S&P futures contracts are based on the S&P 500 stock index and traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The S&P 500 index is a market valued weighted index of 500 large capitalized stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq National Market Executive System (NASDAQ) and American Stock Exchange (AMEX). S&P Futures are the most popularly traded stock index futures contract.
The S&P index introduced in 1957 is currently the investment industrys standard for measuring portfolio performance. The S&P 500 is made up of 400 industrial companies, 40 financial companies, 40 utilities and 20 transportation companies offering a fairly diversified view of the US economy. The original S&P 500 futures contracts were valued at $500 times the index in the beginning. As the stock market began to surge higher in those days, the index more than doubled in three years. The value of the S&P futures contract neared $500,000. A 10 point change on the S&P 500 index was worth $5,000 with the index approaching the 1000 level.
Margin requirements for the S&P futures contract trading were very high. Many traders were ruled out of the futures market with the margin requirements for that sized contract. CME introduced an S&P futures contract that was worth $250 times the value of the index in 1997. The value of the contract was halved in order to make the S&P futures contract more accessible to traders. Now, a move of a full point is worth $250 only. Suppose the S&P 500 index value is at 1350. The value of the S&P futures contract will be ($250) (1350) = $337,500.
Earlier in that same year another mini S&P futures contract worth only $50 times the S&P 500 index was introduced by CME and the value of this new E-mini S&P futures contract brought the initial margin requirements down to around $4,000 at that time. Even with a margin requirement of only about 6 percent of the contracts value, the rising stock market put the initial margin at $15,000 with this $250,000 contract, keeping the S&P futures contract out of the reach of many individual speculators. The E-mini put the S&P 500 Index within the capabilities of many individual accounts.
Another important decision that the CME officials took was giving traders direct access to the market without going through an order handler. Now trading orders could take place entirely on a trade matching computer with no human intervention. This was the real innovation that allowed small orders of this new E-mini market trade entirely on an electronic platform and not in the traditional open-outcry pits.
E-mini S&P futures contracts would no longer be limited to after-hours trading or to supplement the primary pit contract. As the allowable number of contracts was increased over time, electronic trading became the mainstream market for the E-mini S&P futures contracts. And, as long as trading was all computer-based, the CME also decided it might as well keep the market open almost 24 hours a day. The radical move caught the wave of online trading and day trading that was revolutionizing the stock market at the same time.
S&P futures contracts are valued in ticks worth 0.1 index points or $25. Regular trading hours for S&P futures contracts are from 8:30 A.M to 3:15 PM. S&P futures contracts are another example of how 24 hours a day trading enables traders to respond to economic news releases in pre-market and after-market sessions. The evening session continues on the Globex until 8:15 AM overnight. It starts at 3:30 PM (15 minutes after the close at 3.15 PM). Individual S&P futures contract holders are limited to no more than 20,000 net long or short contracts at any one time.
A procedure is set in place to halt trading if the index experiences major declines or increases beyond certain limits. Circuit breakers are triggered if these price limits are crossed. The limits are set on quarterly basis. A price limit is how far an S&P futures contract can rise or fall in a single trading session.
Collar Rule: What the collar rule does is limit the chance of huge gains or losses as a result of futures trading. The collar rule limits the traders from piling buy or sell orders in an attempt to exaggerate the gains or losses of the market. It addresses price swings related to program trades that move the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) more than 2% by requiring index arbitrage orders, or orders that bet on the spread between the futures and the cash of stock indexes to be stabilizing.
Overnight or pre-market trading can be thin and dangerous especially during slow seasons in the stock market such as summer, fall and around the winter holidays. Once you have mastered futures basics such as the performance bond margins, the mark to market requirements and the account specifics, its time to learn how a futures contract ticks.
CMEs most actively traded contracts are Eurodollar futures and S&P futures including the E-minis. Hundreds of futures contracts trade on the federally regulated futures exchanges in the United States. Each of these exchanges trade contract that are somewhat unique to it. Take a look at Netpicks S&P Futures Signals!
Hassam 