Trade E-mini on E*Trade...

Contract Description Trade Date (YYMMDD) Delivery Month Opening Price High Price Low Price Settle Price Actual Volume O-DH O-DH % O-DL O-DL % O-C O-C %
E-ND 100 02-May 6 1426 1439 1419 1427.5 215900 13.00 0.91% (7.00) -0.49% 1.50 0.11%
E-ND 100 03-May 6 1428 1441 1424 1438 322303 13.00 0.91% (4.00) -0.28% 10.00 0.70%
E-ND 100 04-May 6 1438 1458 1433.5 1452 315342 20.00 1.39% (4.50) -0.31% 14.00 0.97%
E-ND 100 05-May 6 1452.5 1461.5 1444.5 1456.5 292090 9.00 0.62% (8.00) -0.55% 4.00 0.28%
E-ND 100 06-May 6 1456 1468 1453 1458 207912 12.00 0.82% (3.00) -0.21% 2.00 0.14%
E-ND 100 09-May 6 1459.5 1467 1449.5 1463.5 205402 7.50 0.51% (10.00) -0.69% 4.00 0.27%
E-ND 100 10-May 6 1463.5 1465 1448 1454 272732 1.50 0.10% (15.50) -1.06% (9.50) -0.65%
E-ND 100 11-May 6 1453.5 1465 1435 1461 398395 11.50 0.79% (18.50) -1.27% 7.50 0.52%
E-ND 100 12-May 6 1461 1472 1449 1457.5 386089 11.00 0.75% (12.00) -0.82% (3.50) -0.24%
E-ND 100 13-May 6 1460 1483 1459 1474 412221 23.00 1.58% (1.00) -0.07% 14.00 0.96%
E-ND 100 16-May 6 1474.5 1485.5 1468.5 1481.5 221645 11.00 0.75% (6.00) -0.41% 7.00 0.47%
E-ND 100 17-May 6 1481 1495.5 1472 1494 269596 14.50 0.98% (9.00) -0.61% 13.00 0.88%
E-ND 100 18-May 6 1494 1518.5 1488 1512.5 349372 24.50 1.64% (6.00) -0.40% 18.50 1.24%
E-ND 100 19-May 6 1513 1525 1511.5 1524 301523 12.00 0.79% (1.50) -0.10% 11.00 0.73%
E-ND 100 20-May 6 1524 1532 1517.5 1530.5 214357 8.00 0.52% (6.50) -0.43% 6.50 0.43%
E-ND 100 23-May 6 1530.5 1543.5 1527 1539 274480 13.00 0.85% (3.50) -0.23% 8.50 0.56%
E-ND 100 24-May 6 1538.5 1544 1531.5 1540.5 283048 5.50 0.36% (7.00) -0.45% 2.00 0.13%
E-ND 100 25-May 6 1540.5 1542 1526.5 1538.5 227913 1.50 0.10% (14.00) -0.91% (2.00) -0.13%
E-ND 100 26-May 6 1537.5 1554.5 1536.5 1549 212861 17.00 1.11% (1.00) -0.07% 11.50 0.75%
E-ND 100 27-May 6 1549 1553.5 1543.5 1552 113381 4.50 0.29% (5.50) -0.36% 3.00 0.19%
E-ND 100 31-May 6 1552 1558.5 1540 1545 235746 6.50 0.42% (12.00) -0.77% (7.00) -0.45%
E-ND 100 01-Jun 6 1545 1570.5 1543.5 1557.5 25.50 1.65% (1.50) -0.10% 12.50 0.81%
E-ND 100 02-Jun 6 1556.5 1572 1555 1571.5 15.50 1.00% (1.50) -0.10% 15.00 0.96%
E-ND 100 03-Jun 6 1568.5 1568.5 1543 1550.5 - 0.00% (25.50) -1.63% (18.00) -1.15%
E-ND 100 06-Jun 6 1548.5 1551 1541 1545.5 2.50 0.16% (7.50) -0.48% (3.00) -0.19%
E-ND 100 07-Jun 6 1548 1562 1532 1534 14.00 0.90% (16.00) -1.03% (14.00) -0.90%
E-ND 100 08-Jun 6 1534 1542.5 1524.5 1530.5 268000 8.50 0.55% (9.50) -0.62% (3.50) -0.23%
E-ND 100 09-Jun 6 1529 1544.5 1521.5 1537 146000 15.50 1.01% (7.50) -0.49% 8.00 0.52%
E-ND 100 10-Jun 6 1537 1541 1523 1519.5 4.00 0.26% (14.00) -0.91% (17.50) -1.14%

11.40 113.00

 

Average of 11.4 points per day with a total of 113 points.... I can get that up to 145 by waiting to buy until it goes down 1.5 points, which it did every single day in the last 30 days...... $50 per point on NQ right? that's $5650 on one contract.

I'm just wondering if you can actually buy in the morning and sell in the afternoon like you do securities, or if futures are not at all like securities in the way you buy and sell.

 

Yes you can, the only reason that you are getting the reaction you are getting is because such a simplistic plan is doomed to failure. What you have done is curve-fit a bare-bones strategy on a time period where the market was rising, if it had fallen during that period you would have lost just as much.

I agree with your premise that you should just try it with small trades to get a feel for it and to understand issues like slippage and the spread and how it affects your trading. Just be prepared for an education - this is real money, its not easy, if it was everyone would be doing it.

 

That last post looks like a jumbled mess.... here's my calculations for the NQ from the Opening price to the Closing Price....
02-May 1.50
03-May 10.00
04-May 14.00
05-May 4.00
06-May 2.00
09-May 4.00
10-May (9.50)
11-May 7.50
12-May (3.50)
13-May 14.00
16-May 7.00
17-May 13.00
18-May 18.50
19-May 11.00
20-May 6.50
23-May 8.50
24-May 2.00
25-May (2.00)
26-May 11.50
27-May 3.00
31-May (7.00)
01-Jun 12.50
02-Jun 15.00
03-Jun (18.00)
06-Jun (3.00)
07-Jun (14.00)
08-Jun (3.50)
09-Jun 8.00
10-Jun (17.50)

Again, with a total of 113 points.

 

and have you done that sucessfully? Or is there some other difficulty that makes is unfeasible?

 

Gotcha, unfortunately I can't get my hands on any data farther back unless I pay for it......

 

My excel gives me something different (total 95) buts its largely irrelevent

2-May 1.5
3-May 10
4-May 14
5-May 4
6-May 2
9-May 4
10-May -9.5
11-May 7.5
12-May -3.5
13-May 14
16-May 7
17-May 13
18-May 18.5
19-May 11
20-May 6.5
23-May 8.5
24-May 2
25-May -2
26-May 11.5
27-May 3
31-May -7
1-Jun 12.5
2-Jun 15
3-Jun -18
6-Jun -3
7-Jun -14
8-Jun -3.5
9-Jun 8
10-Jun -17.5
Total 95.5

 

You dont need exact quotes to figure out which days the market closed higher or lower. Just pull Nasdaq index quotes or look at a 10 year graph of the indices.

In any case on any individual day, how are you going to decide if that is going to be an up day? Simply going long every morning and selling before the close doesnt make much sense. Why not just buy and hold if you want to be long all the time, saves on commissions...

 

There is nothing technically unfeasible in your plan. Its as simple as it looks to buy and sell. The market is very liquid and the tools and brokers are plentiful.

Knowing when to buy and when to sell is the hard part.

 

saves the after hours pullback? I guess there is no afterhours so I should stop looking at this from a security aspect?

It's tough to figure an entry point and exit when almost everyday I have data for is an up day.....