Has anyone looked at the fact that the CBOT has waived MiniDow fees for the last quarter of 2002. They are very aggressive in getting liquidity and volume. FFastTrade is offering Round trip execution for $1.04 in the miniDOW.
Dow 2 contracts tend to have wide spreads and no liquidity (But they are fine for trading on a 5 minute chart) The Dow 5 has decent spreads and liquidity, but not as good as the S&P or the Nasdaq. However, since the dow moves so many points in one day, its easy to trade around the spread issue. Just be sure to use limit and not market orders here. Occasionally you will get way out of range bids and asks
The $2 Mini will be discontinued, but the $5 Multiplier is starting to get interest. I know of several fairly large Arbitrageurs that are entering the Market in October. With the Exchnage fee waiver in place, there should be some additional players. If you can trade a Volatile and fairly liquid contract for $1.04 a round trip versus the Alternative in the Mini S&P and Mini Nasdaq,($4.00 to $10.00) then it is worth a spin. I would look at the Vloume over the next few weeks. I truly believe that it will start to rise dramatically. Doesn't hurt to take a Look!