S&P 500 index futures surged in popularity in the past decade after the SEC’s pattern day trading rule triggered an exodus of retail capital out of equities and into Globex, CME’s 24-hour electronic trading platform. Volume hit a historic peak in 2011, underpinned by a worldwide transition in risk from individual securities to broad macro instruments, driven by an explosion in ultra-modern derivative products. Along with the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 Index futures, the threesome carve reliable road maps for active traders seeking intra-day buy and sell signals.
Futures trading in the hours between New York’s U.S. equity close and the next morning’s open captures market-moving events in Asian and European bourses. In turn, these generate short-term convergence-divergence relationships that predict price action during regular trading hours.
The S&P 500 anchors these relationships, ranking as the most popular equity futures contract in the world, often foretelling broad directional...
