The futures mean nothing anymore

[barn32]

The futures are up 100 points and the market opens down, the futures are down 100 points and the market opens up...there is no rhyme or reason to it anymore.

Or the the futures will be down and the market will open down and quickly reverse the other way.

It's become kind of meaningless what the future are doing.

[badcompany]

They never meant anything. The futures market is very thin. Relatively small bets can cause big swings. Of course, when the futures are up or down big, the market will open in that direction, but they don't tell you where it will go from there.

[barn32]

Case in point this morning, the futures were down 100 overnight and now the DOW is up 60. Go figure.

[PaceAdvantage]

Sounds like you can make money fading pre-market futures...except when you can't... :lol:

Short term trading is downright brutal if you lack anything but the strongest of discipline...I speak from plenty of experience.

[JustRalph]

I agree. I don't know the market at all, but being a night owl I often would take note of the futures early in the morning and they did have some relevance.

Not over the last few years

[Tape Reader]

“Beam me up Scotty.”

[davew]

Sounds like you can make money fading pre-market futures...except when you can't... :lol:

Short term trading is downright brutal if you lack anything but the strongest of discipline...I speak from plenty of experience.


Hard to beat the big banks who have much larger margin accounts - they probably can trade 1000 times as many contracts as us, and change the trending direction at will. Their traders have less to lose, make giant salaries + bonuses when they win - lose job or company goes belly-up if they get stuck really, really bad.

[badcompany]

Hard to beat the big banks who have much larger margin accounts - they probably can trade 1000 times as many contracts as us, and change the trending direction at will. Their traders have less to lose, make giant salaries + bonuses when they win - lose job or company goes belly-up if they get stuck really, really bad.


You're not competing against the big banks. They're the "house" and are gonna get their cut, regardless. The retail investor is competing, to get what's left, against hedge funds, mutual funds, endowments and other individual and institutional investors.

[Tape Reader]

I have been trading the S&P since its inception and cannot agree with some of the posts.

I think it would be a good idea if a poster tells us if he or she actually trades the S&P when making comments.

[lamboguy]

the game has never changed, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

[barn32]

I have been trading the S&P since its inception and cannot agree with some of the posts.Elaborate.