Besides leverage, what is the benefit of day trading es vs spy? Comparing the cost, which one is lower? The spread of spy is only 1 cents, but es is a quarter.
Commissions better with the ES if you have the right broker. Even at prop rates, 1000 SPYs will cost you about maybe $20 roundtrip with commissions, ECNs and SEC fees. You can get $4 round trip on ES. 1000 SPYs move 10 points and you make $100 - $20 = $80 2 ES moves 1 point and you make $100 - $4 = $96 You could figure out the number of ES contracts that would give you the same situation you wanted with the SPYs and compare as well. I just chose 2 Es for comparison. SPY spread is $0.01 but one tick and you will make no money at all. ES moves one tick and you still are positive if you get out. So I do not mind the 0.25 tick in the ES. It is liquid enough that more than half the time you can sell at the ask and buy at the bid. Just my preference after trying to trade the SPY, the ES was cheaper and easier to get in and out of.
Shorting SPY requires that your broker borrow shares, and some brokers have been having trouble finding sufficient numbers. There is nothing to borrow with ES and no margin interest to pay.
Should spread ( or slippage ) be considered as cost of trading? I always use market order to get in and out of my positions. When spy moves 1 points, what is the corresponding movement for es in general?
A SPY move of 1 point is about 10 points on the SPX. 10 points on the SPX is about 10-12 points on the ES. But to trade ES the margin is lower and you can trade a few contracts and still make equivalent profit.
=================== ES is highly liquid ,almost alway use a limit order entry/exit; think I have used a market order 1 or 2 exit times this year. Especially on ES entry, most all of the time a limit order can be used sucessfully.