I've been trading ER2 most recently but seeing that the way Crude is bouncing around during most days I believe it makes a better VST vehicle and I have left trading ER2 or the other indices for now.
On first thought one would guess that because of all the streaming internal statistics published about the indices they would be easier to trade but most of the time when a move tries to start it gets chipped away by arbs or resting orders.
On the other hand I sense that there are fewer cross influences in Crude compared to the indices, perhaps cross hedging is smaller part of overall volume or the players are more long/short oriented. Oil is the dog and not the tail that wags the dog.
Some of the qualities I like about the ID Crude trading conditions (and I mean the electronic contract):
Very active with size on both sides Pre. and Aft. hours as traders from around the world slosh in and out.
Great range if one wanted to hold for a swing and it can run seemingly uninterrupted fairly often.
If commercials rule the market they are not always there because they are incredible swings during the day that could not be explained by fundamentals - or are they shaking the tree?. So overwhelmingly intraday dynamics rule.
When it gets hectic, which I prefer, it can zigzag 10 points and more at terminal points of swings within seconds and for some time so that one has a chance to take back fading trades.
There are so many of these intense conditions that a scalpers can do their thing and do not have to participate in the market when it is not moving.
The size of these zigzags (even bid ask) fluctuations to commission (at IB 3.62 RT unbundled) is very favorable and the number of opportunities per session is also very favorable.
I trade from home on an IB and TS platform without any news or fundamental input using my own mix of canned indicators like oscillators and volatility bands laid over some tick bar and volume bar charts. The shortest is a 100 lot bar chart, the longest is a one minute bar chart and once in a while I glance at an other page of 5, 15 and 60 min charts with similar overlays.
The purpose of the charts is to help me sense the area where a move is overdone and seems to stall and start fading it sometime scaling up and down, basically acting as an off floor market maker. I am always out by the time a good counter move starts.
I do not use stops and of course I get run over once in a while but there are so many opportunities that I can recover fairly quickly.
I would love to hear from other traders about their Crude oil trading experiences and styles.
Regards,
GC.
On first thought one would guess that because of all the streaming internal statistics published about the indices they would be easier to trade but most of the time when a move tries to start it gets chipped away by arbs or resting orders.
On the other hand I sense that there are fewer cross influences in Crude compared to the indices, perhaps cross hedging is smaller part of overall volume or the players are more long/short oriented. Oil is the dog and not the tail that wags the dog.
Some of the qualities I like about the ID Crude trading conditions (and I mean the electronic contract):
Very active with size on both sides Pre. and Aft. hours as traders from around the world slosh in and out.
Great range if one wanted to hold for a swing and it can run seemingly uninterrupted fairly often.
If commercials rule the market they are not always there because they are incredible swings during the day that could not be explained by fundamentals - or are they shaking the tree?. So overwhelmingly intraday dynamics rule.
When it gets hectic, which I prefer, it can zigzag 10 points and more at terminal points of swings within seconds and for some time so that one has a chance to take back fading trades.
There are so many of these intense conditions that a scalpers can do their thing and do not have to participate in the market when it is not moving.
The size of these zigzags (even bid ask) fluctuations to commission (at IB 3.62 RT unbundled) is very favorable and the number of opportunities per session is also very favorable.
I trade from home on an IB and TS platform without any news or fundamental input using my own mix of canned indicators like oscillators and volatility bands laid over some tick bar and volume bar charts. The shortest is a 100 lot bar chart, the longest is a one minute bar chart and once in a while I glance at an other page of 5, 15 and 60 min charts with similar overlays.
The purpose of the charts is to help me sense the area where a move is overdone and seems to stall and start fading it sometime scaling up and down, basically acting as an off floor market maker. I am always out by the time a good counter move starts.
I do not use stops and of course I get run over once in a while but there are so many opportunities that I can recover fairly quickly.
I would love to hear from other traders about their Crude oil trading experiences and styles.
Regards,
GC.
