QQQ vs. ES

I've traded stocks and QQQ for years, but know nothing about the emini ES. Could some of you consistently profitable ES, day or swing traders tell me why you trade ES rather than the QQQ?

 

There are three reasons to trade the es/nq instead of spy/qqq:

- leverage
- lower commissions
- some tax benefits

 

Leverage, aow yeh? Each NQ contract is equal 800 QQQ
shares, and in order to scale out for some felxibilty you
need to trade two contracts, which is 1600 shares and
need to make a perfect entry and exit each time, other
wise you get busted in a month.


But with QQQ, he can play same strategy with 400
shares (200+200) and make a living until he masters
it.

 

I'm comparing QQQ to ES rather than NQ, simply because of relative liquidity & popularity. It seems that most of the posts on this site are from traders trading ES rather than QQQ. I trade thousands of shares of QQQ and find it very easy to enter & exit with only a penny or two for a spread. And, of course, no uptick rule.

Are most of you trading ES simply because you have small accounts and need huge leverage? Sure, the comm. are slightly less, but what I'm really after is what makes ES a better trading vehicle for you? Is it more volatile? Does it adhere to supply & resistance lines better? Does it trend better? Does it lick pivot lines like it actually respects it?

Why is it your cash cow?

 

The main reason might be more liquidity and commision rates
that make it suit better to high volume traders and extreem scalpers.

 

Not only can you answer each of these questions yourself, but you can also determine whether or not it's a better trading vehicle for you, which is all that matters.

 

800 QQQ = 1 NQ
500 SPY = 1 ES.

Go and trade NQ first to get a feel for it. Then move to the ES.

Most of the reasons people trade futures is for the tax advantages and the leverage.

nitro

 

...one reason to trade NQ instead of QQQ is the "cleanness" of the NQ chart. As it is totally electronically traded, all fills are instantaneously reported and are at the inside bid or ask. IMO this makes S/R and other features of the NASDAQ 100 landscape easier to spot by eye or with code. This is compared to QQQ's bad fills and late-reported trades which clutter up the chart. There is no tape painting at S/R in NQ either (the notorious 100 share trades at QQQ XX.00 or XX.50). Also, simultaneously watching for round number S/R in QQQ adds an extra dimension to round number S/R in NQ. In my experience mechanical systems which work in NQ do not work nearly as well in QQQ, in spite of arbitrage, simply because the QQQ chart is so much more irregular.