Futures Beginner needs help

[retire45]

I have traded stocks forever and have tired a bit of them. Basically looking for a leveraged way to trade S&P on a swing basis.. a day to 5 days maybe more. What is the best book/site out there to describe all the available instruments.. ES (what does that stand for?) E-mini (what's that??), leverage levels, best established brokers.. etc.. Not looking for any strategies, just an overview on S&P futures (I am guessing this is the only way to leverage S&P more than stocks?)..

Thanks in advance...

 

[millionaire7]

http://www.cme.com/trading/prd/equity/emini-sp500.html

 

[nazzdack]

The "long" and "short" leveraged ETF's too.

 

[retire45]

I am not aware of Long Leveraged ETF's.. Currently doing SKF but was unable to short it yesterday at Ameritrade..

OR are you referring to the Short/Long ETF's through futures??

 

[nazzdack]

SSO & SDS

 

[retire45]

Nazz.. aware of those (DDM also) but their volatility pales compared to SKF..

 

[retire45]

Thanks... for the info..

 

[nazzdack]

1) I don't trade stocks. Can it be "difficult" to short-sell a short-biased ETF?
2) Consider trading the e-mini instead.

 

[retire45]

Nazz... Ok ETF's are shortable.. Ameritrade was out of inventory at the time..

 

[retire45]

Nazz... tried to short SKF today in the 124's no shares... Really need another way to trade SKF short.. I am long UYG but the $ trade has to be so much larger to match..