$10 Dow, $5 Dow match

[Freddie 10]

I currently am using Interactive Brokers to trade and am looking at moving into the Dow futures. I read that most brokers match your long and shorts for the $10 and $5 Dow futures so that you can buy say 1 $10 Dow future and then sell 2 $5 futures and you are even on all trades. From my correspondence with IB they don't allow this. What brokers are you aware of that allow this?

 

thx,

 

Fred

[torero 10]

Can I ask why anyone would do this? Staying flat has the same effect, except saves you commission costs.

[Freddie 10]

Maybe I did not explain myself. I enter long the $10 Dow future at say 12500. At 12600 I decide to take half profits so I sell one $5 Dow future. At 12650 my exit signal kicks in so I sell another $5 Dow future.

 

So I've bought 1 $10 dow future and sold 2 $5 dow futures. Interactive Brokers does not match them so that at the end of the day I've got 1 long $10 dow future and short 2 $5 dow futures. Some brokers balance them at the end of the day from what I've heard so that you would have no outstanding trades left.

 

I'm looking for a broker that matches these futures. I hope this better explains it.

 

thx,

[torero 10]

I see what you mean. Not sure who allows this. I'm not sure since I've never used this tactic before.

[notouch 10]

Why not just buy 2 $5 Dows to begin with?

[Freddie 10]

Just commission difference. Only 3 commissions versus 4. Not a big difference when starting out but can add up when you get to a few contracts.

 

thx,

[notouch 10]

I doubt the commission you pay on one $10 DOW contract is less than 2 $5 DOW contracts, unless perhaps you trade 100 contracts at a time.

[trader273 10]

Wouldn't the commissions for the $10 Dow be more then the ym, thus negating any savings? I think the $10 is the pit traded contract, but I could be wrong. I would check the commission schedule though. I know that the mini's are generally cheaper then the full counter-part ( eg take a look at the Euro-Fx (full contract vs the euro mini).

[torero 10]

It's possible the slippage will be bigger in big Dow due to lack of volume. Have you verify if there is slippage bigger than in smaller Dow, just a thought.

[notouch 10]

He's talking about the pit-traded contract where you have to phone through an order and eventually it gets to a pit broker. Barking up the wrong tree...

[The Bear 10]

It's possible the slippage will be bigger in big Dow due to lack of volume. Have you verify if there is slippage bigger than in smaller Dow, just a thought.

 

Not really, I trade the big dow DD contract, and I haven't yet gotten bad slippage. Expect though a wide spread of $150-200 / contract, so your stop has to be pretty big for even 1 contract just to avoid whipsaw.

 

The $10.00 is available for overnight GLOBEX and pit during the day. It's pretty useless for me.

 

DD is a great weapon but it would be nice to see more than 90 trades in 1 day. Why is it such a bloody flop after all this time. I would think - anything to do with the dow would be attacked.

[dalby 10]

i am pretty sure the big dow (25) *is* fungible with the mini dow (5).

 

this would offer the same opp that the original trader desired, in terms of commissions saving - they would be very nice

 

consider that if you buy 2 big dows (equivalent of 10 minis) you pay about $4 to be long 10 contracts vs. $20. that is a MAJOR commissions savings

 

the problem is that commission is only really a big issue when you are scalping. if you are going for 3-8 points or so, it's much more significant than if you are going for 15+

 

and since the big dow has such terrible spread, it's non scalpable

 

i am also pretty sure that the big dow is fungible with the mini through IB. not 100% sure though