ES vs NQ

fan27 said:
ES does not trend quite as much as NQ which translates into mean reversion strategies performing better with ES.
More...
it doesnt trend as much because the top dogs arent ad concentrated in tech like in the nq.
the sp500 is more diversified so when you have trades in xle or xlf or a big fund moving size in 2 or 3 sp500 stocks it will throw off the index at times. which keeps it off trend
 
I think there was a time in the past where it made more sense to choose NQ over ES because of greater volatility.

With current nominal index values and volatility ES is very tradeable and offers a lot each day.

I haven't made an in depth comparison of the two, although I do watch NQ on a daily basis. I prefer ES since it's what I've followed over a long time now and where I've done my homework.
 
DevBru said:
Now i have added a lot more instruments for which i also watch the same 2 levels.

ES, NQ, YM, RTY, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZW, FVS, FESX, FDXM, FGBM, FGBL, FXXP, FBTP and finally FOAT and every now and then i also do a spread trade, mainly on ES/NQ.
More...

Interesting. Prior Day High/Low?

How do you feel those European instruments compare with the US?
 
Laissez Faire said:
Interesting. Prior Day High/Low?

How do you feel those European instruments compare with the US?
More...

Yes, mostly prior day high/low, but i will not just enter because an instrument reached a previous high or low, there is more to it. But 95% of my trades are near those levels. I don't even look at the overnight levels anymore, my charts only shows regular sessions.

European indexes or bonds aren't that different from those in the US in regards of movement, the main reason i included those is to have more signals but also since i do live in the EU it makes more sense to start with the EU session and stop after the first 2-3 hours into the US session or just place some alerts when the EU session ends and get away from the desk until an alert triggers.
 
Thanks everyone. Great feedback about both.. I was trading ES for a while and moved to NQ, but some of the spikes are crazy and knock me out of trades when I use a SL.
 
DevBru said:
I used to only watch ES, then NQ, then back to ES.

Now since i only watch 2 levels there were a lot of days with little to no trades, hence why i switched sometimes.

Now i have added a lot more instruments for which i also watch the same 2 levels.

ES, NQ, YM, RTY, ZB, ZN, ZC, ZW, FVS, FESX, FDXM, FGBM, FGBL, FXXP, FBTP and finally FOAT and every now and then i also do a spread trade, mainly on ES/NQ.

Might seem like a lot, but i only watch 2 levels for each instrument so there is plenty of time just staring at the screens with nothing to do. Today i had 4 trades over the course of around 8 hours, so lots of free time.

I wouldn't suggest watching that many instruments if you are still figuring out how to trade or what to do, but once i found my strategy i started over trading while watching ES or NQ only, trying to get in on every single movement around my predefined levels instead of waiting it out and getting in on the confirmation, in fear of missing the only signal i had during the day.

I knew the system was solid, but this was killing my performance. Now that i have added all those instruments there is no more fear since it is very likely there will be another trade later on in the day.

So my conclusion: watching only a few instruments is probably best if you are trading very active and are in and out a lot. Watching more instruments is probably best if you are trading only a few times a day to get as much signals as possible and have a lot of time to analyze all charts, both to avoid over trading in fear of missing out as to avoid maybe even multiple days without any decent signal.

To answer your actual question :D .. I would pick NQ if i was looking for a lot of volatility and a lot of movement to be in and out in low timeframes. I would pick ES if i was looking for more "mellow" price action. ES tends to respect its support/resistance levels, lows of days etc much better compared to NQ, NQ often does retest and retest lows/highs and keeps stopping you out, before finally moving in the direction you were actually trading in, ES doesn't do that. It just hangs out around a price level in a few ticks range instead of bouncing all over the place.
More...


great mister.

Do expand your list further (but cut down those not so tradeable futures).

I trade about 15 to 25 futures, depending on which sessions (Asian, Eur, US sessions) and market condition.
But beyond that, my brain CPU will not be able to cope.

more futures --->
more trading opportunities ---->
more $$$$$
 
maxinger said:
great mister.

Do expand your list further (but cut down those not so tradeable futures).

I trade about 15 to 25 futures, depending on which sessions (Asian, Eur, US sessions) and market condition.
But beyond that, my brain CPU will not be able to cope.

more futures --->
more trading opportunities ---->
more $$$$$
More...

Which ones do you think are not so tradeable?
 
DevBru said:
ES tends to respect its support/resistance levels, lows of days etc much better compared to NQ, NQ often does retest and retest lows/highs and keeps stopping you out, before finally moving in the direction you were actually trading in, ES doesn't do that. It just hangs out around a price level in a few ticks range instead of bouncing all over the place.
More...

From my cursory experience with NQ this does seem to be true. The only other instrument I ever studied in detail for a while was CL and I vividly remember how levels didn't really matter or were more like rough zones.

To me, or rather the way I perceive the market, ES is much more technically clean and levels usually matter and are even predictable to some degree. Except on days like Monday where the market simply picks up a strong trend and slashes through all levels like a knife in hot butter.

DevBru said:
Yes, mostly prior day high/low, but i will not just enter because an instrument reached a previous high or low, there is more to it. But 95% of my trades are near those levels. I don't even look at the overnight levels anymore, my charts only shows regular sessions.

European indexes or bonds aren't that different from those in the US in regards of movement, the main reason i included those is to have more signals but also since i do live in the EU it makes more sense to start with the EU session and stop after the first 2-3 hours into the US session or just place some alerts when the EU session ends and get away from the desk until an alert triggers.
More...

Interesting approach for sure. I plan to eventually start looking into some European instruments too as I also live in Europe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top