ES vs NQ

it doesnt trend as much because the top dogs arent ad concentrated in tech like in the nq.
the sp500 is more diversified so when you have trades in xle or xlf or a big fund moving size in 2 or 3 sp500 stocks it will throw off the index at times. which keeps it off trend

 

I think there was a time in the past where it made more sense to choose NQ over ES because of greater volatility.

With current nominal index values and volatility ES is very tradeable and offers a lot each day.

I haven't made an in depth comparison of the two, although I do watch NQ on a daily basis. I prefer ES since it's what I've followed over a long time now and where I've done my homework.

 

Interesting. Prior Day High/Low?

How do you feel those European instruments compare with the US?

 

Yes, mostly prior day high/low, but i will not just enter because an instrument reached a previous high or low, there is more to it. But 95% of my trades are near those levels. I don't even look at the overnight levels anymore, my charts only shows regular sessions.

European indexes or bonds aren't that different from those in the US in regards of movement, the main reason i included those is to have more signals but also since i do live in the EU it makes more sense to start with the EU session and stop after the first 2-3 hours into the US session or just place some alerts when the EU session ends and get away from the desk until an alert triggers.

 

Thanks everyone. Great feedback about both.. I was trading ES for a while and moved to NQ, but some of the spikes are crazy and knock me out of trades when I use a SL.

 

then dont use a stop?

 

I don't always.. 25% of my strategies use them.

 

great mister.

Do expand your list further (but cut down those not so tradeable futures).

I trade about 15 to 25 futures, depending on which sessions (Asian, Eur, US sessions) and market condition.
But beyond that, my brain CPU will not be able to cope.

more futures --->
more trading opportunities ---->
more $$$$$

 

Which ones do you think are not so tradeable?

 

From my cursory experience with NQ this does seem to be true. The only other instrument I ever studied in detail for a while was CL and I vividly remember how levels didn't really matter or were more like rough zones.

To me, or rather the way I perceive the market, ES is much more technically clean and levels usually matter and are even predictable to some degree. Except on days like Monday where the market simply picks up a strong trend and slashes through all levels like a knife in hot butter.

Interesting approach for sure. I plan to eventually start looking into some European instruments too as I also live in Europe.