Intraday Stock Trading vs Equity Index Futures Trading

the key advantages daytrading + trading longer tf on stocks, as opposed to futures:

1) much more potential trades. there are much more stocks than futures

2) smaller risk sizing, more diversification: trading stocks

if trading a 50k a/c @1% per trade = $500. $300-500 is the average amount i've observed as minimum risk needed for a meaningful stop loss, when trading $10/tick upwards futures contracts. have spotted $100 (or 10tick stops) in less volatile conditions on 1lot of GC, but these are rare. in low-normal volatility conditions, you can probably find $150-$250 stops on $5/tick contracts like NQ, RTY, YM on 1 lot. however, these are thinner/volatile markets vs GC, ES, 6E

you can scale very much lower than $500 when sizing for stocks, & have relatively more "diversification" over a large number of trades, holding many positions at one point in time

3) taking partial positions on/off, is more doable on stocks. vs futures, where the bare minimum risk to trade 1lot usually varies 300-500usd on 10usd/tick contracts

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key disadvantages trading stocks

1) higher capital required

min 50k usd a/c to overcome pattern day trader rule & trade comfortable to post enough margin on a reg T a/c. you will need to maintain minimum 125k usd for a portfolio a/c for a higher 6.6 leverage

2) gap risk, on the non-24hrs nature of stocks

3) when trading patterns, entry is sometimes not optimal *if stock gaps to trigger pattern entry at market open

4) before market open / after market close earnings gap risk

5) algo sub-pennying games on less liquid stocks. will most likely get sh*tted by algos when using pending stop losses, or pending entry stops

6) more expensive tick data. eg. 150usd/mth upwards from iq feed, vs <50usd/mth for cme futures for non-professionals

7) alot of stocks outside US cannot be shorted

8) etfs offer opp to trade more exotic emerging markets indicies for eg. however, futures on the same underlying should be the 1st choice if one has access. futures demand less margin vs etfs & futures are almost 24 hrs to get in or out of positions
thanks. about stops..if you use a buy stop to open and its rth..not super thin not heavy volume but a small cap...how badly cents wise would you say a stop gets hit after breaking out of a resistance line..i know it varies but in es i can tell you..a tick or 2 but max would be 3..even on a 3000 lot break higher in a second. how bad cents wise can it get in stocks furing rth
 
thanks. about stops..if you use a buy stop to open and its rth..not super thin not heavy volume but a small cap...how badly cents wise would you say a stop gets hit after breaking out of a resistance line..i know it varies but in es i can tell you..a tick or 2 but max would be 3..even on a 3000 lot break higher in a second. how bad cents wise can it get in stocks furing rth

I'm not sure on this, but it seems you like stocks over the index futures...

What about individual stock futures? That would seem to combine the best of both worlds for your trading needs?
 
I am a big fan of futures, however you have to ask yourself - why do so many of the pros, like those at private equity firms that are real big earners trade stocks?

For one thing when unexpected news, good or bad, hits the wire and you see a huge surge in volume with price gaping out of congestion or S/R - often you can have highly directional moves that can tack on a far greater % moves than any futures stock index, that is without having to add on leverage, which makes the chances of getting shaken out far more likely.

The stock market is massive, you can find a few stocks in play just about very day with a huge billboard (volume+price) shouting "the big players have big positions to enter or exit which is likely to go on all day, and for days to come."

For us smaller fish we are nibble enough to sort of front run the big fish under certain circumstances. Sure futures has a bit of this to, just not nearly at the same level as stocks.
 
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I am a big fan of futures, however you have to ask yourself - why do so many of the pros, like those at private equity firms that are real big earners trade stocks?

For one thing when unexpected news, good or bad, hits the wire and you see a huge surge in volume with price gaping out of congestion or S/R - often you can have highly directional moves that can tack on a far greater % moves than any futures stock index, that is without having to add on leverage, which makes the chances of getting shaken out far more likely.

The stock market is massive, you can find a few stocks in play just about very day with a huge billboard (volume+price) shouting "the big players have big positions to enter or exit which is likely to go on all day, and for days to come."

For us smaller fish we are nibble enough to sort of front run the big fish under certain circumstances. Sure futures has a bit of this to, just not nearly at the same level as stocks.
agreed..nice post
 
It has seemed to me that it depends on equity, individuals with more money, a million+ will be happy with the return on stocks. People with less want the same percent return or more and choose futures, often foolishly but not always so. I trade a lot of agro futures as I am a farmer, I have years of predicting behind me.

The rich live in a world of decent stock tips. Only recently I was tipped on a pharma stock that was about to have a major trial clear to the final phase at dinner.
 
thanks. about stops..if you use a buy stop to open and its rth..not super thin not heavy volume but a small cap...how badly cents wise would you say a stop gets hit after breaking out of a resistance line..i know it varies but in es i can tell you..a tick or 2 but max would be 3..even on a 3000 lot break higher in a second. how bad cents wise can it get in stocks furing rth

on stocks, im not able to give you an exact answer, as i specifically avoid small caps & m not subscribed to depth. algo market maker games will be extremely bad. a sh*t ton of ticks. if you go odd lot, even worse. ideally, i would use ladders to see dom on all exchanges on something like TT's x trader, if i were daytrading stocks

algo mm game is already bad even on a high end midcap, with decent daily volume. here is a fresh example today. please correct if wrong. look at the highlighted time & sales. it looks to me that the algo mm saw a buy stop 500 shares @ ~103.94 (today's high), "fired up"/ withdrew asks to fill it + some other orders near it, before "firing back down" immediately. these orders are in the vicinity of a recent swing high. in my understanding, the algo mm seems to be able to "see/read" the order book to play such games. this is where & how the "unfair" money is made in stocks

on futures, slippage only happens at obvious stop loss / volume void locations. i've seen 3ticks slippage on 6J, 5mins into US open with no news, at an obvious stop loss location. slippage is generally not a concern for futures, except around high impact news & crisis enviros

els mm algo games.png



i would trade patterns on both futures & stocks. after all, we are traders trading other traders. & fear & greed shows up in any asset
 
on stocks, im not able to give you an exact answer, as i specifically avoid small caps & m not subscribed to depth. algo market maker games will be extremely bad. a sh*t ton of ticks. if you go odd lot, even worse. ideally, i would use ladders to see dom on all exchanges on something like TT's x trader, if i were daytrading stocks

algo mm game is already bad even on a high end midcap, with decent daily volume. here is a fresh example today. please correct if wrong. look at the highlighted time & sales. it looks to me that the algo mm saw a buy stop 500 shares @ ~103.94 (today's high), "fired up"/ withdrew asks to fill it + some other orders near it, before "firing back down" immediately. these orders are in the vicinity of a recent swing high. in my understanding, the algo mm seems to be able to "see/read" the order book to play such games. this is where & how the "unfair" money is made in stocks

on futures, slippage only happens at obvious stop loss / volume void locations. i've seen 3ticks slippage on 6J, 5mins into US open with no news, at an obvious stop loss location. slippage is generally not a concern for futures, except around high impact news & crisis enviros

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i would trade patterns on both futures & stocks. after all, we are traders trading other traders. & fear & greed shows up in any asset
Slippage is actually huge in futures. $ 12.50 a tick of slippage.. so you get charge commission+fees+slippage in and then you ghet charged commission plus fees plus slippage out.

it averages on the low end on a 1 lot= $ 30 bucks total cost per minimum trade in the emini.
mini naz futures = round turn = 4 +7.5 +7.5= $ 19 or 20.. i used 1 tick and 2 ticks and averaged them for slippage.. depends a lot on mkt conditions for slipapge.
Slipapge is just as important in futures.
500 share equivalent spy to 1 emini futures so... 30/500= $ .06 in and out (RT) with fees and slippage.. or half in and half out = $ .03 opr 3 cents. so you must make a total of 6 cents when trading the spy in order to overcome the costs of doingn business in trading. IT DOESNT matter if you use a limit or a stop or a mkt order.. you still pay the spread. HFT makes sure they make money on your trades so you are paying the spread one way or another no matter what order type.
 
Slippage is actually huge in futures. $ 12.50 a tick of slippage.. so you get charge commission+fees+slippage in and then you ghet charged commission plus fees plus slippage out.

it averages on the low end on a 1 lot= $ 30 bucks total cost per minimum trade in the emini.
mini naz futures = round turn = 4 +7.5 +7.5= $ 19 or 20.. i used 1 tick and 2 ticks and averaged them for slippage.. depends a lot on mkt conditions for slipapge.
Slipapge is just as important in futures.
500 share equivalent spy to 1 emini futures so... 30/500= $ .06 in and out (RT) with fees and slippage.. or half in and half out = $ .03 opr 3 cents. so you must make a total of 6 cents when trading the spy in order to overcome the costs of doingn business in trading. IT DOESNT matter if you use a limit or a stop or a mkt order.. you still pay the spread. HFT makes sure they make money on your trades so you are paying the spread one way or another no matter what order type.
if you make 10 (1) lot eminii trades you really need to cover $ 300 in expenses before you make any money
 
Slippage is actually huge in futures. $ 12.50 a tick of slippage.. so you get charge commission+fees+slippage in and then you ghet charged commission plus fees plus slippage out.

it averages on the low end on a 1 lot= $ 30 bucks total cost per minimum trade in the emini.
mini naz futures = round turn = 4 +7.5 +7.5= $ 19 or 20.. i used 1 tick and 2 ticks and averaged them for slippage.. depends a lot on mkt conditions for slipapge.
Slipapge is just as important in futures.
500 share equivalent spy to 1 emini futures so... 30/500= $ .06 in and out (RT) with fees and slippage.. or half in and half out = $ .03 opr 3 cents. so you must make a total of 6 cents when trading the spy in order to overcome the costs of doingn business in trading. IT DOESNT matter if you use a limit or a stop or a mkt order.. you still pay the spread. HFT makes sure they make money on your trades so you are paying the spread one way or another no matter what order type.[/QUOTEMy example of SPY was comparing it to the eminin futures contract. I understand there maybe lower fees and better fills in the spy than 3 cents a side in fees but that is what it equals in emini futures and that i swhy I find it funny that the CME always touts how ridiculously low trading costs are on the emini sp contract. It isn't much different than stocks and might actually be more than the spy. CME should reduce the tick size fo the eminis sp500 and nasdaq to $ 5 per tick and let it trade like the SPY in decimals instead of 1/4th fractions of a point. IN EVERY MKT with lower minimum tick values we have witnessed cost savings. that is why stocks went from fractions to decimals..pennies.
so emini sp500 would trade like the dow jones mini 10 ticks would be $ 50 bucks which would be 1 point. this would help reduce clustering of orders adn reduce the effects of SPOOFING because you would be gunning for 5 or 10 bucks instead of 12.50 or 25 bucks. It is a big incentive to get 2 ticks instead of 1 when you are talking about $ 12.50 or $ 25 dolalrs profit. Trading is very expensive when you look at the overall cost of doing business. 30 dollars is clsoe to tank of gas for every trade you do in teh emini sp500!! You better be right and execute perfectly everytime
 
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