Assignment 4: Simulation
Instructions
Go to the CME website and download the demo CME Simulator. To do this, you will need to create a membership, after which you will be able to access the Practice Simulator (See Trading Tools: Practice Simulator).
· Familiarize yourself with the platform by reading the User’s Guide and watching the training videos.
Log in and perform one trade per day on the contract of your choosing. Choose one of the following 10 types of futures contracts for this assignment:
Equity index:
· E-mini S&P 500 futures
Energy:
· WTI crude oil futures
· Natural gas futures
Metals:
· Gold futures
· Copper futures
Foreign exchange (FX):
· Euro FX futures
Interest rates:
· 10-Year U.S. T-Note futures
Agriculture:
· Soybeans futures
· Corn futures
· Live cattle futures
Confine your chosen contract to the nearest contract with time to expiration of greater than one month. For example, if today is April 8, 2016, the nearest corn futures contract with greater than one month’s time to expiration would be the May 2016 corn futures. However, if today is April 30, 2016, the nearest corn futures contract with greater than one month’s time to expiration would be the July 2016 corn futures.
Each day, the trade could be a long or a short. You must provide a rationale for the long or short trade. Your rationale could be based on one or more of the following items:
· Fundamental information such as results of a regression analysis on fundamental data such as interest rates
· Technical analysis
· News announcement
Perform one trade per day for one business week (i.e., five consecutive business days). At the end of the business week, close out your position and calculate the profit on your trades.
Draft a report of no more than two pages that includes the following items (100Â marks):
1. The specifications of the contract you have traded in: contract size, contract symbol, price quotation, trading hours, expiration date, settlement procedures, and position limit. This information can be obtained from the CME Group website. For example, for corn futures, the information is available at http:
www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/grain-and-oilseed/corn_contract_specifications.html. (20 marks)
1. The reason(s) for the trade that you performed each day. (50 marks)
1. Your profit/loss after your position is closed on the fifth business day XXXXXXXXXXÂ marks)
1. Two things you learned from this experiment. (20 marks)
1