[thrunner]

The waivers is in effect March 3, 2008, and continue through December of this year.
The volume of EMD is about 4-5x lower and there may be some range spread at opening, closing and near EST lunchtime 11-1, 2.
As some have mentioned in the other thread: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...ving-1918.html
EMD may be a little less jumpy than ER2 during these periods (see cyan line below for the range spread).

http://cmegroup.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=693

CME Group to Waive Fees for S&P 400 MidCap Equity Index Contracts
PRNewswire-FirstCall
CHICAGO
(:CME)

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse exchange, announced that CME Globex® and clearing fees will be waived for all S&P MidCap 400® and E-mini® S&P MidCap 400 Index futures and options on futures for all market participants. The waivers will go into effect March 3, 2008, and continue through December of this year. The waivers in the S&P MidCap 400 products are similar to the fee waivers for the S&P SmallCap 600® products already in place.

The S&P SmallCap 600 and MidCap 400 contracts, along with other products in the equity index complex, are attractive alternatives to the Russell 2000 contract, which will no longer be listed on CME Globex following the September 2008 contract expiration.

[email]

thrunner,

Thanks for the info, looks very interesting. I may look into it.
cheers,
email

[thrunner]

I can confirm that the cost for trading EMD under tradestation is $2.42 RT (round trip) vs about $4.70 RT for other CME stock index futures. You will need to be on the unbundled plan, which most newer accounts are. I am not sure about other brokerages such as IB who also have unbundled plans.
Apparently if you are on the bundled plans, the savings will not be passed on to you and your broker pockets the difference.

The only drawback to EMD is that the volume is thin. However, if you are trading 3-5 contracts at a time, there shouldn't be a problem and the savings could be significant, especially for a scalper.

The range spread is really not as bad as it looks by the indicator, it is fairly isolated to a single bar that usually has a greater ATR in the ER2 vs EMD, thus making EMD less jumpy in the aforementioned periods (usually opening and closing).

[dcstrategies]

i have had some significant slippage trading emd with a 5 lot position--so maybe 1-2 could work, but currently there is not enough liquidity. Also, TS prices always seem to be around 5.00 rt no matter what market it is. I must be on a different plan

[thrunner]

Thank you. I should qualify the lot position by saying these were limit orders. TS recently (as of Mar 15 or so) updated their billing system on EMD, you should be getting a credit if you are on the unbundled plan.

[dcstrategies]

what is the unbundled plan? I have been with ts for 3 years--don't think i have seen that

[thrunner]

This is all verbatim from their thread on TS, should be all public information. It is something new to me as well

Posted - 03/22/2008 08:15:27
Just for clarification...if you are on our 'unbundled' plan then you will realize the fee waivers as your plan calls for tradestation's fee plus the exchange's execution and clearing fees (if any) passed on to you. In this case, for example, it would be $1.20 + $0 (fees). If you are on our 'bundled' plan then you would not realize any fee variances as that plan calls for an 'all in' approach (ie $2.50/contract all in).

If anyone is interested in switching plans you can contact customer service. Please note that there are other differences in the plans as well. For example, there is a $0.10/contract/day carry charge for positions carried overnight when using the unbundled plan that you will not see a separate charge for when you are on the bundled plan.

Additionally, as Goose alluded to, there was a configuration issue at RJO which ignored the fee waiver. That has been corrected as of trade date 3-20-2008 (including any necessary credits for prior trades eligible for fee waivers).


The bundled plan (ie $2.50 per contract all in) that I referred to is a legacy commission plan of ours that we previously offered. We moved to the unbundled approach at least a year or two ago where your charges for tradestation's commission fee, the exchange's execution and clearing fee, and the overnight carry fee are broken out and charged seperately. Not all customers have chosen to move to the unbundled commission plan, so we still have customers that are on a bundled plan.

For further details on our current commission plans, contact client services or sales or visit the link below.

http://www.tradestation.com/fees/All_Asset_Types.shtm

[dcstrategies]

a simple call in to TS and they will change the plan to reflect these discounts.