Hi everyone,

Well I'm new here and have to say this looks to be an impressive community. I have been trading spot FX for a very long time. Since FXCM left the US space, the remaining brokers have not been the best. Spreads rising at key levels. Like major support and resistance, roll reversal levels etc. Been missing trades because of that.

Thought I'd look to futures to see how they trade. I don't see the CME playing the same games. Plus it opens allot of doors in other markets that US clients can't trade with FX brokers. Like CFD's.

Look forward to being here. Learning a new product and how to trade them. I'm a big Pivots trader. I trade yearly and quarterly pivots on swing trade basis. I may do a journal, not sure yet. I fear I may not keep it updated.

Hope to meet good people here.

Rob

Welcome yes micro currencies and currencies are a good place to start and they are actual futures contracts trading between market participants and not a stealing dealing desk. Plus you are open to crude gold and many other markets.

RKeenJR 

Welcome yes micro currencies and currencies are a good place to start and they are actual futures contracts trading between market participants and not a stealing dealing desk. Plus you are open to crude gold and many other markets.

Yes! I am looking forward to the other markets. I'll have to take it slow as I learn. I'm not used to having charts for only " contract months". I did find continuation charts. I'll have to get used to using those and then trading in the proper contract months. How do rollovers happen. I'm a bit confused. Or should I close my trade and reopen it before the last week of the contract month?

TradeTheLevel 

... How do rollovers happen. I'm a bit confused. Or should I close my trade and reopen it before the last week of the contract month?

Either a) you close the trade before the expiry or b) it will be closed at expiry by the exchange.

Heading into b), take care about the settlement procedures. (I'm pretty sure that most retail
traders aren't keen on physical delivery but prefer to realize their P/L before ...)

See the respective futures specs, e.g. for 6E:
Euro FX Futures (EUR/USD) Contract Specs - CME Group
Euro - Electronic Platform Information Console - Confluence
https://www.cmegroup.com/rulebook/CME/III/250/292/292.pdf

TradeTheLevel 

How do rollovers happen. I'm a bit confused.

Following on from the previous answer.
Look at the Quotes page for the CME for instance Euro FX Futures (EUR/USD) Quotes - CME Group , in this case the Euro, and you trade the 'Front Month' which is the nearest month with the highest volume traded. (There are other exchanges, such as some European exchanges, but the CME has the most popular products). Currencies roll around the middle of March, June, September and December. Crude Oil rolls every month, usually about the 18th-20th. At least a few days out from rollover you will see that volume begins trading more heavily in the next contract until the two contracts are almost equal and then you start trading the new month. The next day you will see that the volume traded in the previous month has dramatically dropped. Most platforms also have a quotes board so when you are near rollover you can add the next month of the product and see the repective volumes traded on there instead of necessarily looking at the CME pages every day.
As Choke said it is important that you understand when the products you trade are rolling and expiring as you don’t want to actually be buying the product. Having said that though rollover tends to happen in most products a week or more before the contract actually expires so unless you hold trades for quite a few days it is easy to see when the volume has moved and make sure you are out of any positions in the old contract.

matthew28 

Following on from the previous answer. Look at the Quotes page for the CME for instance , in this case the Euro, and you trade the 'Front Month' which is the nearest month with the highest volume traded. (There are other exchanges, such as some European exchanges, but the CME has the most popular products). Currencies roll around the middle of March, June, September and December. Crude Oil rolls every month, usually about the 18th-20th. At least a few days out from rollover you will see that volume begins trading more heavily in the next contract until the two contracts are almost equal and then you start trading the new month. The next day you will see that the volume traded in the previous month has dramatically dropped. Most platforms also have a quotes board so when you are near rollover you can add the next month of the product and see the repective volumes traded on there instead of necessarily looking at the CME pages every day. As Choke said it is important that you understand when the products you trade are rolling and expiring as you don’t want to actually be buying the product. Having said that though rollover tends to happen in most products a week or more before the contract actually expires so unless you hold trades for quite a few days it is easy to see when the volume has moved and make sure you are out of any positions in the old contract.

Thanks for response! I understand fully what you are saying in respect to rollover. I do hold trades for days. As I am a swing trader. I will have to be careful like you said on those dates. I also have to be careful on new postions and make sure I have them on the forward month when volume is starting to switch over.

I wish futures would make continuous contracts for non delivery trading like the spot market.