I trade and have been for a while trading eur/usd via spot and am making a move to futures.

I'm trying to get an idea of the mechanics of the futures market - specifically currencies. This kind of thing I can't find on the internet.

So if all the futures participants stepped out of all of the euro contracts whether mini, micro and euro on what volition would the contracts find price?

Would the data just track the common and we'd see just a sparse chart filled with the occasional ticks. I can see the difference in volume in the three contracts, mini being the having the lesser volume and the EuroFX tracking almost exactly bar by bar.

So in IRL it wouldn't happen, but if it did would a market maker(s) algo be taking both the buy and sell side to create a market?

-or-

Is there an algo somewhere in the basement of the CME or other just creating an homage that tracks the common (eur/usd) just to keep things legit?

Spottrader 

Is there an algo somewhere in the basement of the CME or other just creating an homage that tracks the common (eur/usd) just to keep things legit?

Arbitrage occurs across all markets and exchanges especially in spot FX, since each broker has its own market for EURUSD. This is why a price spike which occurs on one broker is immediately bought/sold to bring it back in line with other brokers. This is arbitrage. So, the 6E contract on CME is its own and while it operates independently of spot EURUSD markets on other brokers, all markets will be arbitraged at some threshold to keep them in line. It's free money for those with the infrastructure to take advantage, but that's a lemon that's been squeezed dry long ago for those not already doing it.

josh 

Arbitrage occurs across all markets and exchanges especially in spot FX, since each broker has its own market for EURUSD. This is why a price spike which occurs on one broker is immediately bought/sold to bring it back in line with other brokers. This is arbitrage. So, the 6E contract on CME is its own and while it operates independently of spot EURUSD markets on other brokers, all markets will be arbitraged at some threshold to keep them in line. It's free money for those with the infrastructure to take advantage, but that's a lemon that's been squeezed dry long ago for those not already doing it.

Thanks a bunch man. This makes total sense now.

I've spent so long in "doing" I've been on a journey to find the why's and how's of the markets that I just don't see talked about all that much. I get a hunch after so much screen time, but can't intelligently quantify or at least put it into words something I inherently know. I firmly believe that this type of knowledge will help a trader's edge further, but from what I've seen people get too caught up in the doing and sometimes without bearing fruit.

Thanks for putting together a piece of the puzzle, much obliged.