On Friday the ES volume was about 1.5 million, the NQ was about 390,000. How do you define less liquidity?
You state less liquidity as though that prevents you from trading it actively. You said more slippage and worse fills. In all due respect that is complete bullshit. Again, if you prefer ES fine, but don't look bad saying something false about /NQ.
And on Friday, what were the spreads between the bid and ask between both instruments (assuming you mean the front month)? I'd bet my bottom dollar they were both just one tick. So the higher volume on one does not preclude the other from having perfectly fine fills on a simple entry/exit. You want weirdness? Trade the next forward month in equities and play with closing your order in between the bid and ask. You can actually be someone that moves the ladder with one contract. That'll put hair on your ass.
Unless you are day trading dozens of contracts at a clip, liquidity on the NQ is just fine. I trade the ES because I am very familiar with it's character and behavior but can and do trade the NQ at times. Some times are better than others on any instrument...but that's trading.
NQ seems slower than ES today when looking at range? I'm seeing comments on how NQ is preferrable over ES lately. Personally, I chose the ES over the other two indexes and the ES is what I know. I never did an in depth comparative study of it, but I always had the impression that they both moved similarly. And there's even days (like today?) where the ES might move more. I like how 'technical' ES is and respective of levels and targets. Is NQ the same or more like CL in that it overshoots/undershoots targets, i.e., less precise? There are slower days where ES might want you to rip your hair out and you start looking at other markets, but overall I like it. And while I have considered looking more into NQ, in the end I will probably stay with ES for now. I don't think there's a perfect trading instrument that moves perfectly every day. Regardless, would be interesting to hear comments from people who have in depth experience with both and could come with comments on how they differ.
Is it just me or was ES & NQ nearly identical on Friday? ES topped slightly later, but the pullback ended pretty much the exact same time. I think in the past when I did a comparison of these two markets, not extensively mind you, I found that these markets quite often moved fairly similar...
Well, if you look historically through the charts, the equities move in tandem. And there are those who debate that the ES may lead the others. But there have been quite a few days this year where NQ and YM/ES have diverged. Last year it was not so pronounced, but this year it has been more stark. This is a response to a ten-day old post. Alas, just look at the charts, figure the dollar value of range per tic per contract, and draw your own conclusions.
I prefer the ES, mainly because I am much more familiar with it's personality. Last week there was just not anything happening. I had 14 signals for the week, in active environments I can get over 20 in a day.
*choke* Speedo, are you high? The ES had fantastic action last week. What about Tuesday through Wednesday? Who are you really, and what have you done with speedo?
The setups just didn't evolve in my tf's. And sometimes when they did, I just couldn't get in with an acceptable stop.