Figuring out approximate trading volumes....
Updated
All data about CME futures is available on their site. Same with ICE, same with the euro indices future exchange(s).
For the rest I hunted around the internet and tried finding several sources that said the same and made sure it made sense.
***** Currencies ******
All the forex pairs: I do not really know, but the volume is huge don't worry. EURUSD alone is maybe 1 trillion, the big minors a couple hundred billions. Instant fills low spreads etc.
***** Gold and Black Gold *****
Gold: CME futures volume are around 30 billion US dollars.
But the biggest volume comes from the biggest financial center in the world: the city in London. Cannot tell exactly, but the average daily volume is around 150-250 billions dollars.
There is probably just a few dozen bil elsewhere.
So in total we can say we are in the area of 200 billion usd.
Oil (WTI only): Looking at Nov contracts only, ICE + CME = Over 50 billion usd. So it is big.
***** Indices *****
DJIA: On the CME, E-mini Dow contracts get traded with a volume of a little over 150.000 contracts a day. Which means in usd terms 150k * 5 * 26666 = 20 billion.
DAX: On eurexchange.com/exchange-en/products/idx/dax/DAX--Futures/17206
The dax futures for december got traded for a volume of 85,000. A future represents 25 euros per point, so I suppose 25 * 12250 (just like CME they are too stupid to give the volume in euro or dollar). So... 25 billion euros? Or more? Plus the other contracts. Whatever it is getting on my nerves. It is big this is what matters. Really volatile good to trade. Top tier with EUR/USD. Probably the best indice to trade.
S&P 500: Cannot tell, but on the CME the E-mini S&P 500 200 billion us dollar ermaghad. I knew it was popular.
E-Mini Nasdaq 100 Future: 50 billion us dollar.
FTSE 100 Index Future : 6 billion £. About 8 billion usd. I have to run backtesting on this chart a bit, I am not sure I really like it. Don't know well.
CAC40 INDEX FUTURE : 5 billion euros. I do not really like that chart, and volume not that great compared to the really big ones.
Euro Stoxx 50 Future : 30 billion euros.
I do not care about the east asia indices, they move at night for me. I would have liked to trade the nikkei and CHN a share indice, but nevermind.
***** Bonds *****
Some are good, but I am just not interested. FX + a few indices + Gold + Oil is enough I do not want to be too much of a jack of all trades. So I am not checking the volumes.
US10YR got a volume of over 100 billions thought.
***** Now, for the filth *****
Soybean futures: 5 billion usd for november contract. Wanted to trade this because that's what Jim Simons traded when he started XD But I do not like the chart this much. Screw it. Might be a good niche thing idk.
High grade copper: 6 billion usd. Chart seems ok, but I am not sure. Plus spread is a little high for chasing small moves. It is not very much correlated to Gold.
Bitcoin: According to coinmarketcap the volume is 4 billion usd (without Korea but they do not add that much). I wonder how much of this is wash trading also.
Chart is really really bad. Objectively, I simply can not recommend trading this. Could be a niche, but 50 times more people are interested in Bitcoin that EUR/USD what a niche! It is sideways all the time, but word on the street most traders are range traders that "buy low oversold but sell high overbought" and fail over and over, according to some people I do not know I can trust that say they looked at a broker data.
Here you have it. The really big stuff representing the world economy with huge volume is going to be a dozen forex pairs, gold, oil, bonds, big indices, and that's it. of course they all have very large volumes.
Personally the really big volume ones are my favorite. I do not think volume is the sole reason but maybe I am delusional and that is the only reason?
But I knew about and sometimes looked at the Dow Jones when I was a kid I did not even know you could buy and sell the stuff. It is there since the 19th century and I always like that one. CAC40 I heard about all the time on the french radio/tv.
Of course one can do anything, trading tiny penny stock (there is a strategy that consists of shorting pump and dump as they fall), or trading orange juice, why not.
Usually the niche stuff is more for people that work in that area or know it well, right?
For the rest I hunted around the internet and tried finding several sources that said the same and made sure it made sense.
***** Currencies ******
All the forex pairs: I do not really know, but the volume is huge don't worry. EURUSD alone is maybe 1 trillion, the big minors a couple hundred billions. Instant fills low spreads etc.
***** Gold and Black Gold *****
Gold: CME futures volume are around 30 billion US dollars.
But the biggest volume comes from the biggest financial center in the world: the city in London. Cannot tell exactly, but the average daily volume is around 150-250 billions dollars.
There is probably just a few dozen bil elsewhere.
So in total we can say we are in the area of 200 billion usd.
Oil (WTI only): Looking at Nov contracts only, ICE + CME = Over 50 billion usd. So it is big.
***** Indices *****
DJIA: On the CME, E-mini Dow contracts get traded with a volume of a little over 150.000 contracts a day. Which means in usd terms 150k * 5 * 26666 = 20 billion.
DAX: On eurexchange.com/exchange-en/products/idx/dax/DAX--Futures/17206
The dax futures for december got traded for a volume of 85,000. A future represents 25 euros per point, so I suppose 25 * 12250 (just like CME they are too stupid to give the volume in euro or dollar). So... 25 billion euros? Or more? Plus the other contracts. Whatever it is getting on my nerves. It is big this is what matters. Really volatile good to trade. Top tier with EUR/USD. Probably the best indice to trade.
S&P 500: Cannot tell, but on the CME the E-mini S&P 500 200 billion us dollar ermaghad. I knew it was popular.
E-Mini Nasdaq 100 Future: 50 billion us dollar.
FTSE 100 Index Future : 6 billion £. About 8 billion usd. I have to run backtesting on this chart a bit, I am not sure I really like it. Don't know well.
CAC40 INDEX FUTURE : 5 billion euros. I do not really like that chart, and volume not that great compared to the really big ones.
Euro Stoxx 50 Future : 30 billion euros.
I do not care about the east asia indices, they move at night for me. I would have liked to trade the nikkei and CHN a share indice, but nevermind.
***** Bonds *****
Some are good, but I am just not interested. FX + a few indices + Gold + Oil is enough I do not want to be too much of a jack of all trades. So I am not checking the volumes.
US10YR got a volume of over 100 billions thought.
***** Now, for the filth *****
Soybean futures: 5 billion usd for november contract. Wanted to trade this because that's what Jim Simons traded when he started XD But I do not like the chart this much. Screw it. Might be a good niche thing idk.
High grade copper: 6 billion usd. Chart seems ok, but I am not sure. Plus spread is a little high for chasing small moves. It is not very much correlated to Gold.
Bitcoin: According to coinmarketcap the volume is 4 billion usd (without Korea but they do not add that much). I wonder how much of this is wash trading also.
Chart is really really bad. Objectively, I simply can not recommend trading this. Could be a niche, but 50 times more people are interested in Bitcoin that EUR/USD what a niche! It is sideways all the time, but word on the street most traders are range traders that "buy low oversold but sell high overbought" and fail over and over, according to some people I do not know I can trust that say they looked at a broker data.
Here you have it. The really big stuff representing the world economy with huge volume is going to be a dozen forex pairs, gold, oil, bonds, big indices, and that's it. of course they all have very large volumes.
Personally the really big volume ones are my favorite. I do not think volume is the sole reason but maybe I am delusional and that is the only reason?
But I knew about and sometimes looked at the Dow Jones when I was a kid I did not even know you could buy and sell the stuff. It is there since the 19th century and I always like that one. CAC40 I heard about all the time on the french radio/tv.
Of course one can do anything, trading tiny penny stock (there is a strategy that consists of shorting pump and dump as they fall), or trading orange juice, why not.
Usually the niche stuff is more for people that work in that area or know it well, right?
Note
Just finally checked the german french and uk indice charts and backtested them.This brings more questions than answers to me, such as:
- Which Yacht should I get in the list? beautifullife.info/automotive-design/worlds-top-10-most-expensive-luxury-yachts/
- Should I hire special security?
- What am I going to do with all this money?
Problems, problems.
Note
Checked a few FX volumes on CME to get an idea.It's the CME so theyre probably biased towards usd pairs and NA pairs.
The EUR cross might very well be traded much more than this in % of total in london OTC markets.
But this might give kind of a vague idea...
For yesterday the stats are, just for futures and ignoring e-minis:
Traded contracts : 715000 majors + Pesos = 97,6% of all traded contracts (minus emins)
EURO = 36% of total in nb contracts.
Australian Dollar Future Futures 89767 1 AUD contract = 71,000$
British Pound Future Futures 88573 1 pound contract = 81,000$
Canadian Dollar Future Futures 70101 1 CAD contract = 78,000$
Euro FX Future Futures 269175 1 Euro contract = 150,000$
Japanese Yen Future Futures 118856 1 yen contract = 110,000$
Mexican Peso Future Futures 40348 1 peso contract = 25,000$
New Zealand Dollar Future Futures 16030 1 NZD dollar = 65,000$
Swiss Franc Future Futures 22100 1 CHF contract = 125,000$
Total volume for that day:
(89767*71000 + 88573*81000 + 70101*78000 + 269175*150000 + 118856*110000 + 40348*25000 + 16030*65000 + 22100*125000)/0,975 = 80 billion usd.
EURO volume = 40 billion or 50%
YEN volume = 13 billion or 16%
GBP volume = 7,~ billion or 9%
AUD volume = 6,~ billion or 8%
CAD volume = 5,5 billion about 7%
CHF volume = 3 billion or 3,75%, usually a little more say 5%
NZD volume = 1 billion
MXN volume = 1 billion
EUR-YEN = 350 million
EUR-POUND = 300 million
EUR-CHF = 150 million
It is possible the ones that are too small won't be as smooth, I have been looking at USDMXN and it seems like idk the entry area is wide, with the really big pairs there is a tight area where it will retrace x percent of the time, but pesos seem more random, probably becuase of lower volume. Maybe?
Maybe it is becoming a smaller major, but I better wait.
I am bored of checking this chart already, sometimes maybe if not 100% sure it is best to pass for the time being?
Euro is really huge compared to the rest, it used to be said of it it represents 20% of all, but it probably is more now. NZD and MXN are really smaller than the rest.
And Euro or pound cross pairs are very small on CME but I bet they are bigger than NZD/MXN in total, not just CME.
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