Futures For YouQ&A
Futures For YouInside The Futures World
Want to find out how the futures markets really work? Carley Garner is the senior strategist for DeCarley Trading, a division of Zaner Group, where she also works as a broker. She authors widely distributed e-newsletters; for your free subscription, visit www.DeCarleyTrading.com. Her books, Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets, A Trader’s First Book on Commodities, and Commodity Options, were published by FT Press. To submit a question, post your question at https://Message-Boards.Traders.com. Answers will be posted there, and selected questions will appear in a future issue of S&C.
ICEBERG ORDERS
In recent years, electronic trading platforms have added the capability to place iceberg orders. What are they, and are they helpful to the average retail trader?
The reference to iceberg stems from the idea that the tip of the iceberg is the only visible part of a large mass of ice emerging from a body of water. Accordingly, the term iceberg order is defined as the practice of breaking up an order to buy or sell a large quantity of contracts into multiple smaller orders through the use of automated software. As the futures markets moved from open-outcry execution to electronic, this order type has become more popular. This is because traders — retail or commercial — who trade large quantities typically prefer to mask the true volume from view of others. In other words, iceberg orders enable the public to see only a small portion of the actual order at a time.
In theory, large buy orders indicate the market may be inclined to move higher, or at least it suggests that large players believe it will. Most futures trading platforms offer the ability to view DOM (depth of market) data in which it is possible to observe the working buy limit and sell limit orders of other traders. These working orders on display are often referred to as the “book.” Some traders monitor the trading book for large-quantity orders. In theory, large buy orders indicate the market may be inclined to move higher, or at least it suggests that large players believe it will. These inferences, whether right or wrong, can influence prices and possibly prevent the entity placing the large quantity to be filled at their desired price. As a result, funds and institutions placing sizable orders have incentive to mask the true quantity of their order. Simply put, those using iceberg orders do so under the belief that it will reduce the impact the order has on price movement as it is absorbed into the market.
When an iceberg order is placed, the trader determines the disclosed volume, which will be placed as a regular limit order, and the hidden volume, which is placed once the first trade is filled. For most retail traders, iceberg orders are not necessary, but the ability to execute them is available on most futures trading platforms, which is why it’s a good idea to understand what they are. However, it’s typically not a good idea for average retail traders to use this order type. Those trading small quantities will have little or no impact on prices, so there is no need to disguise the quantity. Furthermore, because the hidden quantity is placed after the disclosed quantity, it will fall to the bottom of the priority list in the exchanges’ trade-matching system. In other words, traders unnecessarily using iceberg orders are reducing their odds of getting filled at their limit price.
OPTION SPREAD TRADING
Should commodity option spread traders be placing limit orders as packages or on each individual option of the spread?
When trading option spreads, traders intend to execute legs of the trade simultaneously. But it doesn’t always happen that way. Aggressive or skilled traders may enter or exit a spread one leg at a time and attempt to time their optimal fill prices. There are additional risks when doing this and it has the potential to backfire. Regarding simultaneous entry of option legs to create a spread strategy, whether it is best to enter the order as a package on a single ticket, or enter each leg individually on multiple tickets depends on the market being traded.
In less liquid commodity option markets, such as silver or natural gas, it’s usually a good idea to work a limit order on the spread as a package. Doing so avoids the stress, risk, and cost associated with not getting parts of the trade filled.
In liquid markets such as the emini S&P or the 30-year Treasury bond, spread tickets aren’t always the most efficient means of execution. Multi-leg option orders are a little more work and risky for market makers to fill, so in liquid markets, you may have worse fill quality than you would have if you simply placed orders for each leg individually. This is because typically, there is a much deeper market for individual strikes than there is for spreads. There are, after all, thousands of option spread possibilities, which means that many retail traders will not be trading the exact same spread as you are, thus leaving you to deal solely with the market makers.