I'm apologizing for this newbie question but just wanted to know, how much a tick (0.25 points) in the ES worth in terms of dollars per contract. Thank you
are there any instruments in the future market that are less volatile in terms of dollars per tick per contract? i ask because i want to start testing my trading methods in the futures market but i'm not ready yet to lose a 100-200$ per trade. therefor i need an instrument with high volume and less volatility. which instrument is the best to start with? Thank you? p.s. does the 25000$ law referrs to futures daytrading or just to stock daytrading?
Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask. http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equity-index/us-index/e-mini-sandp500_FO.html
thank very much lucrum. I your experience which of the futures instruments is best for starters (I traded only stocks so far) ?
You'll likely get a wide variety of opinions. You know, everyone is in love with THEIR favorite instrument. If your hell bent on one of the "primary"(ES,NQ,YM,ER2) emini's then I'd probably suggest the mini DOW symbol YM. Especially if your scalping or trading very short term. If your trying to capture somewhat longer term moves you might consider either the equivalent ETF or possibly one of the SSF's.
Thank you very much for your help. I am indeed scalping so I'll check the YM also thinking to take a look on the ER2 thank you.
My good deed of the week for the community. It is a common misnormer among ET community, that the YM is suitable for the futures beginners. It is far from the truth. YM, even though, the tick size is only $5 per tick, can be extremely noisy. Unless, you're an experienced trader with impeccable entries/exits, the noise alone would require about 15 to 20 tick stops. That's $75 - $100 risk per trade off the bat. Assuming the trade goes your way, it is uncommon for the beginners to ignore the noise, and to ride out the profits to at least 40 ticks, essentially 1:2 R/R to make it worthwhile. A beginner would be itching to take the profits at the first sign of green. It would be a losing game after a few plays, due to poor risk, reward ratio. From my experience, NQ is the most beginner friendly emini of them all. The tick moves in .25 increments, instead of whole points, and it is still $5 per tick. And It is very rare, that you have to risk $100 (20 ticks) in NQ. Happy trading Schaefer EDIT: I just saw your reply above, ER2 is even worse, ER2 is essentially YM on steroids (make that lots of steroids). If you want proof, just take a look at the journals section, take a look at a couple of journals recently started by newbies, trading the YM. The results are what you would call, "expected".
Couldn't agree more about the YM. Try the ZT (2 year note future) if you want a low volatility futures contract. $7 per quarter tick.