Cagineer

Yes you CAN most definiteloy make a good living off the e minis s&p. If you are trading 1 lot, hoeer, there is no way. But if you trade consistently profitablly for 3 month, say increase your lots to 3, then try 5 til you get a decent size of trading power. Trades with 15-20 lots are not uncommon! Mind you, the standard commissions apply on a "per lot per trade" basis in most cases. Check with your broker.

If people don't know the answer they should not be replying to questions with elusive answers like politicians! That spoils the entire forum. No one wants to see a whole lot of nothing! Least of all the questioners! For this I blame the moderator who allows such postings...or are you guys so desperate for text to fill posts that anything will do???!!! one Emini S&P500 contract = $50 US 1 contract = 4 ticks

HOURS FOR For the ES e-mini S&P500 futures market (all hours are quoted in Central time, where the CME has its headquarters): Pit or "day sessions" are from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM (Cash close) but trades til 4:15 PM for heavily endowed margin accounts . (For international traders be aware that North America generally changes hours twice yearly: spring and fall to "save daylight" hours.) Pit closes as 4:15 PM and Globex opens 15 minutes later. The ES E-mini S&P500 closes for only 15 minutes each day during the regular business week. 4:30 PM Globex opens and remains open seamless into pit the following day until 4:15 PM Monday-Friday. Holding orders between pit and Globex is very dangerous for me. If I do so margins are extraordinarily high. I believe it's 5x the margins of regular pit trading. However, if I close my position prior to pit close and re-enter the same position at Globex open my margins remain at regular pit session margins. There is no extra penalty going from Globex to pit at pit opening, however. This may be a condition of only my broker, ie not a general rule? I am not certain of that. Verify with YOUR broker. I would add that trading Globex is extremely slow because of the low volume and could be potentially dangerous if you are unable to get out of a position fast enough. Hope this has helped. Happy Trading!