I've been trading stocks/options/ETFs for about 3 years (mostly QQQQ) and I'm thinking about transitioning to futures. As I'm familiar with QQQQ, I'm planning to start here first. Does the Powershares QQQQ Futures track perfectly with the ETF (as in .10 move in the ETF shows up as .10 move exactly at the same time in the futures)? Also, can anyone recommend any brokers to get started? Thanks for any help.
Thank you for the reply. Do you know where I can find volume info for futures contracts? (sorry if this is an obvious question)
Do the E-minis (ES, NQ) track perfectly with their respective indexes? If the S&P 500 index drops .50, then will ES also drop .50 at the same time?
Of course not. Where have you been hiding that you have never heard of index arbitrage? Read the information at www.indexarb.com and www.programtrading.com .
Start with the exchange http://www.cmegroup.com/market-data/datamine-historical-data/index.html Also wealth of info at MyPivots http://www.mypivots.com/dn/
The QQQQ single stock ETF futures on OneChicago should track the QQQQ 100% or near 100% because the single stock futures will call for actual QQQQ delivery. The single stock ETF futures will take into account market interest rates, short rebates, and any distributions in the QQQQ ETF. The single stock ETF futures are less liquid than the physical ETF though. Each QQQQ single stock ETF represents 1000 shares of QQQQ so be aware of that. You can "unwind" a QQQQ single stock ETF futures position with the QQQQ ETF and create an exchange for physical position. The combined position could be flattened via an exchange for physical transaction. The NQ futures are correlated with the QQQQ, but it calls for cash settlement and not physical delivery.