No worries Nana. You should most definitely check out Europe, they've got some great contracts for both equities and bonds.
[In fact if I were forced to choose one only, I reckon I'd go with Europe anyway.]
With respect to Asian markets, that too is something I keep an eye on in case I am ever forced to trade the time zone. I think its safe to say they are second class compared to Europe and the US, but there's enough certainly to keep one busy. I should also point out I don't trade them often.
Some markets to consider with the equities:
> Korea [ not technically available to US citizens .. ]
- This contract is apparently right up there in terms of being
a 'tradeable market'. Volume is huge. Personally have never
traded it.
> Hong Kong
- not a bad little market this one, two contracts including a mini.
The big one is HK $50 (about US$ 6.50) a point, and can whip
around a fair bit as a higher beta market. Index at about
10,900 at the moment. Daily volume about 27k on Friday.
> Japan
- Nikkei 225 out of Osaka , 1000 times the index, min 10 pts tick
daily avg for Aug about 48,000 contracts
- Nikkei 225 out of Singapore, 500 times the index, min tick 5 pts
- Topix out of Tokyo, 10,000 times the index (about 1070 at the
moment], 0.5 pts min tick, volume is about 20k
> Australia
- SPI, A$ 25 * index, 1 pt tick , volume is about 10k or so
With bonds obviously the SFE has the entire Aussie curve covered and volumes are generally pretty good, but can be a bit slow during the day especially when you're used to US treasuries or the bunds ; also JGB's out of Singapore and Tokyo, but don't know a lot about these.
So overall there are some reasonable choices in the Asian time zone if one had to do the switch.
Re: the forex. Still haven't made up my mind about this one either, even though I have it as background. I tend to trade it longer term relative to the futures, and with less leverage. Don't like having to cough up such a large spread [although there are some shops like hotspotfx where you can bid etc ] when trading short-term, so have never really looked at it as a serious short-term vehicle.
Cheers
Quote from Nana Trader:
Thanks for informing me about europe markets.Well, i tought forex was the only other option. I will have a look at them soon.
How about australian and far east market, can you recommand
some high volume, liquid and trendy instruments ?
....would bring back bad memories of when i had to do it for real! couse swing trading them small is another idea ,,,, seens to me the best place to trade would be europe....DAX in the morning and US in afternoon and eartly evening!