ah...
you got me there..
I'm using Pats' J-Trader from Man where the products are pre-loaded for me.. I haven't used IB so a bit stuck on that one.
For US/Europe the contracts you may be interested in (and why) are below..
Exchange Contract
Eurex Bund (FGBL) the most liquid bond future in the world!! Regularly trades 1million contracts/day and range is trading friendly. Have a look at
www.futuresource.com's charts the symbol is DGBM03 for the june'03 - (current front month)
Based on German 8.5-10yr Government Debt (although lots of EC Gov. bonds are deliverable into the Future). If you are a straight futures punter all you need to know is that it's liquid, it charts well and the tick value is €10. Margin is around €1000 per lot so won't break the bank.. as an index trader the first thing you'll notice is the size - as there are very big players in the Bund it's not uncommon to get 1000-3000 on a bid/offer .. Don't be put off - this is great for the smaller trader like me - My 1/2/3 lots trade without even seeing them. If you place a Stop loss the slippage is usually not bad as there tends to be volume
Eurex Bobl (FGBM)
5 year Euro-Government bond future - less volatile than the Bund as the shorter duration is less prone to flux... Same tick value less margin.. again, highly liquid.
CBOT(ace) T-Bond - the US 30yr Bond future is the daddy of gov. bond futures - if you read any of the US books it's not hard to find a reference.. The contract trades electronically most of the day and trades open outcry parallel while the Chicago pits are open. Margin and tick value are a bit higher than the Bund but the trading hours may offer some advantages to you...
Others worth looking at:
CBOT (ace)10 year note
LIFFE Gilt
I'll try to put some more up as this has been literally banged out while i'm doing about a few other things..