Hi....I would like feed back from traders who have gone from equities to e-minis. What aspect did you find the most difficult, and what aspect was easier?? Also...im thinking of trading strictly the SPY before the transition to get the hang of it....would i be wasting my time doing that?? THANKS
lilduckling no spy is very similar to the futures emini ES if you can try spy , you can trade the ES it'll take you a week to get accustomed to the futures tick count but I must say it correlates very fine, with futures exagerating movements a bit sometimes. It is SPECTACULAR trading the indexes, just the best if you are TRADING, Traders don't have much time in a day, so they can not research every night 20 stocks to trade, but with indexes, the preparation is shortned very much! stocks are for investing but I think INDEXES are the best for trading hope this helps buddy
Although the SPY will give an idea of what the ES is about, remember this. It will only give you an idea. - Do not develop a mechanical system on the SPY thinking it will extract similar profits from the ES. If you wish to develop a mech system to trade the ES, do it on the ES - sure if you think having SPY as an input helps go for it, but test it on the ES. - Be very careful with some of the crap that appears with alarming regularity on the SPY, but not on the ES (see pic). Quite frankly, and this is just MHO, you are better off getting a simulator/simulated account to test trade the ES - if discretionary trading is your thing.
thanks for the info guys! I figure i will trade SPY and load up on share size to give me the feeling of margin associated in e-minis...will try for a while before switching....all this research needed for stocks and paying for this service here and that there.....its for the birds! Nice chart equalizer....thanks for that info! (i would trade the QQQQ but IB doesnt allow shorting it)
Moving from equities to the e-minis was the most liberating trading decision that I have made, save the initial decision (all those years ago) to trade for a living...
*Ahem*...... i know a "friend" who has a 50k account size..... how many contracts do you all think is the max he should trade??
If "your friend" needs to ask this question, try one contract to start, if you are profitable after a week, try 2. If you are an experienced trader, I mean your friend...... let the market decide, remember one contract is the dollar equivalent of 500 SPY.
ONE That is.... until you "friend" is completely consistent and has developed flow with that market. Don't go into the ES thinking that you have experience and that you should swing for the fences. Expect to spend at least a couple of months to figure out how that product reacts and gets pushed around. There are easier futures to trade depending on your background and style.
ok...i like swing trading and sometimes will do a few day trades (holding for a few hours).....i have been trading stocks for 2 years and became profitable earlier this year.......ok so what e-mini do you think would fit me best??? I never said i would trade the ES....would practice with SPY etf before changing to eminis...cant pratice with QQQQ.... so what u recomend?? err.....i mean him my friend