ICBIT say this regarding the BTC/USD-9.14 contract:
"0.0002 BTC for 1 contract trade or settlement. Subject to change."
Does this mean the only fees I ever pay to ICBIT are 0.0002 BTC (about 10 cents) when I open a trade and the same when I close it?
Then they say there is a twice a day holding fee:
FEES
Each trading instrument will operate one of two fee models:
Lower transaction fees, but a twice-daily holding fee per contract applied at clearing (designed to encourage day-trading)
Higher per-transaction fees, but no holding fees (designed to support longer term trades)
Per transaction fees are calculated in BTC and are chargeable at the point of contract purchase/sale, therefore each position will incur fees twice (open and close). Fees are charged according to the quantity of contracts being bought/sold, so whilst the fee is not displayed prior to purchase, it can be calculated by multiplying the quantity by the fee (and double if you also need to consider closure fees).
Actual fees are listed on the instrument reference pages (e.g. https://icbit.se/BUH4) and vary per instrument, usually with lower fees on contracts which are furthest form settlement.
Update 01/04/13: Fee discounts based on trade volume - fee discounts are now applied based on trading volumes, so if you trade a lot your fees will be lower - as outlined here: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.1717445
Thanks. It is still all a bit obscure. Do you know if the holding fee is different to the opening/closing fee? And how much is it?