the YM is bogus. it will never be half as liquid as the NQ. if all you care about is range X tick size then trade the dax.
Well volumes are down in the NQ....if they were to increase this would be notable to the comparisons made currently... I think this is a smart move and posturing for market share...NQ is far from dead... Michael B.
16% vols don't support a $20 handle at $4k overnight margin, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.
The Q futures are 1/40 the size of the NQ contract. I'd bet the additional slippage/commissions more than offsets the tick size there -- OEX/SPX dilemma. Having said that, for day traders I really think it is both granularity -- tick size -- and volatility -- daily range -- that makes a contract interesting to trade. Of course, for institutions it's primarily liquidity and transaction costs. So there is a clear conflict. Since stocks trade much larger volume successfully with penny increments I don't see why futures couldn't as well.
Very true but keep in mind that the SEC has the ultimate input on index futures/options margins. Hence the advantageous margins in commodities, Treasuries, currencies ect. vs. anything having to do with stocks.
Absolutely true, but it doesn't change the fact that the leverage at 8:1 is half of what is available in the ER2.
I feel like it should be 1/5 point. That would make it $4. That would be weird, but for some reason, it feels right.