I want to get Started in E-Minis

Baker_Trader · Feb 11, 2003

-----Good morning everyone! How's Everyone doing?-----

I am New to this board and i have to say its pretty damm good. By far the best yet!

For the past year i have been trading stocks in the IB demo and with a couple others, however liking the IB the most so far. But i feel my self wanting to get into the world of trading E-Minis. ALot of people tell me they are much cheaper to trade with, and just over all better then trading stocks. However, I do not know alot about them! I would be very thank full is someone could take the time to explain, and help me get started in trading E-Minis! Or if thats impossible, provide me with a link to a site that will explain Eminis from step one?

And hey, How many people here make good money from Eminis? (Just curious

Have a good trading day everyone!

NihabaAshi · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from Baker_Trader:

However, I do not know alot about them!...provide me with a link to a site that will explain Eminis from step one?

Go to http://www.cme.com

Lots of info about the Eminis.

If your looking for something specific.

Go and read all the messages here in the Futures thread at

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=13

There are also other messages about the Eminis here at ET but not in the Futures thread...to read those...

use the Search menu in the upper right corner of this website or click on the link below...

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/searc...d=119974&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

Welcome to the world of trading the Eminis...most newbies don't survive the first 6 months of trading them.

NihabaAshi

gnome · Feb 11, 2003

you're OK already: "Trade eminis off of the SP cash chart [whichever time frame you like]. When you see a reason to buy or sell on the cash, place a market order in the emini.... and always follow your stop discipline".

If this concept leaves you with doubts, look elsewhere.

hii a_ooiioo_a · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from NihabaAshi:

Welcome to the world of trading the Eminis...most newbies don't survive the first 6 months of trading them.

Baker Trader, keep learning with information NihabaAshi has started you with. Starting out trading E-minis as your first real money trading is something to be very cautious about. Especially if you're trading a small account.

If you have less than $15,000-$20,000, and since you've been playing with stock trading in demos, may I suggest looking into the Single Stock Futures. They can be traded in smaller quantity of money than the E-minis, and might at the very least be a way to get your first taste of real-money trading without risking as much. If you trade the DIA Single Stock Future, it is more or less a smaller equivalent of the S&P E-mini, and the QQQ Single Stock Future is a smaller equivalent of the Nasdaq 100 E-mini.

You can learn more about the Single Stock Futures at the two exchanges that trade them:

www.nqlx.com

www.onechicago.com

downtickboy · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from gnome:

you're OK already: "Trade eminis off of the SP cash chart [whichever time frame you like]. When you see a reason to buy or sell on the cash, place a market order in the emini.... and always follow your stop discipline".

If this concept leaves you with doubts, look elsewhere.

Why would you trade them off a SP cash chart? Futures are suppose to lead the cash aren't they.

Baker_Trader · Feb 11, 2003

Thank you very much everyone!

I was wondering: You know how in stocks you must have 25k to day trade? (Trade as many as you can) With Eminis, can you still day trade without a 25k account?

Also: Can you make a living off Trading Eminis?

gnome · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from downtickboy:

Why would you trade them off a SP cash chart? Futures are suppose to lead the cash aren't they.

Yes, they usually do. The advantages to trading off the cash, however, are primarily (a) cash doesn't get the "overshoots" experienced in the leveraged, relatively thin, futures markets, and (b) once the cash has moved enough for you to see that you should act, it's usually too late to place a limit order for a better fill.

If you want to trade off the futures "chart formations", you can. However, that's psychologically [almost] impossible for a newbie... pretty darn tough for the seasoned, too, sometimes.

gnome · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from Baker_Trader:

Thank you very much everyone!

I was wondering: You know how in stocks you must have 25k to day trade? (Trade as many as you can) With Eminis, can you still day trade without a 25k account?

Also: Can you make a living off Trading Eminis?

Your broker will determine that. They usually let you open an account with much less than $25K.

AAAintheBeltway · Feb 11, 2003

Quote from Baker_Trader:

Thank you very much everyone!

I was wondering: You know how in stocks you must have 25k to day trade? (Trade as many as you can) With Eminis, can you still day trade without a 25k account?

Also: Can you make a living off Trading Eminis?

You don't need the 25k to daytrade. Yes, you can make a living, but as a newbie, the odds are you will not. And it would be very hard for anyone to make a living trading less than 25k.

downtickboy · Feb 11, 2003

What I do is look at the big contract S&P for most of my charts because they seem to have less "overshoots" and noise than the emini charts. I never thought of looking at the cash index charts.