Why Trade Futures
- Popular index futures like the S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones and more, offer trading opportunities both when market rises or falls without have to commit to specific stocks.
- Futures on gold, silver, crude, natural gas and other commodity futures allow you to invest in a wide range of asset classes.
- By buying or selling futures contracts you can provide greater flexibility to your portfolio.
- You can go long or short, so as to take profit from price movements in various financial instruments (stock market indices, interest rates, currencies) or commodities (precious metals, energy instruments).
- You can trade on Margin and take position with only depositing a fraction of the trade value, but always keep in mind that low margin may work for you as well as against you by exposing you to additional risk.
Day-Trading Margin
The Day-Trading margin is a lower margin (cash collateral) requirement usually applicable to the most popular contracts and set by the broker or FCM. Day-trading margins only apply to positions opened and closed within the same trading session. Click here for a list of our margins.
Overnight Margin
Futures contracts are traded on margin enabling you to leverage a relatively small cash deposit for a much greater market effect, please use your leverage cautiously. If you plan on carrying your position into the next trading session then you must maintain the Overnight or Maintenance Margin (as listed on our margin page) per contract in your account at all times. If the funds in your account fall below this margin, you will be subject to a margin call to either deposit more funds to cover your positions or to close positions. If your margin situation is not remedied, your positions may be liquidated by the order desk at our full discretion.
Partial and Split Fills
Partial fills may occur on limit orders and the remaining amount stays in the market as a limit order and may be filled within the order duration. Market orders can be filled at numerous levels, what we refer to as split fills, the price paid will be the volume weighted average price of all the fills.
Expiration of Futures Contracts
Futures contracts are time-based contracts, meaning that they have an expiration date usually set quarterly or monthly. The last 2 characters of a symbol name denote the symbol month and year of expiration (for example ESZ2 means E-Mini S&P 500 contract expiring December 2012). Most popular products like Indices, Financials and Currencies expire quarterly in March, June, September and December. Please note that we do not support physical delivery of the underlying security on expiry of a futures contract. We therefore advise you to be aware of the expiration date of any futures contracts you invest in and ensure that you close your position before the appropriate day or you may incur in additional fees. Please verify the product calendar or contact one of our licensed brokers to verify the contract expiration or for additional questions.
Currency Futures vs. Spot Forex
- Centralized, fully regulated Exchange Trading
- Low commissions and No Spread Mark-ups
- More flexibility with reduced Day-Trading margins
- Free Level 2 real-time quotes for additional
market information - Direct Market Access with no middleman
and no conflict of interest
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| Trading Conditions(1) | Description | Amount | |
| Minimum Acct.Size | Minimum deposit to open a Futures Account | $2,500 | |
| Account Currency | Currency Base available for Account | USD,EUR,GBP | |
| Contract Delivery | For futures contract carried through delivery | $30/contract | |
| Wire Withdrawals | Withdrawing funds via bank wire domestic/international | $25/$30 | |
| Liquidation Fee(2) | Liquidation for Customers on a margin call | $25/contract | |
| Check Deposits | US funds from US banks only (10 business days to clear) | FREE | |
| Check Withdrawals | US funds to US banks only (10 business days to clear) | FREE | |
| Depositary Banks | JP Morgan Chase (US and UK branches) | ||
| Phone in Orders(3) | For customers regularly placing trades over the phone | $9.95 per lot |
Note
(1) : Trading Conditions valid only on PathFinder Trader™ via OEC feed FCM.
(2) : Only if executed by the OEC margin desk. We will attempt to liquidate your positions for free
when possible.
(3) : Phone-in orders are free if occasional and executed via FastBrokers Order Desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can open a futures trading account with a minimum of $2,500 (or the equivalent in Euros or British Pounds).
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We have created a web page where we explain some Futures basics for traders like you. Please visit our Getting started page.
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Here is a link to our full commission schedule. Please note that all commissions are per trade (contract) per side and inclusive of all costs and fees, in other words there are no other hidden fees:
Commissions & Day Margins.
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There are no maintenance costs associated with your futures account using PathFinder Trader™. We have a clear and transparent No-hidden-fees policy. Unlike our competitors we don’t charge any opening, closing or maintenance fees. So, you’ll only pay a commission for each executed contract traded. You can see a complete schedule of cost and fees here.
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Our PathFinder Trader™ platform is free and it includes real-time and historical data at no charge. You get access to real-time and historical up to tick by tick data on more than 400 Electronic contracts on 6 exchanges at no additional cost by maintaining an active futures account with us.
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Yes, funds deposited into your Futures trading account are held in a segregated account. So, in the unlikely event of failure of the FCM, your funds will not be considered part of the company's assets and they will have priority over any other creditor's claim according to US laws.
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We offer more than 400 Electronic contracts on 6 Futures Exchanges worldwide. Please visit our Contract specifications page to learn more about our Futures products.
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We and the FCM regularly monitor your account for margin requirements and issue a position liquidation if your balance is close or is about to approach a negative balance, usually if it falls below $500. For positions held overnight on a margin call, depending on several factors (including market conditions and history of margin calls), we generally allow you some time for you to wire additional funds in order to maintain the position open. In fact, you should contact us as soon as you send the funds and provide us with a bank receipt. However, please note that although we are allowed to liquidate your account, we are not required to do so. It's primarily your duty and responsibility to monitor your account and close positions in order to avoid a margin calls or debits. Please note that if the liquidation will be performed by the FCM you may incur into a liquidation fee, please refer to the general conditions for details.
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The day trading margin is the minimum balance you need to have available in your trading account in order to open and maintain a new position during the regular (day) trading session. The day trading margin applies to the window of time the contract is open for trading. For example normally the E-mini S&P 500 trading hours go from 3:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. (next day) Chicago time, during these hours the day trading margin applies if you open a new position. If you decide to keep your position open beyond the current trading session through multiple trading sessions (for example for a couple of days), you will have to make sure you have sufficient margin funds in your account in order to cover the Initial or Overnight margin requirement for each contract you keep open, or you will incur into a margin call and you will be required to deposit additional funds to cover such margin requirements. Failure to meet the margin requirements may result in liquidation of positions and suspension of trading priviledges. Please note that the day trading margin applies only to positions you open and close within the same trading session and it's not applicable to positions opened during a previous session. For a complete list of margins please visit this page.
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The Initial or Overnight Margin is the minimum account balance you need to maintain in your trading account in order to carry an open position for longer than one trading session. The required amount is usually higher than the Day Trading margin to help protect all market partecipants from debits and other risks caused by possible market gaps occurring while the market is closed. If you decide to keep your position open beyond the current trading session through multiple trading sessions (for example for a couple of days), you will have to make sure you have sufficient funds in your account in order to cover the Initial or Overnight margin requirement for each contract you keep open, or you will incur into a margin call and you will be required to deposit additional funds to cover such margin requirements. Failure to meet the margin requirements may result in liquidation of positions and suspension of trading privileges. For a complete list of margins please visit this page.
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