I like to start a discussion on comparing our experience with intraday trading the dow e-mini & the s&P e-mini. My focus and comfort level has been with the ES; however, upon retrospect, I believe that trading the "trend wave" with the YM would be easier on a intraday basis. I understand that they are correlated. Nonetheless, it seems that the YM is typically not as "choppy" as the ES. Would you guys care to share your experience with these two instruments? thanks, Walt
The YM is great for trend trading. Both contracts follow each other closely but I think the YM trends better than the ES. You will also save a fortune on spread costs. I never liked trading the ES intraday because you are instantly down 12.5 X however many lots you bought/sold + commissions. Contrast that to the YM, the spread is only usually 1 tick or maybe 2. The ES by definition always has a spread equivalent to 3 YM points. If you are going to position trade hundred / thousand lot positions, the ES has no equal. But intraday it is a suckers game. There is really no reason to trade the ES over the YM except liquidity constraints. Or maybe if you prefer a chop go nowhere contract.
To my understanding, the ES is more choppy because more "black box high frequency trading" occurs in the ES than other derivates. Furthermore, the arbitrage activity to align with the spx option positions in accordance the pit traded positions create an "efficient market" paradigm. Bottom line... when there's more liquidity then the price and volatility are more stable... Walt
I like the YM. Intraday trends are not hard to enter or follow. I've watched it along with the ES, basically if I wanted to trade the ES I think I would take my signals from the YM. I'll try that one of these days, but I guess that people like me with LITTLE BALLS AND NO MONEY are supposed to stay away from the ES