I wonder why ES has zero liquidity if you go out more than 3 months. CL, GC, and GE (eurodollar futures) have decent liquidity ten years into the future. Considering the size of the s&p 500 market (over 10 trillion) and considering there will always be a need to buy this index and hedge against this index why is there no liquidity more than 3 months into the future?
Because it is cash settled and there is no sense in underlying storage. Oil etc. all are not cash settled (i.e. you get delivered physical) and there may b price deviations over time.