Russell 2000 price multiplier change
Starting today the ICE US exchange reduced the contract value from $100 per point to $50 per point. To maintain the original leverage that clients subscribed to, starting today all trades for the TF will be 2 contracts. The exchange reduced fees in half, and most brokers will likely reduce their commissions. However, the FCM’s may not reduce the per contract fee that they charge brokers. To account for this (and to be conservative), the total per trade round-turn commission and slippage cost for the TF used in this blog and website will be increased from $70 to $80 ($40 per contract).
Because of this change, my main focus right now is to determine whether to change the market used for the intraday systems and/or to start using partial entries/exits since we will be trading 2 contracts per trade. Another possibility is for trading multiple markets intraday. This change brings up many possibilities, and I anticipate working much longer hours this month!
There is nothing that clients need to do – just know that the number of contracts on the Russell 2000 will be twice as much as you’ve been used to.