I see some people on here that only trade ES and some that only trade NQ. I'd be curious to know various opinions on why you select one over the other. Thanks
NQ is definitely more volatile than the ES...but that don't mean SHIITE...watch them both,,,that is the only tutelage you will ever get
Been NQ for ages, but despite higher relative cost spread wise, starting to prefer and stick to ES. More Volume, so less random spikes to hit tight ish SL's right before reversing hard, not none, but less losses that go to profit 5seconds later is less mind numbing. LOL Only just switched this week, might switch back!!
es is a little more greased now with tesla. es harder to get filled on limits but a little less forgiving from a days range and more difficult to move..the es that is
ES does not trend quite as much as NQ which translates into mean reversion strategies performing better with ES.
I used to only watch ES, then NQ, then back to ES. Now since i only watch 2 levels there were a lot of days with little to no trades, hence why i switched sometimes. Now i have added a lot more instruments for which i also watch the same 2 levels. ES, NQ, YM, RTY, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZW, FVS, FESX, FDXM, FGBM, FGBL, FXXP, FBTP and finally FOAT and every now and then i also do a spread trade, mainly on ES/NQ. Might seem like a lot, but i only watch 2 levels for each instrument so there is plenty of time just staring at the screens with nothing to do. Today i had 4 trades over the course of around 8 hours, so lots of free time. I wouldn't suggest watching that many instruments if you are still figuring out how to trade or what to do, but once i found my strategy i started over trading while watching ES or NQ only, trying to get in on every single movement around my predefined levels instead of waiting it out and getting in on the confirmation, in fear of missing the only signal i had during the day. I knew the system was solid, but this was killing my performance. Now that i have added all those instruments there is no more fear since it is very likely there will be another trade later on in the day. So my conclusion: watching only a few instruments is probably best if you are trading very active and are in and out a lot. Watching more instruments is probably best if you are trading only a few times a day to get as much signals as possible and have a lot of time to analyze all charts, both to avoid over trading in fear of missing out as to avoid maybe even multiple days without any decent signal. To answer your actual question .. I would pick NQ if i was looking for a lot of volatility and a lot of movement to be in and out in low timeframes. I would pick ES if i was looking for more "mellow" price action. ES tends to respect its support/resistance levels, lows of days etc much better compared to NQ, NQ often does retest and retest lows/highs and keeps stopping you out, before finally moving in the direction you were actually trading in, ES doesn't do that. It just hangs out around a price level in a few ticks range instead of bouncing all over the place.
When you have rotation like we are having now into the small(RTY) & midcaps(EMD), your stand to make far more following the relative strength. Holding one contract ES from open to close today you would net approx $3,186, RTY $6,000, EMD $13,000. I trade just about anything liquid that can move. I always want to be long on the strongest & short on the weakest. red=RTY, yellow =EMD, white=ES, orange=YM, RTY & emd, blue=NQ, purple=Nikkei
um same as having a chart after the fact! es has 500 stocks and nq has what 100 + or - 1 or 2 russelll 2000! thats all it is dow 30