Emini Futures - The Facts (symbols, trading hours, expiration dates, etc.)

This page is all about Emini futures. The S&P500 Emini is a futures contract that tracks the S&P500 index. It is traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) via their Globex electronic platform. Trading is 23 ½ hours a day, 5 days a week, using the symbol ES.

 

Emini Futures - Now Over 10 Years Old

The Emini futures contract was launched in September 1997 to attract non-professional investors into trading index futures. The CME did this by making the contract 1/5th the size of the standard S&P500 futures contract, therefore, requiring only 1/5th the margin to trade.

Emini margin requirements vary by broker and whether you are day trading or position trading, but are approximately US$2,250 per contract to open a day trade and US$4,500 per contract to open an overnight position. Margin requirements have recently been increased because of volatility in the underlying S&P500 index.

 

Advantages of Trading Emini Futures

Emini futures have a number of advantages for traders:

  • Lower margin requirements than the full-size contract
  • Round-the-clock electronic trading platform (Globex)
  • High liquidity and, therefore, minimal slippage and tight bid/offer spreads
  • Ability to go long (buy) and short (sell) with no up-tick rule
  • Large volatility and high leverage
  • Very low brokerage commissions
  • Lower tax rate (for US traders), and
  • Minimal tax reporting requirements

Over the years I have traded almost every possible security: stocks, options, commodities, futures, forex, mutual funds, IPOs, ETFs, etc. But a few years ago I finally found what I consider to be the ideal trading vehicle – the S&P500 Emini futures – I trade it exclusively now and haven't looked back since.

 

Emini Futures Have Become Hugely Popular

Emini Futures Volume Image

S&P500 Emini Futures (Monthly Volume)

As a result of these advantages, Emini futures have been a huge success with both non-professional and professional traders. Trading volumes have increased rapidly as the chart above shows. In August 2007 monthly volumes exceeded 55 million contracts and the average daily volume is now more than 2 million contracts.

By contrast, the original large S&P only does about 1 million contracts a month - equivalent to 5 million Emini contracts when you adjust for margin requirements.

 

Other Varieties of Emini Futures

All Emini Futures Volume Image

Other Emini Futures (Monthly Volume)

With the success of S&P500 Emini futures the CME (and other exchanges) decided to launch other “Emini” futures contracts covering additional US indices and commodities. These other Emini futures varieties include:

  • NASDAQ 100 (symbol NQ, 100 largest NASDAQ companies)
  • NASDAQ Composite (symbol QN, all 3,000+ NASDAQ companies)
  • NASDAQ Biotech (symbol BQ)
  • Russell 2000 (symbol ER2, small cap index)
  • Russell 1000 (symbol RS, 1,000 largest cap companies)
  • S&P Midcap 400 (symbol EMD)
  • Dow (symbol YM, traded on the CBOT exchange)
  • Natural gas, light sweet crude, heating oil and unleaded gasoline

However, S&P500 Emini futures continue to dominate index futures as the chart above of monthly trading volumes shows. On this site when I use the word Emini I am referring to the S&P500 Emini futures contract.

 

… And Some Other Facts About Emini Futures

Other S&P500 Emini futures facts and details:

  • Each 1 index point move is worth US$50 per contract
  • The minimum move of the futures contract (tick size) is 0.25 index points or US$12.50 per contract
  • Weekly trading opens on Sunday at 5pm and closes on Friday at 3:15pm (CST)
  • Day session trading opens on weekdays at 8:30am, closes briefly at 3:15pm and then re-opens at 3:30pm (CST)
  • Scheduled maintenance Monday to Thursday between 4:30pm and 5:00pm (CST)
  • Emini futures contracts expire quarterly in March, June, September and December, denoted by the letters “H”, “M”, “U”, “Z” respectively and so ES06H is the symbol for an S&P500 Emini futures contract that expires in March 2006

 

Enough about Emini futures. Click here to read more about Emini day trading.

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