What is the difference between day trading E-minis, and day trading individual stocks?
E-minis are cutting-edge products designed for the active trader who wants to trade electronically, and likes to have maximum control with the highest profit potential. As more and more investors and traders learn about the e-mini indexes, they switch to short-term trading of the markets. Instead of following a large number of individual stocks, constantly reviewing their charts, and keeping current with any news that may be come out of each stock, you need to only follow one market. This results in much less demand on your time after market hours. In addition, the high leverage available when trading futures allows excellent profits for a small move in the index as opposed to that available for small moves in individual stocks. One S&P contract, currently valued at about $75000, can be controlled for as little as $500, whereas the same amount of stock requires $37,500 at 100% margin.
