Many here swear by the NQ over ES. I would be interested to read what is their reasoning and what are the advantages. Since I have never traded the NQ, I hold no opinion.
I find that it trends a little nicer then the es. When i pull up an es chart all i usually see if chop. However, when i look at the nq i can see more trends. This is just what I see though, other traders might have the exact opposite opinion.
NQ makes many more straight line swings than ES does. The smaller a chart used, the more apparent this is. Most scalpers I know prefer the NQ above all else right now. ES is arguably the worst short-term trading symbol, it gets faded to death inside almost every swing.
I don't know exactly what advantage it has, but when I once just from curiosity took a look at NQ the next day I switched to it and trade it (and QQQQ) now. For some reason (maybe that, which Austin stated) patterns I trade are identified in NQ more easily than they were in ES or YM.
ES is same as ZB these days: limited range, heavy chop inside the range. When markets are trending or normal up/down intraday swings, ES offers plenty of potential. When the range is 6pts intraday, the chop is killer. NQ has a lot less of that, due to 1/10th liquidity of ES. Big-money bot scalpers cannot play the same games in ER or NQ that they do in ES (with YM moving in sympathy to ES) due to limited liquidity.
Well I can't say ES or YM bit me painfully, it was OK, but NQ moves are really more clear on the same charts. But of course ER2 and DAX are the best.
The more I trade, the more I come to the conclusion that every trader has his/her "own" market which suits one's (or maybe bot's ) personality best.
Thank you to you all. So far I have gained a great deal from this thread so far. Having had my ass handed to me in a sling some years ago by believing the ES trend was my friend, I cobbled together an effective way of fading the beast by front running the money and rolling when I get it wrong. My % accuracy is running around 83% and rolling pretty much covers my losses. Oddly enough it is trends that are my enemy as I can amuse myself in the chop all day. And so I gather that if I am to approach the NQ it is going to require an open mind and a fresh battle plan.
The number of ticks traded between the high and low of the day is much larger for NQ than ES. This wasnt always the case, the spread on NQ has recently been halved. This lowers the transaction costs on NQ over ES. Not so important if you only do 1 or 2 trades a week, but for an active day trader it can add up. Depends on your day trading style, some styles work best with a wide spread, but for me its a disadvantage.