Cx, Since you are going to be paper trading how about you examine both and you decide. As far as tick or volume based bars, you can't go wrong there. Anek
Quick question out of curiousity Anekdote. Why not just trade the etf SPY instead of trading the ES? Any other reasons other than futures accounts require less money?
The difference is so monstrous, I will actually let you research this on your own, so you can say "AHHHHH!" Anek
If its so monsterous please enlighten us. I find it hard to find thats there a monsterous difference, unless your refering to the fact that the emini trades in quarters and the spy trades in pennies. Please explain!
Eh, I guess that leaves it at more leverage, taxes, lower commissions and possibly more precise consistency of stop fills. AHHHHH.....
Aside from leverage the spread is possibly the biggest difference that and the around the clock nature of futures. A market order is actually better on SPY, depending on # of shares of course, .01 vs possible 12.50 Anek
Yeah I figured the open hours of the futures market was part of the reasoning. Well... until i can figure out something else to pick your brain with i'll sit back and continue to enjoy the oustanding thread. Good trading!!! Cx~
Cx, Imagine you are swing trading and something catastrophic happens at 3AM in the morning. Futures give you the option to bail or solidify your position if you are on the right side. In equities or ETFs you would need to wait til pre-market opens to decide. They even give you the option to hedge if you got investments. They are simply more flexible. As a very aggressive averaging up trader when things go my way, and panic hits the market hard the massive leverage provided by futures allows me to keep averaging up if the trend continues. In SPY I would be limited to 4X, least last time I checked. That to me is priceless for my particular style of trading. Anek
Ya that is another awesome point! I don't intend to hold SPY or es mini for swings though, basically just your typical 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. EST. I'll leave the swings++ for building wealth in equities. ~Cx