Hi I have some questions about the ES: 1) isn't it supposed to be traded 24/7? cause when I look online all I see is data from 31.12 which means like 4 days of inactivity. 2) may be related to the first question but where can I see a simple graph of the e-mini(ES) value intraday? just a simple "how many points" the es worth each minute today graph nothing fancy(like writing aapl on google and getting this nice graph). 3) how much money do you need in your account[im using IB] to trade 1 es? my account is pretty small (like less than 3k dollars[which I don't care to lose but I wouldn't like it]) is there any contract with a lower multiplier that I can handle? (if the ES is too much) - I want to daytrade I am not going to hold the position into the night ever. - I actually wanted to day trade options at start but even when I were right about my speculation I didn't get rewarded because the options didn't follow the stock price correctly. Then I thought ok so i'll margin trade stocks instead and started to study it a bit better but recently I heard that daytraders shall trade futures especially the e-mini since it is very liquid and you won't get restrictions on short sellings like you would with stocks and you won't have to deal with the PDT rule. Thanks in advance
1) The /ES was closed for New Years and the weekend. It closes for trading at 5:00 P.M. and reopens at 6. 2) Does your broker offer charting software? 3. Look into day trading margins. Some brokers charge as little as $500 margin to day trade the /ES.
Thanks for the quick reply, IB does offer it but its just that I like to read the tables on the way (on my phone) and IB's software is pretty heavy and for the PC. I don't care for websites that offer "delayed" data since I won't use it to trade I just want to see how the ES behave to better understand it before I dive more into it. [and to be honest I really don't like how the charts look in IB] I think IB does use the 500$ margin day trade but how exactly does it work? if I short/long 1 ES I actually "pay" nothing but IB freezes 500$ from my account and for each point the ES move the margin requirement will increase/decrease till I(or IB) decide to liquidate the position?
1) Update or get new computer or find a new broker if IB is pretty heavy for the PC. 2) http://www.investing.com/indices/indices-futures 3) https://www.interactivebrokers.com (call them for questions about their service and specs on trading the Emini ES) 4) http://www.cmegroup.com/ (every thing you need to know about the contract) Emini ES futures is not a suitable trading instrument for those asking questions like you're asking. If you can't resist and you decide to study the charts...do such for a minimum of one year and use that time to develop your trade method and then backtest it on Emini ES and other trading instruments to determine if Emini ES is what you should be trading or if some other futures trading instrument is something you should be trading. Seriously, if you don't like IB...there's tons of data vendors out there (e.g. CQG, eSignal, Ninjatrader and so on). Make some phone calls or just use Google. Lastly, Emini ES futures is not a suitable trading instrument for beginner traders asking questions like you're asking and you're very under-capitalized unless that small account is a starter account for you and you plan on depositing a lot more money into it after you've backtested and simulated trade your trading method. Good luck and enjoy your next year learning about the Emini ES futures prior to any real trading.
Under $3k is too little to be trading futures at all. You might care to look at either NQ (e-mini Nasdaq) or YM (e-mini Dow), each of which represents $5 price-movements per tick instead of ES's $12.50 per tick. Personally, I'd want a lot more than $3k in an account, though, to trade safely one contract of either.
wrbtrader and Xela are both correct, The YM and the NQ are better instruments for the beginner but given the questions you ask, you are not nearly ready to trade. That $3000 will disappear like a fart in a hurricane.
ok thanks for the replies, there is something I don't understand: Why the price of the ES is different from the price of the S&P 500? isn't it supposed to reflect it? (they are pretty close now but there are times when they are not even that close)
Futures aren't necessarily totally correlated with their underlying instruments. Price movements in the S&P index are caused by discrepancies between buying-pressure and selling-pressure in the S&P index. Price movements in the e-mini S&P are caused by discrepancies between buying-pressure and selling-pressure in the e-mini S&P index. Since they're two separate markets, a more obvious question (than why they're not totally correlated) is why they are so often very well correlated - and the reason for that is automated arbitrage by high-frequency trading, which effectively predicates that differences between the two tend to be both minor and brief.