haha I take it you do not like gold or the euro. I just realized this evening when I left trading that my focus on NQ has been lost, and that I wanted to refocus on it. So your post is inline!! The lower volatility does make it a little harder to pull profits from indexes. Timing is the key. Lets get our Focus back on!!!
Incorrect, sorry. Nobody has commented so far so I'll mention this. One is not the same as the other. Very different markets, and there are different reasons to trade each. Of course they are correlated - they all represent ownership in the underlying equities, some of which overlap. Assuming you are using market orders, the cost of execution is commission + spread + slippage (if any). You pay up $12.50 to get in and out of the ES. Only $5 on YM and NQ. You have a better chance at earning the spread with limits in the thinner markets - most times ES you will not get your bid filled until the market goes offered there, unless you are very far ahead in the queue. If you are using limits where you should be using markets, you'll only get done when you are wrong. NQ is fine up to 70 contracts or so, except for fast markets. Liquidity should not be an issue. Those trading 100 lots or more know where they can do size safely (otherwise they won't last long).
70 contracts! Wow, the most I ever go is 10 in the NQ and that is only after adding to trades. I've gotten split fills on 6 before. I'm conservative, but 70 must be layering into a position.
I wasn't recommending the ES over NQ or YM, just relating why liquidity would be greater there. I really doubt that there are many ET'ers that throw 70 or 100 lots order around any futures market. We are generally paper traders, at best a single car. But ES, NQ and YM are *extremely* tightly correlated. More so than any two stocks or any two commodities.
Let's not be too hasty. Have a look here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=195420
NQ has slippage even with 5 contracts at least from my experience, I don't know about 70 contracts. A market order in NQ very often gets me in 2,3,4 ticks off from where the dom shows the price while the ES is almost always 1 tick off and sometimes better. That is one thing I don't like about the NQ I usually enter my trades on a limit order but exit on a market order and that kicks my butt on the NQ but ES I get filled where I think I should.
I don't know what times of the day you trade, but I have never experienced that kind of slippage in NQ. I usually enter on marketable limit orders. However, I occasionally exit at market as the situation warrants, and I have not experienced the kind of slippage you describe. During liquid periods, slippage would generally be 1 tick. Meanwhile, limit order in ES, as I recall, were like getting into a queue at the DMV.
You know it may be transact platform not working right or lagging or heck I may be lagging , but I didn't notice it on the ES.