Newbie Question: Why is trading ES so popular?

[Visaria]

Quote from Cazza La Randa:

The Dax future is the wildest contract

Last year with the European debt crisis, I have seen three times in a row (3 consecutive days) a potential slippage of 50 points (100 ticks) per contract (2.500,00 Eur with Just one contract!!)
50 points gap driving a market news

I have never seen before a thing like this
Scary...........

A looong time ago, before the internet, i shorted the DAX over the phone with my broker:

Quite funny now:

vis: sell x March DAX at 4000
Broker: You sold x March Dax at 4000
vis: place stop loss at 4100
Broker : Stop loss placed at 4100
vis: good
broker: you are filled at 4100
vis: huh?
broker : interest rate decision just came out, they lowered by 25 basis points.
vis: oh, ok, cheers, bye for now
broker: bye /sniggers off

 

[wrbtrader]

Quote from gmst:

wrbtrader, In your experience, which is the most suitable trading instrument for retail traders? Thank you very much.

Easy answer for us retail traders.

Backtest your trade strategy on all available trading instrument data you have access. Next, let your backtest results determine which trading instrument is most suitable for you.

Yet, some traders select trading instruments based upon how well it fits in their personal lifestyle. For example, your trade method may be more profitable on something that's in a different time zone when you're normally asleep. Thus, some traders choose to trade something else that is LESS profitable or not profitable at all because they're unwilling to change their "personal lifestyle" to trade something that's more profitable.

With that said, in my experience, most retail traders only backtest or apply their trade strategy on 1 - 2 trading instruments and do not know if they would be more profitable on something else...

A titanic mistake.

 

[Cazza La Randa]

Quote from rickf:

Want wild? Want scary? Watch the Hang Seng during times of major financial crisis ... during major bad down days in '07 and '08, when compared to the Hang Seng, the DAX was in a persistent vegetative state.

I mean 1% move in one second

Yes, an intraday gap of 1% in one second

Not a terrorist attack, not an interest rate decision, a simple market news near or just after the market close for the cash index

 

[vincegata]

The value of one contract is 50 times the value of the S&P 500 stock index, meaning 50 x (say) 1350 = $67500. Is it correct?

 

[emg]

Quote from Visaria:


broker: bye /sniggers off

sniggers off? That is funny

 

[gmst]

Quote from wrbtrader:

Easy answer for us retail traders.

Backtest your trade strategy on all available trading instrument data you have access. Next, let your backtest results determine which trading instrument is most suitable for you.

Yet, some traders select trading instruments based upon how well it fits in their personal lifestyle. For example, your trade method may be more profitable on something that's in a different time zone when you're normally asleep. Thus, some traders choose to trade something else that is LESS profitable or not profitable at all because they're unwilling to change their "personal lifestyle" to trade something that's more profitable.

With that said, in my experience, most retail traders only backtest or apply their trade strategy on 1 - 2 trading instruments and do not know if they would be more profitable on something else...

A titanic mistake.

Thanks for writing this post. This has been on my todo list to apply my strategies to multiple instruments, but I have been lazy. Now, I will get onto it asap.

 

[HSbF6]

Because everyone has an opinion on where the stockmarket is going.

 

[wrbtrader]

Quote from gmst:

Thanks for writing this post. This has been on my todo list to apply my strategies to multiple instruments, but I have been lazy. Now, I will get onto it asap.

To be clear, I'm recommending to "backtest" (test) your trade method on different trading instruments so that you can then determine which trading instrument will be more profitable for you to trade in comparison to other trade instruments.

In fact, markets are forever changing. Therefore, one year you may be primarily trading one trading instrument and the next year you'll be trading something different. Heck, this can occur (changing trading instruments) every few months if you consistently backtest your method to several times each year.

 

[gmst]

Quote from wrbtrader:

To be clear, I'm recommending to "backtest" (test) your trade method on different trading instruments so that you can then determine which trading instrument will be more profitable for you to trade in comparison to other trade instruments.

In fact, markets are forever changing. Therefore, one year you may be primarily trading one trading instrument and the next year you'll be trading something different. Heck, this can occur (changing trading instruments) every few months if you consistently backtest your method to several times each year.

Sent you an email because didn't want to clutter the thread with tangential questions.

 

[whale]

Anyone claiming to make $1K/day on average on the ES with one contract really needs to put up rock-solid proof because that's so far beyond the norm that it's like claiming you can run 100 meters in 8 seconds.