I never looked at futures so this may be a stupid question:Quote from ddunbar:
Well, take the Emini-s&p futures for instance. To see how they move just look at the S&P 500 cash index. They are affected by news but usually not becuase of one or two stocks. If it's sector or economic news, then yes. But they lend themselves very well to technical analysis. If you need historical data for it, check this link: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=^GSPC
You can DL it into a CSV or Ascii file.
To see intraday movement, check Bigcharts.com enter symbol sp500.
Info on emini contract at the CME: http://www.cme.com/trading/prd/overview_ES702.html
MArgin requirements are found under the link "performance bonds" on that CME page.
Margin req: $4000 initial, 3200 maintenance. Though, most brokerages give you a day trade margin which is $2000 initial, 1600 maintenance.
Every 1 pt move in s&P gives you $50 per contract w/ 4 Increments of $12.50.
Time decay(theta) coupled with rate of change versus the underlying (delta) which varies depending on if the option is in the money, or out is the enemy of all option buyers. Let alone the sometimes relative illquidity of options.
Emini fultures on the other hand, have none of those extra problems so you can focus on being right about direction and magnitude. Plus they are the most liquid equity/index based contract in the world with an avergae daily volume in excess of 800,000. And open interest over 1 million.
I would recommend that you look into it. I did and have never regretted it.
Are index futures essentially the same as buying the Index? If so, the only advantage I can think of is maybe lower margin requirements. Do I have it right?
Don