Tech/a vs. CanOz - Futures Trading Competition

[CanOz]

Charting spreads can be a pain in the pigu:arsch: at times:bad:. I went to chart an energy spread that i want to use as my first trade and IB is not charting the spread correctly.

Thankfully i have two other options, NinjaTrader and Amibroker.

I had TradingCoders code me up a custom indicator to chart spreads in NT. Then i had Nick's Amibroker coding code me up another spread indicator for Amibroker.

AMP nor Kinetic EOD is providing data for this spread so i now need to rely on Amibroker.

While these are handy solutions there is not allot for the retail trader in terms of charting options for spread trading.

 

[tech/a]

Starting account balance.

Balance

 

[tech/a]

Initial position.

Wont report on all but--
Strong resistance at around 6690-6700

First target 6670 ish.

 

[CanOz]

shoot Rudy, the European markets are thin!

 

[tech/a]

shoot Rudy, the European markets are thin!

Yeh I moved it with 1
Still open might ride this a while if it behaves.
Break below 6660 good for me.
Below 6643 and we are out of here it----- will have topped.
My current thinking after Xmas.
Not that brilliant really!
Stop at B/E.
Up to watch some TV.

 

[nulla nulla]

Four of the trades are shaping up nicely but copper is not cooperating with the seasonal trend YET.

Are these simulated trades (as per header bar on charts) or real time?

 

[tech/a]

Are these simulated trades (as per header bar on charts) or real time?

All real.--well mine are.
Pretty sure Canz are also

Last night was a "'No Gainer"
Stopped at B/E

 

[CanOz]

Are these simulated trades (as per header bar on charts) or real time?

Sometimes in the morning I'll sim trade the Hang Seng, but I use the same settings file for both live and paper trade on IB. Demo accounts on IB start with DU, live accounts with U.

We have one live trade on at the moment, it's a heating oil spread and I'm taking some heat...

You've got a nice bracket to work with on the FTSE tech, I think it's just a matter of time before you hitch a ride on a trend day...

 

[tech/a]

Sometimes in the morning I'll sim trade the Hang Seng, but I use the same settings file for both live and paper trade on IB. Demo accounts on IB start with DU, live accounts with U.

We have one live trade on at the moment, it's a heating oil spread and I'm taking some heat...

You've got a nice bracket to work with on the FTSE tech, I think it's just a matter of time before you hitch a ride on a trend day...

Yeh its an interesting dilemma.

Best trade 2 or more contracts.
One to stick and one to profit take.

 

[CanOz]

Well after taking some heat on my HO spread (pun intended), its come good for the first time. Because i've hit a snag in my charting capability it makes looking at the real time info more difficult. I really need to chat with someone at IB about this but I'm procrastinating on that for obvious reasons...

Normally supply and demand in the actual commodity leads to the spread trending at certain times of year. I'm a little concerned how this years harsh start to winter in the largest heating oil market in the world will affect the trend versus historical behavior. Should be interesting but no doubt its already priced in...

Heres a shot of both legs of the spread...

 

[peter2]

As I'm curious to see the chart of the spread I found this resource at britefutures.com.

I assume you entered this spread recently (Jan14) based on the seasonal stats rather than the chart pattern. A good swing started in Sept13. Hope it breaks up from the current descending triangle pattern for you.

 

[beachlife]

How does spread trading work?

What do you want it to do, go up, go down, go side ways or just move in any direction at different rates?

 

[CanOz]

For the record i just liquidated my HO spread for a tiny profit, due to confusion in IBs definition of a spread....

Look at this ... lol...Its the wrong way around. I was actually correct in selling the front month and buying the back month. But IB is telling me that to sell this spread i must buy the front month and sell the back month...

I need to clear this up, its fine to do it manually as i did to enter, but to chart the spreads i need to use the combinations...from the quote screen. The charts are upside down when i do it this way.

 

[peter2]

Canoz is short the current (March14) contract and long the Jun14 contract so he wants the Jun contract to go up more (or go down less) than the March contract.

You can understand why Canoz is frustrated that he can't get his spread charted easily. It's much easier to understand when it is visual.

If I've plotted his spread correctly Canoz wanted(*) this spread to go up. [* closed for small profit due to glitch ]

The elegance of trading spreads like this is that the exchange will significantly reduce the margin required for the spread as the price volatility is massively reduced (hence a larger "bang for buck").

 

[peter2]

The IB orders seems correct to me Canoz if you use option terminology buy to open your spread and sell to close your spread. I can't help you with the charting though.

 

[CanOz]

I can't believe I've managed to catch TWS support out this bad! They're thoroughly stumped but at least I've figured out why i couldn't plot the spread...

 

[kid hustlr]

Absurd they don't know what a calendar spread is.

 

[CanOz]

Ahh, we seem to have found the problem with the spreads. It seems you need to combine them manually "leg by leg" in TWS. You'll know you have the right combo because the+ or - sign in front of the contract month.

Eg: -mar 14 + jun 14 is the one i'm after.

I've also managed to get the spread to chart properly in IB...

By the way i wanted to be short the spread so as above -mar14 + jun14. I've re-entered this spread using the TWS combination function this time. As of yet i have not been filled.

 

[CanOz]

Here's a Brent spread we're looking to enter tonight, MOO

The current spread on top, the seasonal trend to follow on the bottom chart...

 

[sails]

Ahh, we seem to have found the problem with the spreads. It seems you need to combine them manually "leg by leg" in TWS. You'll know you have the right combo because the+ or - sign in front of the contract month.

Eg: -mar 14 + jun 14 is the one i'm after.

I've also managed to get the spread to chart properly in IB...

By the way i wanted to be short the spread so as above -mar14 + jun14. I've re-entered this spread using the TWS combination function this time. As of yet i have not been filled.

Canoz, I got into trouble with an option calendar spread with IB some years ago now. I learnt from that rather painful lesson that it pays to set the spread up as a long spread - and then sell it to create a short position. Otherwise it gets very confusing! I think it makes no difference whether it's options or futures when setting up a spread in IB.

Hope that helps!