Trading Spreads in IB

N

NikEy

Hi all,

sorry if this has been answered before - I didn't find it in this forum yet:

How can one trade the commodity spreads in Interactive Brokers? For example I want to trade the actual CLH3-CLZ3 spread contract as it is provided by the CME, as opposed to manually create the spread position myself? The closest I can find is the pre-defined combo-order entry for inter-commodity spreads, but even that is just a synthetic solution and unfortunately insufficient for this purpose.

Thank you all for your inputs
 
Quote from NikEy:

Hi all,

sorry if this has been answered before - I didn't find it in this forum yet:

How can one trade the commodity spreads in Interactive Brokers? For example I want to trade the actual CLH3-CLZ3 spread contract as it is provided by the CME, as opposed to manually create the spread position myself? The closest I can find is the pre-defined combo-order entry for inter-commodity spreads, but even that is just a synthetic solution and unfortunately insufficient for this purpose.

Thank you all for your inputs
More...

According to the Users Guide:

"Although a combination/spread order is constructed of separate legs, it is executed as a single transaction if it is routed directly to an exchange."

So see if it allows you to route it directly to an exchange (change routing from SMART to Directed).
 
Quote from NikEy:

Hi all,

sorry if this has been answered before - I didn't find it in this forum yet:

How can one trade the commodity spreads in Interactive Brokers? For example I want to trade the actual CLH3-CLZ3 spread contract as it is provided by the CME, as opposed to manually create the spread position myself? The closest I can find is the pre-defined combo-order entry for inter-commodity spreads, but even that is just a synthetic solution and unfortunately insufficient for this purpose.

Thank you all for your inputs
More...

spread trader...
http://interactivebrokers.com/en/?f...hts/PDF-SpreadTraderFutures.php?ib_entity=llc

you can pick your exchange.. all the months you wanan include.. how many apart .. ie feb/mar or even you can quote feb/jun if you want..
 
Definitely route the order to the exhange and have the exchange execute ( leg ) the spread position. Don't leg them yourself manually if the exchange will do it for you.
 
Energy spreads are very liquid. If you have TT Trader, you can even trade butterfly and condors easily. For butterfly, it is a spread on two spreads and involves 3 futures. But you'll have to pay commission for each contract.
 
Quote from boze_man:

is there a way to invert the spreads to the exchange format?

IB quotes them backwards...real pain

thanks b
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I think it depends on the broker and the screen. Most of the screens have the entire matrix or grid for all the spreads, front to back. So the spreads can be either positive or negative (though mostly negative for normal carry market). When traders talk about spreads, they always talk about the absolute spreads. If I say I long CL June/July spread at $0.30, it means I expect the spread to widen, or more negative.
 
I may be missing something, but above there is a comment about "routing it directly to the exchange." I understand that when equity options are being traded, but the OP was talking about crude oil (CL). I didn't think there was any choice with exchange-traded commodities - if you trade CL it's going to NYMEX.

Puzzled...
 
Quote from Brighton:

I may be missing something, but above there is a comment about "routing it directly to the exchange." I understand that when equity options are being traded, but the OP was talking about crude oil (CL). I didn't think there was any choice with exchange-traded commodities - if you trade CL it's going to NYMEX.

Puzzled...
More...

Spreads are traded electronically. I believe there are 3rd parties that maintain some matching mechanism. If I remember correctly, TT maintains such a spread book. It may get feeds from Globex or other parties. Their marketing reps pushed very hard for us to trade through them.

But I could be wrong....
 
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