- Liquidity could be diff.. diff players! - Price w.r.t ES? , has to be close otherwise the "wise" people will arb it with ES with a autospreader won;t they? (same way 1SPx 5ES spread) but then if MES buy / sell pressures are different how would that match with ES? confusing In same vain what I never understood is how ES or SP futures contract price is derived after spx index (500 US stocks) stop trading in US lit exchanges?
I’m not following your question. Micro ES is priced off the ES ES is priced off the big SP Big SP is priced off the basket of stocks in the 500. As the ES has the best price Discovery, everybody can see bids/offers, most people just watch that unless they have a process for watching the basket.
Thanks Robert, I was just surprised that none of your clients were interested in the micros. However, as has been mentioned before, the micros were probably pitched at people like me who are new to futures and want to learn without losing or shirts.
We had one request from a current account. Maybe because our min account size for CQG is $10k and Realtick is $25k, it does not attract customers interested in the micros which is targeting more accounts under $5000. I do think for a swing trade, they are better than SPY.
Thanks Robert, I did suspect that minimum account size had something to do with it. I'm definitely looking at starting with no more than $5000 and am not interested in day trading as I live in the UK and have a full time job too. In your view: 1. If I stay with 1 MES contract to start with is the risk of ending up losing my account and also owing the broker money minimal (assuming I use sensible risk managment)? 2. Are the micros a good vehicle to learn how to swing trade index futures? 3. If one is looking to swing trade are futures an appropriate vehicle? Maybe ETFs might be better? Thanks!
I’m not familiar with tax laws in your country. In the United States there is an advantage to trading futures over ETFs. There is also higher leverage than Reg-t margin and no PDT rule. You just have to roll from time to time which is not hard and can be done with a spread. Is less you hope to hold the ETF for years here, then the etf might be better than future’s in the US as futures are marked to market at the end of the year while the ETF you would not pay taxes on until you close the position. UK might be different.
Jack, I started out scalping T-Bonds and was one of the first to use Project-A and overnight Globex. Was also one of the early ones trading DTB Bunds in Chicago. Been electronic ever since. You need to be mindful about execution latency if you're scalping on the screen. If you are using a discount broker, just be aware that you are probably adding an additional order routing loop as compared to you clearing a direct FCM (like Advantage, RJ O'Brien, Rosenthal Collins, etc.). The other thing (that you have apparently discovered) is that it is quite easy to over trade on the screen. And as you full well know with the Micro tic size it is the brokers who make the money. I don't scalp anymore - I'm a spread trader. But I wouldn't be surprised to see you lease a seat and move on to ES and NQ, where you get to keep some of your trading income. I wish you good fortune!