I have been trading equities full time for approx 4 years and thinking about trying out the S&P 500 e minis, seeing that my broker offers the service (CyberTrader). So whats the major advance of ES to equity or options? I'm sure that much has to do with the type of trader and goals. I usually like to close flat each day and am PDT. So trading equity as a PDT you have 4 to 1 buying power. It seems to me that ES are very volitle and thus you are making your broker more money than yourself with stop lossess getting taken out quicker. So you have the speculators and hedgers trading the ES, which I think 95% of the traders trading the ES are not hedging. Maybe the ES are just a trading tool for a different personality.
Watch the ES for about 60 days...T&S...Price Action...Volume Play...and then see what you think. The ES is a great instrument to trade IMO, and you can trade the ES according to your style preference (scalp, intraday moves, position trades, etc). The NQ might be another option for you or the YM...check them all out for a period of time and find what fits your mentalities best. Good Fortunes! Chris
Futures have the advantage of having 60/40 tax treatment. That means that 60% of your gains are taxed as long term capital gains and 40% of your gains are taxed as short term capital gains. This is regardless of holding period...so a day trader who trades stocks and makes x amount of money pays higher taxes than a futures trader who also makes x amount of money.