here's my opinion.. I don't know why anyone would trade SPY with no tax advantage? SPX, I wouldn't trade, although it has 1256 tax advantage, and has some commissions savings ES, I would trade ES, tax advantage and higher premium then comparable SPX NDX, NDX is good short term as people want to move out of their successful trades, and premium is a little higher in weeklies if you have the margin NQ, superior to NDX once again like ES to SPX. NQ is a bear as the spreads are not good. I dread picking up NQ, time when it is good for picking though is when there is a "drop" or a decline in market as the fear really opens those pocket books and fills become easier ES>NQ>NDX>SPX>SPY key takeaways, the futures are "nicer" to play in my opinion, with ES and NQ being king when we talk about SPX and NDX even though they have lower commissions
@IndyJonerJr : When you reference ES, are you switching topics from options to Futures, OR, are you inferring Futures options? IF you are referring to ES options, why do you think they are better than SPX options? -- Do you require the smaller size? -- The only advantage IMHO would be extended trading hours (near 24 hr trading), but the 25 cent granularity, compared to 5 cents for SPX options seems undesirable. (ridiculous commissions and inability to trade in IRA accounts at some brokerages were other issues)
I've had friends mention the futures options markets but I have no experience in them. Do they have the same expiries as spx/spy? Are margin rules significantly different? As well, how do the Greeks operate? Could one transfer their strats from spy to SPX to ES? For qqq vs ndx options.. I've noticed that while ndx is less busy (volume) the spreads can be better than qqq for some expiries. Ndx moves more jaggedly tho. Mm seem more conservative in their pricing approach ...
I thought poster wanted to know a little on futures options ( FOP ) so I included my take vs. "regular options" I don't require the smaller size and has nothing to do with that, I hate it and wish I could trade SPX for cheaper commissions.. they are better in my option as last when I traded SPX/NDX I got better premium on the ES/NQ then SPX/NDX and we are talking same strike.. for some reason they don't pay the same at all in premium even counting margin for margin on the same strike! you could end up with like a quick comparable of 20k for sold premium in NDX, then if I moved to NQ I could pull in 40k... no comparison what so ever at all! yeah the commissions are far cheaper but it still doesn't matter, you will get more premium trading future options in ES/NQ. and to be honest I do about 2/3 of my fills on ES then do about 1/3 on NQ since its such a pain to get good premium in NQ, but keep in mind NQ will usually pay more then ES as NQ is 100 stocks and the high flyers, so.. only time the extended trading works is fear once again, you won't get good prices in any spread at "close" if you trade extended hours unless there is mass fear, only time you could trade and get decent pricing. one small option I do sometimes is set it higher then open bid yesterday and they do fill sometimes at a higher rate, but this is on open, has nothing to do with extended hours, I've only have some good fills when the market is down and people are sacred.. I like these plays about two weeks to expiry.. IRA, I don't know, I'm far past that and don't even have an IRA, so can't help there.. just trade equal margin in ES / SPX on same strike and you will now know exactly what I'm talking about very easily.. I have no clue as to why this is, I think someone told me once or I read these traders are a little different then ES/NQ traders and hedge a different style and way????? I don't know, and don't need to know as I know what pays more and I stay there. could be the contract sizing, don't know what it is for SPX, ES is 50 a contract..