Silly Futures Trading Questions.

[awegrzyn]

Since I'm very new to futures I have few silly questions. BTW, I'm not new to trading, my problem is related to the futures environment.

My setup:
Velocity Futures Account
X Trader (Free) software

My Questions:
1. I'm connecting to CME and CME-A as I think those are the most "liquid" exchanges. Am I correct?

2. What is the best or most liquid contract to trade after hours if you will. I'm very much interested in trading at night, but the only contract that "charts" somehow OK at night is gold. Do you guys know of any others?

3. My biggest problem comes with knowing what each contract really means. Names like KT for a contract are not very discriptive. Is there a website where you can get all contract short and long names. I found on NYMEX few names but not all.

4. What are the names for FOREX contracts and can I trade them using X_Trader?

Thanks in advance,

Andy

 

[new_trader]

1) I don't think you can describe an exchange as being liquid. As far as I know, if you want to trade a particular instrument then you have no choice but to connect to the exchange which offers it. eg/ The ES contract is only available on the CME and the YM is only available on eCBOT, FTSE futures - LIFFE, etc

2) Some contracts are not available 24 HRS, so if you want 24Hr trading it narrows down your choices. You could consider FOREX. Also, it might be worthwhile looking into markets on the other side of the world where you will be trading during their cash market hours and hence, high liquidity.

3) From my brokers website: Online Futures Trading - Open E Cry ™ Contract Specifications

 

[nine]

The liquidity after hours question depends where you are - but the best answer imo is to trade something that is in its own daily session. So trade:

ES, EY, R2 etc during US hours;
Nk, SPI, HSI, STW, KOSPI during Asian hours;
ESTX50, GBL, DAX etc during European hours.

Forex trades a genuine 24 hours but for short term trading is unpredictable during asian hours. It has good trends for the European Morning and, if there isn't a big news shock has good trends for the US morning. All such rules are only correct most of the time.

 

[awegrzyn]

Thanks for the link and info. The link is what I was missing.