E-mini
Encyclopedia
E-minis are futures contract
s traded primarily on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
's Globex electronic trading platform
and on the New York Board of Trade
, that represent a fraction of the value of normal futures contracts. E-mini contracts were first launched in 1997 for the S&P 500
index with great success, and are now available on a wide range of stock market index
es, commodities
and currencies. As of April, 2011, CME lists 44 unique E-mini contracts, of which approximately 10 have average daily trading volumes of over 1,000 contracts.
Some E-mini contracts provide trading advantages, including high liquidity (and therefore tight spread
), greater affordability for individual investors due to lower margin requirements than the full-size contracts, and round-the-clock trading 23.25 hours a day from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Under U.S. tax law, E-minis may qualify as 1256 Contract
s, and benefit from several tax advantages as well.
The risk of loss is also amplified by the higher leverage.
500 expiring in December 2012 has the symbol ESZ2.
s).
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
s traded primarily on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is an American financial and commodity derivative exchange based in Chicago. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization...
's Globex electronic trading platform
Electronic trading platform
In finance, an Electronic trading platform is a computer system that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. This includes products such as shares, bonds, currencies, commodities and derivatives with a financial intermediary, such as a...
and on the New York Board of Trade
New York Board of Trade
The New York Board of Trade , renamed ICE Futures US in September of 2007, is a wholly owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange . It is a physical commodity futures exchange located in New York City. It originated in 1870 as the New York Cotton Exchange...
, that represent a fraction of the value of normal futures contracts. E-mini contracts were first launched in 1997 for the S&P 500
E-mini S&P
E-Mini S&P, often abbreviated to "E-mini" and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex electronic trading platform...
index with great success, and are now available on a wide range of stock market index
Stock market index
A stock market index is a method of measuring a section of the stock market. Many indices are cited by news or financial services firms and are used as benchmarks, to measure the performance of portfolios such as mutual funds....
es, commodities
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
and currencies. As of April, 2011, CME lists 44 unique E-mini contracts, of which approximately 10 have average daily trading volumes of over 1,000 contracts.
Some E-mini contracts provide trading advantages, including high liquidity (and therefore tight spread
Bid-offer spread
The bid–offer spread for securities is the difference between the prices quoted for an immediate sale and an immediate purchase...
), greater affordability for individual investors due to lower margin requirements than the full-size contracts, and round-the-clock trading 23.25 hours a day from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon. Under U.S. tax law, E-minis may qualify as 1256 Contract
1256 contract
A 1256 Contract is a term used by the Internal Revenue Service to denote any regulated futures contracts, foreign currency contracts, non-equity options , dealer equity options, dealer security futures contracts, and cash settled options A 1256 Contract is a term used by the Internal Revenue...
s, and benefit from several tax advantages as well.
The risk of loss is also amplified by the higher leverage.
Symbology
Most E-mini futures expire quarterly (with the exception of agricultural products), in March, June, September, and December. An E-mini future symbol is formed by starting with the root symbol and adding the expiration month letter (the same as for futures) and the last digit of the expiration year. For example, the E-mini S&PE-mini S&P
E-Mini S&P, often abbreviated to "E-mini" and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex electronic trading platform...
500 expiring in December 2012 has the symbol ESZ2.
E-mini contracts
The table below lists some of the more popular E-mini contracts, with the initial and maintenance margins required by CME. Note that individual brokers may require different margin amounts (also called performance bondPerformance bond
A performance bond is a surety bond issued by an insurance company or a bank to guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by a contractor.A job requiring a payment & performance bond will usually require a bid bond, to bid the job...
s).
| E-mini contract | Exchange | Ticker symbol | Multiplier | Tick size | Tick value | Initial margin | Maintenance margin | Average Daily Volume in 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-Mini S&P 500 E-mini S&P E-Mini S&P, often abbreviated to "E-mini" and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex electronic trading platform... (Dollar) |
CME Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is an American financial and commodity derivative exchange based in Chicago. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization... |
ES | $50 | 0.25 | $12.50 | $5,625 | $4,500 | 2,194,975 |
| E-Mini S&P 500 E-mini S&P E-Mini S&P, often abbreviated to "E-mini" and designated by the commodity ticker symbol ES, is a stock market index futures contract traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex electronic trading platform... (Euro) |
CME | EME | 50€ | 0.25 | 12.50€ | 6,188€ | 4,950€ | 18 |
| E-mini Dow ($5) Futures | CME | YM | $5 | 1 | $5 | $6,500 | $5,200 | 134,623 |
| E-mini S&P MidCap 400 Futures | CME | EMD | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $7,500 | $6,000 | 30,266 |
| E-mini S&P SmallCap 600 Futures | CME | SMC | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $3,250 | $2,600 | 127 |
| E-mini NASDAQ-100 Futures NASDAQ futures NASDAQ futures are investment instruments which allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index.-In General:... |
CME | NQ | $20 | 0.25 | $5 | $3,500 | $2,800 | 314,773 |
| E-mini NASDAQ Composite Futures NASDAQ futures NASDAQ futures are investment instruments which allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index.-In General:... |
CME | QCN | $20 | 0.50 | $10 | $4,000 | $3,200 | |
| E-mini NASDAQ Biotechnology Futures NASDAQ futures NASDAQ futures are investment instruments which allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index.-In General:... |
CME | BIO | $50 | 0.10 | $5 | $3,750 | $3,000 | |
| E-mini S&P CNX Nifty (Nifty 50) futures | CME | EMF | $10 | 0.5 | $5 | $3,125 | $2,500 | 23 |
| E-mini FTSE/XINHUA China 25 Futures | CME | FXN | $5 | 5 | $25 | $13,750 | $11,000 | |
| E-mini JPY/USD Futures | CME | J7 | 6,250,000 Japanese yen | $.000001 | $6.25 | $3,038 | $2,250 | 266 |
| E-mini EUR/USD Futures | CME | E7 | 62,500 euro | $.0001 | $6.25 | $2,025 | $1,500 | 4,922 |
| E-mini Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Futures | CME | XAY | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $3,125 | $2,500 | |
| E-mini Consumer Staples Select Sector Futures | CME | XAP | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $1,750 | $1,400 | |
| E-mini Energy Select Sector Futures | CME | XAF | $250 | 0.05 | $12.50 | $6,500 | $5,200 | |
| E-mini Health Care Select Sector Futures | CME | XAV | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $2,500 | $2,000 | |
| E-mini Industrial Select Sector Futures | CME | XAI | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $3,125 | $2,500 | |
| E-mini Materials Select Sector Futures | CME | XAB | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $3,125 | $2,500 | |
| E-mini Technology Select Sector Futures | CME | XAK | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $1,750 | $1,400 | |
| E-mini Utilities Select Sector Futures | CME | XAU | $100 | 0.10 | $10 | $2,500 | $2,000 | |
| Mini-Sized Corn Futures | CME (formerly CBOT Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade , established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange. More than 50 different options and futures contracts are traded by over 3,600 CBOT members through open outcry and eTrading. Volumes at the exchange in 2003 were a record breaking 454 million... ) |
YC | 1,000 bushels (~ 25 Metric Tons) | $0.00125 | $1.25 | $473 | $350 | 938 |
| Mini-sized Soybean Futures | CME (formerly CBOT) | YK | 1,000 bushels (~ 27 metric tons) | $0.00125 | $1.25 | $945 | $700 | 1,632 |
| Mini-sized Wheat Futures | CME (formerly CBOT) | YW | 1,000 bushels (~ 27 metric tons) | $0.00125 | $1.25 | $810 | $600 | 362 |
| E-mini Light Sweet Crude Oil (Financial) | CME (formerly NYMEX New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange. It is located at One North End Avenue in the World Financial Center in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City... ) |
QM | 500 barrels | $0.025 | $12.50 | $3,375 | $2,500 | 12,481 |
| E-mini Natural Gas Futures | CME (formerly NYMEX) | QG | 2,500 million BTU British thermal unit The British thermal unit is a traditional unit of energy equal to about 1055 joules. It is approximately the amount of energy needed to heat of water, which is exactly one tenth of a UK gallon or about 0.1198 US gallons, from 39°F to 40°F... s |
$0.005 | $12.50 | $1,013 | $750 | 2,649 |
| E-mini Heating Oil - Financial Futures | CME (formerly NYMEX) | QH | 21,000 gallons | $0.001 | $21 | $3,206 | $2,375 | 2 |
| E-mini New York Harbor RBOB Gasoline Futures | CME (formerly NYMEX) | QU | 21,000 gallons | $0.0001 | $2.10 | $3,881 | $2,875 | 1 |
| COMEX miNY Gold Futures | CME (formerly COMEX New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange. It is located at One North End Avenue in the World Financial Center in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City... ) |
QO | 50 troy ounces | $0.25 | $12.5 | $3,376 | $2,500 | 416 |
| E-mini Silver Futures | CME (formerly COMEX) | 6Q | 1,000 troy ounces | $0.005 | $5 | $2,349 | $1,740 | 98 |
| E-mini Copper Futures | CME (formerly COMEX) | QC | 12,500 pounds | $0.002 | $25 | $2,869 | $2,125 | 42 |
| Russell 1000® Index Mini Futures | ICE IntercontinentalExchange IntercontinentalExchange, Inc., known as ICE, is an American financial company that operates Internet-based marketplaces which trade futures and over-the-counter energy and commodity contracts as well as derivative financial products... (formerly NYBOT New York Board of Trade The New York Board of Trade , renamed ICE Futures US in September of 2007, is a wholly owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange . It is a physical commodity futures exchange located in New York City. It originated in 1870 as the New York Cotton Exchange... ) |
RF | $100 | $0.10 | $10 | |||
| Russell 2000® Index Russell 2000 The Russell 2000 Index is a small-cap stock market index of the bottom 2,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index.The Russell 2000 is by far the most common benchmarkfor mutual funds that identify themselves as "small-cap",... Mini Futures |
ICE (formerly NYBOT) | RF | $100 | $0.10 | $10 | |||