Qiman

AMP futures just started offering it, and I would guess any of their IB's.It does look intriguing, something I will look into down the road. I believe the exchange fee per month is somewhere in the $20-30 range, so I will have to make sure I am going to actually be using in on a regular basis.

You are most welcome! Have you ever found QM to be of use in certain market conditions, say when conviction is lower regarding WTI, but the spread in QM is not ridiculous? I am going to be experimenting around with using both CL and QM, depending on conviction, volatility, spread, etc. While it doesn't lend itself well to scalping, perhaps I will use it for some conditions where I might be looking for a 30 + point move in CL. When you are using just one CL contract, with your market profile approach, what have you been able to average in terms of ticks per day or week over the long haul? And what kind of margin per contract do you tend to use? I personally think that CL is way too volatile for day trading margins, except under rare conditions.

Thank you for taking the time to share this interesting material, as I have time I will be looking back over your blog archives to winnow out additional insights from your experiences and point of view. Typically how many CL contracts do you trade under conditions of average volatility? For many traders, one is more than enough!

One of your best possibilities might be to watch the Yen futures contract from about 830-930 PM Eastern. Many nights there is plenty of action there. You will often notice a pick up in activity right about 845, before the Chinese markets open. Some nights there is also usable volume starting at 7 PM when the Japanese markets open. Do some simulated trading for some time before diving in. In addition, when there are econ reports due, the Australian dollar can have usable action as well.

I can only give my perspective from futures trading. I still have an account with them, but it has been dormant with zero balance for well over a year. They changed their fee structure to where the mini version of most contracts was free of data fees, but to trade full sized contracts like CL, GC, ZC, etc, it was $61 dollars a month for EACH exchange, except the ICE was I believe more like $ 75! Basically this told me they are not interested in serious futures traders, only those wanting to solely trade the ES, NQ, YM, and maybe something like QM, the mini oil. One thing I liked about them was that unlike most futures brokerages, they do ACH transfers the same day with no fee. And I never had any book keeping issues or errors.

One of my degrees was in international economics, and a professional graduate degree in international relations. So I do keep up with international developments as time allows. Here is an extremely important PDF to read, written by some hedge funds: http://www.globalsecuritieswatch.org/Hedge_Funds_Perspectives_China.pdf

Thanks Phantom. And all the best to you and yours in the New Year! And thanks again for your generous insights in this exceptional thread.

YES For me trading has become an integrated part of my life. It is a phenomenal tool towards SELF- MASTERY, because the most challenging part of skilled trading is that you must overcome many human tendencies and weaknesses. In fact, non-traders really have a hard time understanding the level of self-mastery that is required, especially with regards to emotions and consistency. In many ways we are remolding our biological brains and our minds. I also just enjoy being able to do something which most people can not handle. I like challenges. The art of trading is also very compatible with another main thrust of my life, trading to me is in many ways similar to and synergistic with ancient wilderness survival skills. Both require a capacity to deal continually with the UNKNOWN and UNCERTAINTY. Very rare skills amongst the modern human population, and skills which I believe will become increasingly useful on this Planet.

Yes, I also have noticed the constricted ranges. Very telling was how this past week the forex futures reacted far less than one would expect with respect to the very large stock index swings! In general, I look at the forex futures as being somewhat stuck in an extended congestion range. And to me, this low range congestion area is a reflection of the constant push-pull uncertainty of countervailing headlines coming out of mostly Europe these days, but occasionally China as well. So neither the bulls nor bears are ever able to grab much momentum before a countervailing headline comes across the news wires. In essence this is more of a headlines driven market, this is a period of relative balance between the two forces, and once one side gains some substantial momentum we could see some larger range coming back into these markets. The whole fiscal cliff thing in the US could create some high volatility days on its own! In the meantime, the soy and corn contracts have seen major volatility due to weather and actual supply-demand dynamics. Much better price action was there for a few months.

Ironic, i just now saw that the Big Four auditing firm that was in charge of auditing MF global is now being added to the lawsuit. Who audits your FCM? MF Global customers sue PricewaterhouseCoopers in amended lawsuit | Reuters The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, contends that PwC failed to examine MF Global's controls over customer funds. This amounted to professional malpractice and a breach of the auditors duties to the company and customers, the lawsuit said. "If PwC had properly executed its duties and evaluated and reported on MF Global''s control problems in March 2011, there would have been ample time for management to institute proper controls over customer funds," the complaint said.

This is a very important article from Forbes to read when you have time, few give enough attention to whom is doing the auditing of the FCMs. One of my sisters, a CPA and MBA, was an internal auditor for a university and the stories I would hear! One of the Big Four accounting firms gives me cause for concern with respect to the futures industry and the safety of segregated accounts: http://blogs.forbes.com/francinemckenna/

One thing I will add is that CL/QM are very challenging contracts to trade even for many experienced futures traders. The stop losses required can be pretty large due to the often exceptional volatility. Few beginners can succeed with those contracts. If you find yourself struggling, consider other markets that have a smaller tick size and/or are less violent in movement. NQ comes to mind. In the currencies the British Pound is a possibility if you are trading early in the day, small tick size but a bit spiky in movement. The Canadian Dollar is a larger tick size, but less jerky in movement much of the time. I believe you also mentioned silver in your earlier post. I would never recommend that market to a beginner.

I find that some future's traders do not fully understand the complexity of where their margin is actually being held, and by whom. This is understandable, and yet dangerous, in these times of moral hazard. The following flowchart might be useful to some traders. What is especially important is to realize that many FCMs are not clearing members of all the exchanges, and thus have to use other FCMs who do have clearing authority. This can expose one to risks from other firms that one has never even heard of before! http://www.futuresmag.com/2012/11/01/spotting-broker-red-flags?eNL=50898ff0140ba0d945000300&_LID=93114300&page=2 Once you know which firms you are actually dealing with, it is wise to look up any regulatory actions which have been taken, etc. This can be done at the BASIC site, which contains Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registration and NFA membership information and futures-related regulatory and non-regulatory actions contributed by NFA, the CFTC and the U.S. futures exchanges. http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/

Yes, that phrase can mean just about anything! If you noticed, I was repeating the phrase "damn good living" from Colonel B's post, I was leaving it up to him to define, since he was the one that used it. I suspect that my definition would be less money than many posters, I don't need some huge amount of money to be happy, much more important is having control over my life and my time! I've known many very wealthy people who are miserable, including one half-sister. I look forward to Colonel B's reply regarding capital, for I hear figures all over the map regarding how much capital is realistically needed in the future's market. I have my own opinion, but want to hear some additional corroborating evidence, based on actual trading returns with a certain amount of capital over a sustained period of time.

Not to steer the thread away from its original thrust, but I am curious as to how much you think a skilled future's trader needs in account to make a damn good living, based upon your background in prop trading, etc.