Right now (10:15 PM ET) the ES options are trading very actively. I have never traded that instrument yet, but was surprised that they trade right now, ie. at US AH. ES Sep16'16@GLOBEX it says, but one can choose the chain of say 2016-07-29 and other weeks. Is this normal options? The only difference seems to be that the multiplier here is 50.
Bought (actually short-sold) my very first ES FOP It seems the margin requirements are much less than with normal equity options. That of course would be very good. Will need to do some calcs...
Yes, ES options trade from 6pm ET to 4:15pm ET the next day. Options markets are better during US trading hours and monthly options have more liquidity than weeklies, unlike SPX where weeklies are very active.
I'm not thru with my analysis, but it seems there are more profitable equity options than this one. The advantage of this one is that it has many strikes, much volume & liquidity, and that it trades nearly non-stop 24 hrs...
i think simply going to the website about ES options would have given you the answers you seek but I see a repeated pattern of asking questions that can easily be answered by a minute or two of research. Signs of what makes a good trader...willing to do some leg work. And ES trades Sunday night to Friday afternoon.