Micro E-Mini Contracts

Global Markets Stocks and Indexes
1

How many of you out there are planning to trade the Micro E-minis (M2K, MES, MNQ, and the MYM) after it goes live on 05/05/19 at 1700 CDT?

I know that for the Micro E-Mini S&P 500, AMP Futures is going to charge $0.39 commission per side, the tick value is supposed to be $1.25 and the margin per contract during the normal trading session (23 hours: 1700 – 1600 CDT) is supposed to be $40 for the MES (although during the maintenance hour (1600 – 1700 CDT) it jumps to $600 for that 1 hour).

I talked with AMP last Friday and asked them about the projected liquidity for the Micro E-minis and was told that the liquidity (particularly for the MES) was supposed to be pretty good as the larger players would be able to size in and out of their positions with more finesse. I’m not sure about the other contracts as many of you have seen, the Mini-DOW, Russell 2000 and the NASDAQ 100 typically trades at much thinner volume. I guess I’ll have to wait and see how things are going to shake out over the first week or so.

I’m cautiously optimistic because as I think about this, smaller retail traders will be able to get the same kind of leverage as we used to see in Forex pre-2009 (of course with the same risks as well as opportunities).

2

I’m not sure the “larger players” need to trade the micro. I would guess that by being larger, they can already trade multiple lots of the mini?!
However, for me, the retail trader, yes I do like the idea of being able to leg in/out of a position.

3

I agree with you in that I feel that the larger participants really don’t need the micro contracts, I was simply reiterating a conversation I had with an AMP representative.

What I really like about the new contracts is that as retail trader we’re dealing with true price discovery through feeds such as CQG or Rithmic, and not the broker manipulated garbage we’ve been forced to choke down through the spot Forex.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great trading experience with these new instruments.

4

So far so good today. Volume is decent and I’m up 15.36% for the day risking 2% per trade mostly on the MNQ. I took a few losses with the MES, but feeling pretty good about these new contracts.