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SPI Trading on Interactive Brokers

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jersey10

Joined
20 January 2008
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I am currently using my Interactive Brokers simulated trading account to learn about SPI trading. From what i have read from some good posters on this forum the BookTrader feature can be useful if you can get a read from it and use it in conjunction with a chart? I have watched these numbers bouncing around on the BookTrader and really struggle to gain any insight as to how it may show where the SPI is going?

I have pasted a 1 minute chart above next to the BookTrader. Obviously the chart shows the SPI screaming upwards. My question is how do you read the figures listed in the BookTrader to get some information about what is going to happen next?
 
I trade the spi and to be honest i cant get a handle on how the booktrader thing is going to help

So i too would be interested in what advantage people gain from it as well

I obviously don't use it

IB are good though, the platform or market data have the odd hiccup but overall at $5 per side and free data and charts its hard to beat.
 
Wait and hope TH does his videos, it's hard to explain. I'm not allowed to record, slows the execution and apparently there are copyright restrains on the software I use.

Your basically looking for order flow (so a static picture like the one you posted won't help a bit), trying to work out if supply or demand is stronger, watch it enough and trade on the SIM with it for many hours and you should start to develop some kind of feel and recognise patterns you can trade (usually for a quick scalp), just like you can see patterns on a chart.

As for how to use it with a chart, if you notice a weak pattern on the chart for your market, you can use the DOM to try and time your entry, do you want to cross the spread or try use limit orders to take fills etc.

Like anything, it takes many many hours of practice (screen time) and is not fool proof. It's just one tool to add to your arsenal, along with reading the price action on the chart (patterns that relate to your market) and using basic things such as support/resistance (from multiple timeframes) and trendlines. That is how nearly all scalpers play.

 
Yep, just screentime
A good place to start would be to see what side is being hit and by how much... Think TH made a very good comment a while back about how the orders sitting there are rubbish.
 
Looks like TH has got us all watching the DOM
Bronte
 
Bronte said:
Looks like TH has got us all watching the DOM
Bronte
Click to expand...

yeah but there is a big difference between watching it and making any money out of watching it. As skyQuake has mentioned above, i'll just keep watching it and see if i can start picking things up over time. Hopefully if i can get some sort of read out of it i'll be confident enough to start dabbling with some real coin.
 
Jersey, Find patterns that re-occur in the SPI first. Then use the DOM to get good entries (small MAE).

Otherwise you will just end up jumping at shadows.
 
jersey10 said:
yeah but there is a big difference between watching it and making any money out of watching it.
Click to expand...
Yes I certainly agree with this jersey10,
(we have been to Jersey...loved the island very much)
I paid extra for many many years to have market depth on my pagers.
Hutchison NewsPager II and then my Orange Motorola PocketWatch.
Can not say it helped me to make any money 'Trading the SPI'....
Fell into obvious traps (seen now) and lost if anything.
Trembling Hand is the expert here.
Good luck with this jersey10.
Bronte
 
Hi TH,

Are you taking about finding patterns in the charts, then matching them with patterns in the order book to time your entries ?


Trembling Hand said:
Jersey, Find patterns that re-occur in the SPI first. Then use the DOM to get good entries (small MAE).

Otherwise you will just end up jumping at shadows.
Click to expand...
 
Todays low was a classic example. In hindsite that's a perfect entry. In practise you can see something like that happening in the orderbook before the charts show it. You can see the orders hitting the bid to push prices down testing the low but the quick filling of prices to defend that support.

Same thing happened on the lows on the 15th. You didn't need to look at charts to see that buyers were coming in before we bounced off that low. The whole orderbook changed. On the way down it looked like a bot hitting bids and stuffing more orders behind it. But once we hit 3483 it changed first it happened with buy orders defending 3483 then once that got some grip we had a complete reverse of the order book and at market orders chewing through the sell orders and stuffing the bid side.

So the chart patten is a classic reversal with climatic volume but that is developed by traders hitting the market. The change is seen in the DOM a lot easier than in the charts. When traders are willing to refresh orders as they get chewed you see the new buying interest before we actually rise. The trick is to get ready to front run lifting of orders OR try and get a 1-3 tick entry off the low. Its a signal to catch a knife.

Similar thing happens at tops but normally you get more of a ^ or tick high then reverse.
 
Trembling Hand said:
Similar thing happens at tops but normally you get more of a ^ or tick high then reverse.
Click to expand...

i dont read DOM --- but just an observation ive been forward testing (with some pretty good results) which i think fits yr description Trembler ------- to paraphrase yr point ----- (re the high/short position)

u r talking about the spike high at the end of a cycle ----- if the spike is on falling momentum and particularly if the high is a lower high (but not essential) , its a pretty good signal we have a reversal on our plate ------------ so far i'm running at around 80% success rate on these types of trades, but the 20% can give u a hard time if they run fast against u ----- working on the MM/staking side of that atm to see if i can get an edge worth pursuing -----

i have no point to make ---- other than the average punter (me) may be able to gain a similar advantage to DOM reading if they couple the momentum action with price action ----- all a work in progress 4 me atm, but happy with the results so far --
 
jersey10 said:
Obviously the chart shows the SPI screaming upwards. My question is how do you read the figures listed in the BookTrader to get some information about what is going to happen next?
Click to expand...
looking at the chart it looks like it's slowing up, so you'd look in the book for evidence of reversal, eg the 50 bid at 3503 never really getting much above the 3500 psych level, or the 38 at 3511 and 28 at 3510 falling below 3510. So maybe look to go short at 3508, and see if it falls to retest the 3500 level, with the aim of buying back in at 3497. What is your aim, scalping 10 points in a move?
 
hey guys,

can someone pls help- im looking at intraday trading the SPI eminis, what is the best/cheapest trading platform/charting for the SPI?
also does anyone know who has the lowest minimum deposit?

i wanna get back in with maybe opening range breaks and the occasional scalp.

thanks
 

dmue, what do you mean SPI eminis? do you mean fifths of a contract? IE instead of $25 a point, $5 or less?

Check out a CFD provider for that. I started out on IG markets, they are ok. Maybe not awesome for scalping, because they apparently create spikes. Their minimum deposit is nothing, however you need to maintain a thousand for every mini contract that you have, a fifth that is. Obviously, if you are down a thousand, you need to have another thousand in there, otherwise you get closed out. So in essence you probably want to have at least 1500 per fifth of a contract. When you start out, you can trade even smaller sizes. They have a guaranteed 2 point spread and officially no commission. Where they get you is you have to pay interest on your positions if you are long (in the spot market).

I had an account with CMC and i think their margins are smaller, but I never got to trade with them because their platform drove me up the wall.
 
Does any know what happens to bracket orders if IB goes down? I just lost connection to IB for a while and their system status page indicated a problem/outage. Fortunately didn't have a trade in otherwise would have phoned IB immediately - but just wondering if anyone knows?
 

I think they are held on IBs servers not at the ASX
 
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