S & P 500 and E Mini Futures Trading

Learn the most effective strategies for buying and selling options on futures contracts. Also learn producer and consumer hedging strategies.

*The information contained within this webpage comes from sources believed to be reliable. No guarantees are being made to the content's accuracy or completeness.

Here is the stock index futures brochure courtesy of the CME Group.

Stock Index Brochure

History of the Standard and Poor's 500

The S & P 500 was first brought online on March of 1957. It was at this time that computers had advanced enough to offer real time quotes. The S & P 500 index is second only to the Dow Jones index as the most widely watched stock market indicator around the world.

Indices can be either price-weighted such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or capitalization-weighted like the Standard and Poor's 500 Index. In a price-weighted index, individual stock prices are simply added together and then divided by the divisor. Stocks with higher prices have a higher weighting. In a capitilization-weighted index, the company with the highest total dollar value of its stock has the highest weighting.

Is it time to hedge your stock portfolio with S & P futures and options yet?

Today savvy investors around the world can use S & P futures and S & P E minis to hedge their stock portfolio risk against adverse market fluctuations.

*Contract information changes from time to time. Please click here to see the most recent contract specifications and click here for the most recent trading hours.

S & P Futures- Mini S & P Futures E mini trading

About CME E-mini S&P 500 Futures

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) S & P E mini futures contract first traded at CME in 1997, the CME® E-mini® S&P 500® futures contracts offer unique trading opportunities for risk management and market exposure at an affordable price. Based on the S&P 500 Index, CME E-mini S&P 500 futures are the most liquid stock index future available.

The S & P E Mini futures contracts are available to trade virtually 24 hours a day on the CME Globex® electronic trading platform. The CME E-mini S&P 500 futures contract trades two months in the March quarterly cycle and moves in .25 index points, or $12.50 per contract. Trade E Minis on our fast, accurate and easy to use online platform from the comfort of your own personal computer.

What is a CME E-mini S&P 500 Futures Contract Worth?

To determine the value of a CME E-mini S&P stock index futures contract, you need to familiar with its multiplier and the current futures level:

Index value x $50 = One CME E-mini S&P 500 futures contract value

The CME E-mini S&P 500 multiplier is $50.
If the CME S&P 500 futures index level is 1400, multiply that by $50
1400 x $50 = $70,000

If you buy a CME E-mini S&P 500 futures contract at 1400, you are leveraging a futures contract valued at $70,000.

**Click Here Now! for actual futures and options prices, expirations, charts .....

About CME S&P 500 Futures

Since CME® S&P 500® futures began trading in 1982 (and CME S&P 500 options on futures a year later), it has become one of the most actively traded stock indexes in the world. The big S & P futures contract carries extreme leverage and proportionate risk.

CME S&P 500 futures allow financial institutions, investment managers, corporations and private investors to hedge risks associated with stock market fluctuations on their investments. Investors can also use this product to take advantage of profit opportunities created from price changes.

CME S&P 500 Index futures lists eight months in the March quarterly cycle, while CME S&P 500 options on futures lists four months in the March quarterly cycle and two serial months. The futures contract size is $250 times the S&P 500® Index price, and it moves in .10 ticks equaling $25.

The Standard and Poor's (S&P) Corporation Index is designed and maintained to be an accurate proxy for a diversified equity portfolio. It is capitalization-weighted and float-adjusted, representing the market value of all outstanding common shares of the 500 firms listed (share price x shares outstanding). This means that a change in the price of any one stock influences the Index in proportion to the relative market value of that firm's outstanding shares.

The weightings make each company's influence on the respective index's performance directly proportional to that company's market value. It is this characteristic that has made the S&P 500 Index the investment industry's standard for measuring the performance of actual portfolios.

What is the CME S & P 500 futures full contract worth?

The S & P consists of the 30 Dow stocks and the next 470 largest stocks to make it 500 different stocks.

Index value x $250= One S & P 500 Full futures contract value.

To understand how much the S & P Index Futures leverages simply take the S & P Value ex. 1400 x $250= $350,000 worth of stocks.  

Contact us for specific information about S P 500 Futures and S P 500 E-mini Futures.

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