What thoughts are there on which of these are easiest (i.e. less difficult) to trade? Do any of them trend more than others/ I know YM is $5/tick vs. $12.50 for ES. Any thoughts appreciated. Brooks
Hi BrooksRimes, The answer to your question is really strategy specific. Thus, someone using a particular strategy or trading stlye may find YM the easiest to trade. Someone else using something completely different may find ES the easiest to trade... So on and so on for NQ and ER2. ER2 and YM move the fastest. However, some newbies see the low price per tick and in error think less damage can be done until they fine tune their trading plan when they trade either YM or ER2. Far from the truth via how fast and far these two can move. In fact, I've met a few guys recently in the #IndexFutures room on the FinancialChat server that said they are losing more money in trading YM and ER2 in a shorter time span in comparison to trading ES or NQ. Another difference is that I've also met a few that said they are now profitable after switching to trading YM or ER2. Once again...this tells me its strategy specific. For me...my method tends to give me more trade signals in ER2 followed by YM followed by ES then NQ. Therefore, I tend to trade ER2 and YM more these days. Throw EuroFX, DAX, ESTX50, CAC40 and FTSE100 into your question... My methodology is more suitable for trading DAX or EuroFX. NihabaAshi
ES is best for liquidty. The higher the number of participants in a instrument, the more reliable the technicals tend to be as they setup. The ER2 indeed has attracted more and more players, small players that is, thus it is OK to play for small fries. LIKE ME... What one needs to be aware of when trading less liquid contracts is the infamous "FAT FINGER" trade when it hits the STOP SERVER. There have been some outragious fast moves when that happens, scary stuff for sure. I try to avoid using STOP LOSS pre-set orders sent in and sitting in the server. It takes a disciplined trader to "HONOR" his/ her mental stops day in and day out. But to me it is worth it so i do not worry about the "FAT FINGER" trade going in to kill my account...:eek: A word of advice: Stick to the high volumn stuff, ES is best, but yes there is less noise in the ER2, it has improved a lot this last year. So hey why not? Look at the ER2 also like this: One ES is $50 a handle. One ER2 is $100 a handle. A'HA!!!, less commission costs, but you need to adjust the STOPS accordingly. (Kind of like getting two for one) Have fun but be careful in the ER2 The perils of the electronic world of trading.
Fat finger... I remember a few years ago where I would only trade ES and not NQ because NQ had some 60 pt spikes during RTH while the ES spike was only about 6 points I recall. My take is when your correct on the trade, ER will reward you more, and when you are wrong it will punish you more with slippage.
Monee, I have in a pile of old printouts somewhere some "DOOZY" moves from days gone by. I second your take on the ER2, 2 edged sword...
You just gotta luv that ER2! today's scorecard... Dow -.13% S&P -.34% Russell -1.02% yoo hoo!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
YM is best for begginers. With native stops it will be even better, and i read ECBOT are working on these. Then move up to ER2. The problem with ES is the 0.25 spread, if they reduce this to 0.1 then it would be much better instrument to trade.