bond information.

[one/two]

hi all

I am on the start line of trying to find out about bonds (futures specifically).I have spent several years following equity and indices of Europe and America and have gained much experience.
however I havn't given the bond markets a moment.

Being extremely ignorant of them, I am looking for A good starting point. The equivalent trade2win site would be excellent. However all good links would be appreciated.

thanks.

 

[Halo]

yippee..

hi, glad to see another fixed income bod on these boards...

I trade German Bund Futures and have promised to post some info up on the levels I use and other info.

Bit hectic at the moment so it's taking longer than i expected to put pen to paper but I will get it done...

I can post quick replies here if you have any specific questions..

 

[one/two]

morning halo.

I am running IB/liffe at the moment, ticker symbol for the main bond futures would be a good start.

 

[Halo]

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..

 

[one/two]

that will do nicely.