How to develop pairs trading strategies with e-mini futures

[SunTrader]

If that is true, that should push a lot of volume to the "eMini™" Oy!

It's not like it was a rumor I heard, I gave a specific date.

Anyway here it is:-

"CME Group also announced that, subject to regulatory review, it will delist its full-size, floor-based S&P 500 futures and options contracts following the expiration of the September 2021 contracts on September 17, 2021. Open interest that remains after the delisting will be migrated into the E-mini S&P 500 futures and options contracts that are available electronically on CME Globex. All individual trading positions will be converted into the corresponding E-mini S&P 500 contracts with the matching expiration date and strike price for options at the current 1:5 ratio."

https://www.cmegroup.com/media-room...closemostopenoutcrytradingpitseurodollar.html

 

[MACD]

Junkou was OP and has disappeared?

 

[newwer]

How do you size a pair?
For example, here are notional estimates:
1 MNQ = 30,000 Notional
1 M2K = 11,000 Notional
1 MES = 20,000 Notional

But volatility of each contract is also different.

So should you sell 3 M2K for each 1 MNQ bought?
And sell 3 MES for every 2 MNQ bought?

 

[Overnight]

How do you size a pair?
For example, here are notional estimates:
1 MNQ = 30,000 Notional
1 M2K = 11,000 Notional
1 MES = 20,000 Notional

But volatility of each contract is also different.

So should you sell 3 M2K for each 1 MNQ bought?
And sell 3 MES for every 2 MNQ bought?

I reckon' you would size a "pair" based on what discounts the CME gives you for an inter-market spread performance-bond. The examples you listed are spreads the CME discounts to a trader, (although the ratios may be off) on the e-minis. Not sure if they are recognizing the discounts on the e-micros yet, but I imagine they are at this point.

@bone

 

[bone]

Go to the Inter Market Spreads Tab on the CME website under the contract margins page. There you will find the latest SPAN runs for spread offset credits. All of the exchanges publish this information, as spread trading is a big part of Commercials/Big Specs/Banks/Hedge Funds volume.

https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/equities/sp/e-mini-sandp500.margins.html#marginsTab=INTER

I reckon' you would size a "pair" based on what discounts the CME gives you for an inter-market spread performance-bond. The examples you listed are spreads the CME discounts to a trader, (although the ratios may be off) on the e-minis. Not sure if they are recognizing the discounts on the e-micros yet, but I imagine they are at this point.

@bone

 

[bone]

There's a whole hell of a lot more to this than picking obvious pairs.

Creativity pays off with spread trading.

 

[Junkou]

ok, it seems I haven't been here for a long time.

First of all, how to pair e-mini futures?

There are three pairs that make sense:

1. NASDAQ 100 e-mini (NQ or MNQ) vs Russell 2000 e-mini (RTY or M2K), ETFs QQQ vs IWM are also fine.

This pair works best. NQ represents large and growth, while RTY is small and value. Therefore there are two style rotation within this pair: large/small and growth/value

2. NASDAQ 100 e-mini (NQ or MNQ) vs Dow Jones e-mini (YM or MYM), ETFs QQQ vs DIA are also fine.

This pair is a growth/value style spread.

3. Russell 2000 e-mini (RTY or M2K) vs Dow Jones e-mini (YM or MYM), ETFs IWM vs DIA are also fine.

This pair is a size (large/small) style spread.

ES can't be paired with other e-mini futures because it is not a pure style index.

The exposure on either side is about the same, even though you can slightly have higher expose on the long side since market is going up in most of time.

Secondly, trading.

The trading is low-frequency, so I can handle by hand. However, thanks to the IB API, I have implemented the trading automatically. I put the program on the AWS Lightsail for only $20 a month. I starts the program in the afternoon of Sunday, and stop it on Friday after market close. IB gateway requires manually login at least once a week.

Since I don't use leverage, I actually prefer using ETFs QQQ, IWM, and DIA so that no need to worry about the future expiration.