It is said that trading futures is the premier class of trading and professional traders mainly rely on this instrument. Some trading strategies, such as volume trading and order book trading, are only possible with futures. However, many novice traders consider futures to be complicated, risky and not suitable for small accounts. When day trading with stock indices, they usually rely on contracts for difference (CFDs).
Due to the security deposit to be deposited, this way was previously only possible for traders with larger trading accounts. The problem was already recognized by the futures exchange CME in 1997, when the e-Mini Futures were introduced. For example, they divided the margin rate and tick value of the “big” S&P futures by a factor of 50. Due to the sharp rise in the S&P 500, however, this also became too much for many small traders.