NASDAQ Emini Trading (NQ)

The NQ Emini introduced in the last half of the nineties along with it’s cousin the ES emini, tracks the NASDAQ trading exchange. It is a smaller version of the larger NASDAQ contract, one-fifth the size of the larger version and is traded both on the trading floor and electronically.

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The NQ Emini does not trade as much volume as the ES Emini but runs a close second. Liquidity and volatility are common traits of this exceptional futures contracts with many traders employing it as their contract of choice. The NASDAQ Futures Emini trades in quarter increments and is the minimum price movement with each quarter point valued at five dollars. So one whole point is worth twenty dollars.

For example if you purchased on NQ Emini contract at 2394 and sold it at 2410 you would have gained sixteen points, clearing $320. As you can see, with one contract you can make some good money. Once skill and confidence is gained, by increasing the number of contracts, you can double or triple your gains.

The NQ Emini contract, unlike stocks, has an expiration date. Index futures contracts expire every three months; in March, June, September and December. However, it depends on the individual contract since not all will expire in these months. Each expiry month has it’s own unique identifier in the form of single unique letters. March contracts are designated with the letter H, June is M, September is U and December is Z.

The NASDAQ Futures Emini expiration is also determined by the year it is set to expire. The symbols are rather simple once the trader understands what each character stands for. If a NQ Emini contract were set to expire in December, 2010 the symbol would be NQ10Z.
NQ identifies the type of emini contract, in this case the NASDAQ Emini. The number 10 identifies which year the contract will expire and Z is the expiration month, in this case December.

NQ Emini Trading Strategies

If you choose to trade the NASDAQ Emini, you will discover a wonderful trading instrument well suited to both traditional day trading methods and micro fast emini scalping techniques. Some traders will day trade the NQ using various methods using standard stock charting software, moving averages, support and resistance with pivot points and many other trading methodologies. Many traders are in and out of the market all day, scalping small profits many times throughout the daily sessions while others will enter a position, catch the days trend and ride the position until the cash market’s closing bell.

However you choose to trade, the NQ Emini lends itself very well to all forms of short term day trading strategies. If you haven’t traded the NASDAQ emini futures, take some time and learn how it trades and reacts to differing market internals and dynamics.