Grains

[Student of Gann]

Looking at getting into trading grains but based in Australia so may have to trade a few overnight sessions . Just wanted to trade a straight contract no cfds and was wondering how I could set this up as I would need a service that would allow me to set up stop losses etc . Any one trading grains ATM regards Grant

 

[divs4ever]

not me , i found grains attractive but invested in SGLLV as a vehicle

i am looking at UMG currently which is under some pressure ( as a long term hold )

 

[Sean K]

The closest I've come is buying FOOD.

 

[KevinBB]

@Student of Gann I use Interactive Brokers to trade grain futures. They will take all sorts of orders, and, although I don't use them, I guess that stop orders would be amongst the range of possible orders.

With IB, your account is based in Australia, and in Australian dollars, unless you choose otherwise. MTM is in the instrument's home currency, so if you're trading Chicago wheat IB will convert AUD to USD for MTM.

KH

 

[Student of Gann]

Thanks I think there are a few platforms around like IG that will allow me to trade soybeans wheat and corn but on a cfd structure which I would prefer not to trade . Looking for a service or platform that would allow me to buy a straight futures contract i believe it is 5000 bushels per contract and would have to look up the margin requirements for one contract . There might be a broker in Australia with an overnight dealing desk that would allow orders to be placed in real time and the client could issue them with a stop loss order and perhaps a profit target objective that could be entered into the computer manually but I would imagine the service would be costly due to the discretionary component but you would have the added confidence that the broker was working the stop for you in the event of a price drop . Online trading programmes may have a function in place to set stops such as IG where you can pay a premium to have a guaranteed stop loss set at a certain price but what happens if the price gaps down the following day below your prescribed stop loss level - will the automated service still liquidate your position at 5% below the automated level or is there a threshold that is set by IG and also IG only have provisions to trade in CFDS which I am not interested in . Not sure if there is an automated platform that provides similar functions to IG but on a straight forward contract basis and how reliable are their stop loss functions and do they provide a guaranteed stop out if the trader is unable to attend the screen or in bed due to the different time zone . not sure of the range of services out there . any advice welcome .

 

[KevinBB]

umm ... My previous post was about Interactive Brokers, not IG. I trade grain, and other, futures through Interactive Brokers. Google them. They have an electronic platform through which you place your orders, including your stop orders. As I said, there are other brokers, but IB's trading platform, their API, and their Australian Dollar reporting and account basis suits me.

If you want to pay for a full service broker, there are plenty out there, have a look at this ASX page, right at the bottom, Find a Broker.

There is no such thing as a guaranteed stop if you are trading futures direct, no matter which broker you trade with. A broker will take your stop order, but if the market is limit up or down, your order will most likely not be filled. This happens rarely, but it does happen. Regardless, there will usually be slippage associated with stops. For CFDs, on the other hand, you aren't actually trading with another trader, you are actually placing a bet with a dealer. You get the price they offer at any time. Some of those dealers may offer a guaranteed stop, but you pay a price for that service.

KH

 

[Student of Gann]

Thanks Kevin I will have a look at Interactive Brokers and try to setup a demo so I can get used to the platform , previously a friend recommended IG so I set that platform up but it is all based on CFD trading which is why I mentioned it in the previous post but it doesnt suit my needs. It would be good to ask you some questions about contract months margin requirements etc so will try and get IB set up this evening , have a look through it and come back with some questions if thats ok . thanks

 

[Student of Gann]

Just looking at the Dec Corn contract do you know if CBOT provides a date of expiry for this and other contracts on their website and also margin requirements for each 5000 lot . Would the IB platform allow me to purchase just a straight contract of say Corn as an example , will have to see how to place the trade in their platform , what boxes to tick etc for purchase and stop loss configuration .
Also another important question - would it be possible to set a price alert / alarm on my phone when a certain price is touched or within say 5 points of a particular level. Could his type of alarm be setup on a mobile phone as I dont have the computer on in the evening so it would be very handy o be notified when price is either 5 points or 10 points away from a particular level and once this alarm is triggered I could wake up and watch the market at that time . Will need o look at initial margin per Corn contract as an example and how to enter all of the purchase data - no of contracts - stop loss - etc into the buy boxes , I am sure its pretty straight forward but will need to get acquainted with this platform and hopefully it suits my needs thanks

 

[KevinBB]

Set up a demo account. Trade some contracts in that demo account. You will see all that info about margins and cost. The demo account uses all the same info as the live account.
I don't think there is an alarm / price alert system, but I doubt if you will find that at any futures broker.
KH

 

[Student of Gann]

File - account - help
new window - ibot - fyi
how do you open a chart ?

complete your application in blue letters
I press this and this box comes up
trader workstation is unable to communicate with the website you are trying to access ?

Yes this is why I keep Paper Charts .

 

[Student of Gann]

Managed to open the account but the chart is very cumbersome and awkward to work with .
how can I compress the chart so it will display say from 2018 - current .
It looks it wont allow me to scroll the chart back to compress it and display larger time period like most programmes do
I can see the time period options of one day one month - one year - max which is very restrictive and it looks like if I wanted to get five years of price data displayed on the screen I would have to spend 5 minutes manually inputting it into a box for display when other programmes do this automatically - was hoping for a bit more , maybe I am not operating it correctly but first pass and it looks very awkward to use and to make matters worse I had candles displayed on the chart and for some reason it has automatically reverted back to a a line graph with no visible box to change the display settings from bar to candle etc - very annoying