Futures and forex in the same account

[fxeconomist]

I would like some information on trading futures and forex in the same account.
I don't want InteractiveBrokers, because it's too expensive. I need to have an API, or even better, I'd like NinjaTrader. I found Alpha Broking in Australia, but...
demo is a futures account.

What I can't find is a common futures&forex demo account, and I really don't know where to look... I need to see the CME contracts with realtime data, not necesarilly free. I am willing to pay for the data, I just want the demo with all that it needs.

 

[Liquid validity]

http://www.ninjatrader.com/partners

Sift through some of them.
I know MB can't run futures and forex through NT at the same time as there is a restriction with the MB API.

 

[fxeconomist]

http://www.ninjatrader.com/partners

Sift through some of them.
I know MB can't run futures and forex through NT at the same time as there is a restriction with the MB API.

No, I asked, they didn't say anything about a restriction, just that accounts remain completely separated. I tried to arrange cross-margining , so that there are 2 accounts that share the same margin, I got a NO for that too. I got the same answer from PFGBEST. It seems it's the NFA regulation ; well, if US wants to be outside of the civilized world, so be it. I'm looking for a non-US broker for this job, somebody who doesn't have regulatory issues. An interesting option might be Alpha Broking , Australia, but I couldn't connect with them yet. They claim to be one of the largest desks in Australia, but the demo points to Mirus Futures... I don't know where Mirus is located, and support seems to be only for their clients. Mirus seems to be US-based, however...

 

[fxeconomist]

I found a cool directory here at forexpros. I think I'll take them one by one, ruling out NFA as a rule of thumb.

 

[Liquid validity]

No, I asked, they didn't say anything about a restriction, just that accounts remain completely separated. I tried to arrange cross-margining , so that there are 2 accounts that share the same margin, I got a NO for that too. I got the same answer from PFGBEST. It seems it's the NFA regulation ; well, if US wants to be outside of the civilized world, so be it. I'm looking for a non-US broker for this job, somebody who doesn't have regulatory issues. An interesting option might be Alpha Broking , Australia, but I couldn't connect with them yet. They claim to be one of the largest desks in Australia, but the demo points to Mirus Futures... I don't know where Mirus is located, and support seems to be only for their clients. Mirus seems to be US-based, however...

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=42555
http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showpost.php?p=247982&postcount=9

There are various restrictions with the MB API, nothing major though.
Be careful with that broker list you posted - a lot of them appear to be unregulated
If you want to use Ninja, stick to their recommended brokers:
http://www.ninjatrader.com/partners

Might be worth trying MB UK once its up and running (shouldn't be long)
http://www.tradembt.eu/

 

[fxeconomist]

I checked the list last night; it seemed the forex list is pretty big, but not the futures list.
Alas, most of the brokers are NFA-regulated .
In the end, I decided for a simple futures demo with Mirus. In the end, I'll have to see what I do with the account. I think my last option would be Alpha Broking, cause I managed to contact them in the while (they pointed to Mirus demo). In the meanwhile I'll try to see exactly how they do this, because they seem to use US clearers. Of course, Australia is pretty damn far from Chicago, which is another . Another option might be MFGlobal. But I don't think I have enough money for that.

 

[gc1]

You could try the 14 day free trial of the CME group E-quotes software. It's quite expensive after the first 14 days ($95/month plus $61/month data fees) but as a short term way of charting the FX futures it's a possible solution. Plot the futures in one window and the spot (using a regular fx broker) in another window. As there is a fixed offset between the two each day (gradually converging each day) is there a particular reason why you want both ?

Not much in the way of an API though (I think just DDE price quote exporting).

 

[fxeconomist]

They are cointegrated. Most likely arbitrageable, because futures has a light volume compared to forex; forex is naturally insane, so opportunity windows must form up. Perhaps not for my firepower, but at least I'll try. So in no way this is gonna be manual. All automated, and I already started to like Ninja. I only think what firepower has that X_trader AutoSpreader .

 

[LiveTradingZone]

www.TradeStation.com try them

You can trade futures, forex, options, equities all on the same platform. Futures currency is great to trade, but forex for the smaller accounts is better.

If you do go with TradeStation I can get you $500 if you open an account, just PM me and I will send you the code.