# Futures Provider?



## NAsX (26 March 2008)

Hi guys,

I've been following the SPI200 index futures for a while now and am thinking of opening a trading account.

I was wondering what everyone uses? So far, I've found Sonray, MF Global and BrokerOne (seems to have merged with MF?!) and GET Financials.

I'm just hoping to have an account that'll give me the basics, ie. live quotes, no fees...etc, much like the CommSec basic share trading account, though wouldn't mind the ability to trade international futures for further down the track and more advanced features for a fee.

Any opinions/advice will be much appreciated! 

PS. I think this is my first post on ASF, so hello to everyone


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## Wysiwyg (26 March 2008)

Unless you have loads of money you will be looking at CFD futures.Is this correct?


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## NAsX (26 March 2008)

Wysiwyg said:


> Unless you have loads of money you will be looking at CFD futures.Is this correct?




I'm referring to SFE futures - sorry should have made this clear.

Don't have loads of money (I hope to have one day , but my understanding of the SFE futures so far is that for trading of 1 contract only at any given time I won't need more than 10k?

Thanks.


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## barrett (26 March 2008)

I'm wary of the smaller and newer providers because of the possibility of insolvency..  I use MF Global,  phone broker costs $15/trade, online quotes $50/mo, online quotes+charts $150/mo.. complete rip-off.. but at least they're less likely to go up in smoke with the lot


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## professor_frink (26 March 2008)

NAsX said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I've been following the SPI200 index futures for a while now and am thinking of opening a trading account.
> 
> ...




Hi NasX, welcome to ASF

I use Interactive Brokers- might be worth looking into. There are a couple of threads here discussing them here and here.


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## Trembling Hand (26 March 2008)

NAsX said:


> Don't have loads of money (I hope to have one day , but my understanding of the SFE futures so far is that for trading of 1 contract only at any given time I won't need more than 10k?




Margin requirement for the SPI are about $6000 intraday and $12500 overnight but that by no means its an adequate account size to be trading Futures.


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## NAsX (26 March 2008)

Trembling Hand said:


> Margin requirement for the SPI are about $6000 intraday and $12500 overnight but that by no means its an adequate account size to be trading Futures.




Thanks for the replies all.

Yes I understand 10k is relatively inadequate, however I only intend to trade intraday at this stage.

For a starting account, I think an initial deposit of $10000 will get me up and running okish? 

I agree with the going with more reputable companies given a deposit is required to trade. I will have a look into the ones mentioned already, any other suggestions?

Thanks.


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## dojara (7 April 2008)

Does anyone know which futures broker can provide you with a demo of their platform so you can test it out and access live prices like CFD brokers? I woud love to see the kind of real spreads traders like TH are getting and if it improves my intraday system then I'll definitely dump CFDs for futures.


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## Trembling Hand (7 April 2008)

try http://www.mfglobal.com.au/futures/futures_onlineTrad.asp. 

No CFD providers index products, that I have seen, give anywhere near the real cost of trading Futures. Their "free" trades are the most expensive free ride I have seen in anything.
The cheapest way is to open a Futs account with the likes of IB or MF.


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## IFocus (7 April 2008)

dojara said:


> Does anyone know which futures broker can provide you with a demo of their platform so you can test it out and access live prices like CFD brokers? I woud love to see the kind of real spreads traders like TH are getting and if it improves my intraday system then I'll definitely dump CFDs for futures.




IB offers a simulator thats spot on gives full functionality as per the real thing fully recommend it but as TH says you need to open an account to gain access.

I dragged my feet getting an account open as I am only now getting it all sorted  for charting etc through Amibroker etc.

After R%$ting around with Oz brokers for years there no comparison IMHO


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## dojara (7 April 2008)

thanks guys i'll have a look at both.


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## wiseguy (8 April 2008)

another vote for IB!


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