time has been say 25%. So you probably want to be trading $1.25 billion in notional these days so your profits keep up with inflation. But you are still paying less in commissions in total even if you up your size by 25%, so $20,000 in total fees for the year.

CME's total dollar fees in how much they make from you has gone down even though they are charging more on each contract compared to back then, its still not enough to compensate for the fact you able to reduce your volume and trade fewer lots to make the same level of dollar profit.

This all due to the fact the S&P 500 has gone up faster than inflation and also faster than the all-in fee you pay, which you can thank your clearing firm and broker for.

 

[schizo]

If you trade $1 Billion notional per year. You traded 8,000 contracts/ round trips when ES was 2,500 back around 5 years ago paying ($28,800 in total fees for the year when all fees were $3.6 per r/t).

Now ES is around 5000 you only pay for 4,000 round trips in order to trade $1Billion notional, ($16,000 at a higher $4 per all fee)

You total commissions paid from you account have fallen by 45%.

So is that the way you trade? As for me, if I traded 8,000 lots 5 years ago (using your analogy), I'm pretty certain that's what I'm trading these days as well. So in the end, my costs would have gone up quite significantly.

 

[SunTrader]

So is that the way you trade? As for me, if I traded 8,000 lots 5 years ago (using your analogy), I'm pretty certain that's what I'm trading these days as well. So in the end, my costs would have gone up quite significantly.

Agree. I don't trade notional, I trade ticks and points.

 

[Businessman]

Agree. I don't trade notional, I trade ticks and points.

You are trading notional you just don't realise it.

Most likely your stop and target are wider (2 times wider) on average than 5 years go and you are taking advantage of the fact that the contract has a higher value and so wider bars on every timeframe.

If you want to keep your dollar risk on each trade constant, then you would naturally cut the number of contracts traded in half as well.