[The Bear]

Hey Soultrader - have you ever looked at trading the Hang Seng futures?

I see you are in Japan - and wonder if there are many speculators you know of in Japan that trade this. Curious if you have any experience.

[Soultrader]

Hi The Bear,

Im not too sure as day traders are a rare breed here in Japan. The ones I know trade mainly equities. I personally do not trade it but have gained interest in the mini Nikkei recently. I think Kiwi may be familiar with it.

[wsam29]

I've traded the SGX Nikkei way back when.

If not much has changed, that contract is fairly thin compared to US index futures and it may be electronically traded only, before it was side-by-side with the pit contract.

For one thing, Asian markets have way more 100-200 range days then US markets.

If you can stomach those swings, its a good market to trade.

This is the famous market in which Nick Leeson bankrupted Bearings Bank. I think thats how you spell his name.

Does anyone know the futures symbol for the Hang Seng (HSI), Shanghai and Nikkei indices on tradestation or e-Signal?

[boony]

Hi all, at last somewhere I can find some info. My managers have no idea and Ive had so many different replies and Im really really hoping to get to the bottom of this as its driving me nuts.....

Got a few questions regarding the Hang Seng Option or Futures contracts. I know the difference between the two but its the actual determination of the final price which I dont get (and can't find).

1) can these two contracts expire on the same day ?
2) if they expire on the same day will they have the same final price ?
3) will the actual closing price of the exchange be the same as either (or both) of the above ?

If you are unaware of the Hang seng then another market would so for an example.

Cheers all !

[SunTrader]

Options and futures based on the same underlying market are never the same price. And depending on which market some options and futures expire at the same time while others have different expirations.

[boony]

Cheers for the reply.

For the Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 Indices the 3 month Options and Futures contracts expire at the same time ; end of month, so I would expect their final levels to mimic the actual underlying at expiry. Is this correct ? However during the life of each contract I would expect their levels to be completely independant of each other and the underlying. Is this also correct ?

[SunTrader]

I am not aware of whether the Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 in particular work the same as other index futures but believe they do in so far as they trade above or below fair value to their indexes and then converge upon expiration.

You might be able to find more info by checking their respective exchange websites:

http://www.hkex.com.hk/index.htm

http://www.ose.or.jp/e/index.html