E-mini (Eminis) Day Trading – Seven things you MUST know!

Speaking of day trading, futures contracts that have been around for decades, trading at physical exchanges, are now trading electronically and in smaller-sized contracts. Collectively, they’re called the ‘eminis.’While there are several such contracts available, including those on the DOW, RUT, gold and oil, the most popular seems to be the eminis of the spx or, more specifically, the spx futures, with the symbol ES/.

The spx (S&P) eminis are quite a phenomenal financial instrument because of their liquidity and relatively easy access to even the private, home-officed day trader. Introduced by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in the late ‘90s, they are smaller in size, tick values and margin requirements than their counterparts.

It’s their massive liquidity that’s so appealing because even the larger traders can’t affect the bid/ask spread for the retail trader.

Each price whole number is broken down into two ‘points’ worth $50 apiece. Thus a trader that bought at 994.00 could exit at 995.00 for a full point of profit or $50, one that bought at 990.00 could exit at 992.00 for two points of profit or $100, etc.

The minimum unit of fluctuation for the ES/ is .25 points and is called a ‘tick.’ Thus an ES/ tick is worth $12.50 or one-fourth of a point.

As you can see, trading the eminis requires a bit of a paradigm shift, so here’s SEVEN ITEMS TO CONSIDER BEFORE JUMPING IN:

1. See what the minimum requirements are to get approved to day trade the eminis, before you even launch your study of them.
2. Get some good formal training before venturing into this new area and be SURE you have the basics down.
3. Do goodly amounts of practice on a virtual trading program before you start using your real, hard-earned money.
4. Don’t trade (repeat) DON’T TRADE WITH MONEY THAT YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE.
5. Focus, as in all trading, on your portfolio management rules – how much will you risk on each trade, at which point will you stop trading, when will you take profits and not look back, etc.?
6. Keep detailed and comprehensive records of each and every trade, along with a trading diary, so that you can properly evaluate and analyze your results. This is the only way that you can better them.
7. Get a personal mentor that is a successful eminis trader himself and/or join a group of active eminis traders, in order to get both information and inspiration.

Talking about mentors, look at what Traders International has to offer in terms of teaching and live trading of e-minis.  Traders international will show you in real time live, as how to day trade e-minis with an effective, simple and proven system.  You may want to SIGNUP for a FREE live trading session HERE.

In the end, remember that the most important parts of trading are self-confidence, self-discipline and risk management.