The lineup of futures products available for trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) provides a wide variety of asset classes. From agricultural contracts to equities and currencies, the CME offers active futures traders an unparalleled catalogue of offerings.
The CME also provides traders with several product types designed for the customization of risk exposure. Micro E-mini, E-mini, and full-sized issues furnish participants with the ability to directly control any strategy’s granularity. Subsequently, one of the most popular ways of doing so is through day trading E-mini futures courtesy of the CME.
Benefits of Day Trading E-mini Futures
Each participant in the futures markets has a unique collection of resources and goals. From large-cap investors to intraday scalpers, thousands of strategies are put into action every day. However, for anyone focused on short-term profitability, day trading E-mini futures offers several advantages over other products. Here are a few of the primary ones:
- Diversity: E-mini contracts based upon the leading U.S. equities indices, metals, currencies, and energies are readily available for trade.
- Accessibility: E-mini futures are open for trade nearly 24 hours per day, five days a week. E-mini contracts are also traded on an exclusively digital basis via the CME Globex electronic platform.
- Liquidity: Although the CME offers active traders many different E-mini contracts, degrees of liquidity vary from listing to listing. For instance, the ever-popular E-mini S&P 500 regularly averages volumes of more than 1 million contracts per session. Conversely, other products, such as E-mini Crude Oil or E-mini Copper, have much lower degrees of participation.
- Reduced margins: One key advantage of the E-minis is their vastly reduced day trade margins. For example, the E-mini Euro FX has an intraday margin of $495 per lot. This is ½ the intraday margin of full-sized Euro FX futures, which come in at $990. Of course, it’s important to remember that margins will vary in relation to brokerage service and current market volatility. Nonetheless, day trading E-mini products typically requires a modest capital outlay in comparison to their full-sized counterparts.
The capability to boost capital efficiency while engaging liquid, diverse markets is essential to achieving profitability via day trading. Simply put, if you have a viable short-term approach to trading futures, it may work well with at least one of the E-minis.
The CME’s Most Popular E-mini Products
As mentioned earlier, not all E-mini products are alike. Each features unique volatility, depth of market, and margin requirements. In reality, these differences make some contracts better suited for day trading E-mini strategies than others.
Here’s a list of some of the CME’s E-mini offerings that supply the volatility, liquidity, and reduced margins that make them suitable for the execution of day trading strategies:
| Product | Asset Class | Symbol | Intraday Margin Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-mini S&P 500 | Equities Index | ES | $500 |
| E-mini NASDAQ | Equities Index | NQ | $500 |
| E-mini DOW | Equities Index | YM | $500 |
| E-mini Crude Oil | Energy | QM | $1,031 |
| E-mini Natural Gas | Energy | QG | $337 |
| E-mini Copper | Metal | QC | $660 |
| E-mini Euro FX | Currency | E7 | $495 |
This is only a sampling of the E-mini offerings available at the CME. More exotic contracts, such as the E-mini Japanese yen or E-mini Silver, could be a better fit for your day trading E-mini game plan.
Are the E-minis Right for Your Portfolio?
One of the more attractive aspects of the futures market is that it offers something for everyone. No matter what type of trader or investor you are, a variety of products can help you achieve your financial goals.
If you are an aspiring E-mini day trader, a great way to begin investigating the potential of these exciting markets is to read our e-book, Introduction to E-mini Stock Index Futures. Building a rock-solid game plan for your journey into the markets is an essential part of achieving success. This informative primer can help you do just that by explaining several of the most popular CME E-mini offerings.
