Frequently Asked Questions

On the CannonTrading.com website, go to the "Education" tab near the top of the main page and select "Futures Contract Specifications".

https://www.cannontrading.com/tools/contract-specifications

With currency futures, the price is determined when the contract is signed and the currency pair is exchanged on the delivery date, which is usually sometime in the distant future.

In the FOREX, the price is also determined at the point of trade, but the physical exchange of the currency pair takes place right at the point of trade or within a short period of time thereafter and there is no expiration date or delivery date with FOREX currency pairs.

However, it is important to note that most participants in the futures markets are speculators who usually close out their positions before the date of settlement and, therefore, most contracts do not tend to last until the date of delivery.

Yes, E-Futures international trading platform offers both currency futures and FOREX.

Initial margin is set by the exchange, day margin is set by the Broker. All Traders need to meet full margin going into the Globex close per market. For example the ES (S&P mini) close is 5:00 pm eastern

You can find day and initial margin requirements for ALL markets here:

http://www.e-futures.com/margin-requirements.php OR https://ibportal.gainfutures.com/Margins?WLID=20

Once you have a live account, you will be provided with contact information for your broker and a trade desk, you will never be have to rely just on email correspondence, particularly if you are trying to manage risk.

Cannon Trading offers 5 different Futures Commission Merchant (FCMs) to choose from, our clients have over twenty different trading platforms to choose from. If you have not traded futures before, one of our most popular trading platforms is the E-Futures International. This platform supports a full range of order types, real time charts, Depth of Market (DOM) and option chain with many different indicators at no cost.

Yes, most of our platforms do not charge inactivity fees. Our FireTip platform, Sierra Charts platform, CQG, Rithmic, CT4, etc. all do not charge inactivity fees. Please contact your broker today to make sure the platform ( Clearing House) you are using does not charge an inactivity fee.

• CQG
• Rithmic
• Gain Capital (OEC)
• iQFeed
• TransAct
• Trading Technologies

Yes, absolutely; this is a popular account configuration with many of our traders/clients. Many of our clients consider managed futures/automated trading system(s) to be nice compliments to their self-directed trading.

A professional broker here at Cannon Trading can guide you through the process of setting up a similar main account/sub-account(s) configuration.

Your licensed Cannon Trading professional can discuss with you the potential risks and rewards of adding any particular managed futures/automated program(s) to your portfolio.

Your broker can ascertain your risk appetite and investment goals after consultation with you. In the opinion of many professionals in the futures industry, there are indeed certain key focus points that can potentially carry heavier weight when reviewing/considering futures investment programs and alternative investments in general.

Your funds are deposited into a "segregated" account, in your name, at the bank that your FCM uses. Since the account is segregated, and the funds are not coming led with the FCM's funds, any excess margin will go out the same day they are requested as long as request received before 12:00PM EST.

Check out what the NFA has written

Yes, you can. We Offer several different Custodians and the following types of Individual Retirement Account structures, An Individual IRA, A Roth IRA, A Sep IRA, A Simple IRA, a Rollover 401K, a Solo K Plan, and if you don't see the structure you are interested in please call one of our professionals at Cannon to identify the account that is best for you.

Anyone who wants to take control of his/her retirement investments, or who is unhappy with their current retirement plan returns, should consider a self-directed account. Most typical IRA custodians (like banks and brokerage firms) only allow you to invest in the products they sell. These include more "traditional" investments such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Non-traditional or alternative investments commonly acquired with self-directed IRAs are not widely known because the majority of IRA custodians do not offer these assets as investment options, so they do not promote them. The IRS permits investments into a wide variety of assets, but each custodian decides which assets it is willing to hold and self-direct their retirement accounts.

Alternative investments permitted within a self-directed IRA include:

• Real estate
• Notes and mortgages
• Partnerships/LLCs
• Private placements and private stock
• Single-member LLCs (checkbook IRAs)
• Futures and foreign exchange (forex) trading
• Precious metals and more

Yes, in a Self-Directed IRA.

No it does not. You can day-trade as many contracts as you have the margin for in your Live futures trading account.

Best would be determined by your risk appetite. Currencies, Metals, and Energies on average move faster or with more volatility than Financials, Indices, Grains, Meats, and Softs. Of course, the latter halves are still very leveraged and can be extremely volatile especially during major financial reports. Additionally markets like Grains, Meats and Softs and others all have limit move days.

Limits are set by the exchange and are modified regularly. When a market has a set limit for a day the price cannot trade beyond that price. (Difference between the previous day's close and limit value). These limits can be obtained through http://www.cmegroup.com/