Any downside of choosing "continuous" ES futures?
- Thread starter keesa
- Start date
what?
Oh dear
Continuous is just a way of charting. It stitches front contract to historical front contract. Theirs multiple ways to do it. Just need to understand that when stitching contracts together, price levels may be adjusted in the historical contracts.
Google “back adjusted futures contract” for more info.
Google “back adjusted futures contract” for more info.
Choose Continuous Consolidated futures when longer term charting a single Futures instrument. 
Otherwise the roll gap will confuse you. This is MOSTLY applicable to physically fungible futures where there are wildcard delivery issues with the underlying (like CL and ZN) and is usually NOT an issue with cash settled futures like ES.
Otherwise the roll gap will confuse you. This is MOSTLY applicable to physically fungible futures where there are wildcard delivery issues with the underlying (like CL and ZN) and is usually NOT an issue with cash settled futures like ES.
Yes, each charting platform will have cute nomenclature that means essentially the same thing.
What gets to be especially maddening is that different charting vendors use different symbols for the same product
. God forbid they all use the same symbol the trading exchange uses 
.
The continuous contract has quarterly adjustments/distortions(?) for premium. No value in that, really. If you want to look back to history, use the SPX cash. The futures data is relevant only in the nearby contract.
Should be careful using the word premium here as it's fundamentally wrong. Premium in market financialization has to do with an amount over fair value
What governs the contract value is either supply/demand vs time value. It has nothing to do with premium.
Furthermore, the current ES term structure is backwardated. So as he rolls, the value goes down, not up, in this instance.
