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E-mini Futures Curriculum

Course Agenda

Day 1

Secrets to Successful Trading

Why Trade E-mini Stock Index Futures?

• The Futures Contract
• Futures Contract Evolution
• Index Futures: Portfolio Management
• The "Underlying" Products

Development of the E-mini Contract

• S&P 500 E-mini Contract
• Interconnected Markets
• Products and Multipliers
• Futures Contracts: Ticks
• E-mini NAZ
• Premium and Discounts - "Cash" vs. Futures
• Contracts Months & "Rollover"
• CME E-mini Trading Hours - (Includes GLOBEX: S&P, NAS, Russell, MidCap)

Live Data Trading Session

• GLOBEX® - Global Electronic Trading System
• Quotations: Stock vs. Futures
• Platform Example
• Charting Example

The Economy

• Business Environment
• Economic Indicators

Technical Analysis

• Charting and Price Movement
• More Than One Possible Entry
• Down Trends & Shorting
• Short: Multiple Entries
• Support and Resistance
• Zones: Separating Ranges

Charting the Futures

• Trends & Trendlines
• Trend Reversals
• Trend Continuation
• Opening Gap
• Indicators
• TRIN
• Advancers vs. Decliners: Tick

Money Management

• Risk Managemenet
• Preparation
• Stop Types
• Controlling Exposure: Sizing, Duration & Frequency

Day 2

Developing a Plan

• Margin (Performance Bond)
• Marking to Market
• Taxes - IRC 1256: Special Treatment
• Some "downsides" of E-minis
• Developing a Trading Plan
• Write a Trading Journal
• Connection Options
• Computer Specs - minimums

Technical Analysis II

• Key Reversal Days
• Analyze Different Time Frames
• Entering on an Uptrend
• Stops - Using Trend Lines & Previous Lows
• Open Interest & Volume
• Exit Strategies
• Leonardo Pisano Bonaccio - Fibonacci
• Fibonacci Retracement, Spirals, Extensions, Time Zones, Fans, Clusters or Confluence
• Trading Strategies

Live Data Trading

• Technical Indicators/Studies
• Moving Averages
• Exponential Moving Average
• Simple vs. Exponential Moving Average
• Momentum Oscillators
• Relative Strength (RSI)
• Stochastics Oscillator
• Moving Average Convergence - Divergence (MACD)
• Bollinger Bands
• Momentum Indicator

Putting It All Together: Cross Referencing

• Preparing for Live Trading
• Laws of Trading Risk Management
• Why a Trading Log

Day 3

Trading Skills

Your Trading Mission

• E-mini vs. the Big Ones
• Rollover Volume
• Interconnected Markets
• Dow Index Facts
• E-mini Dow
• Russell 2000 Index Facts
• E-mini RUT
• NASDAQ 100 Index Facts
• E-mini NAZ
• S&P Mid Cap 400 Index Facts
• E-mini Mid Cap
• E-mini Futures Movement Comparison

Live Trading Session

Day 4

Preparation for the Week Ahead

• Learning through the Markets
• Broad Market Review
• Long Term Technical Analysis
• Significance of Larger Price Designs
• Surviving the Markets

Technical Analysis: Different Approaches

• What Drives the Markets?
• Understanding the Market Correlation Across Time Frames
• Charting: Switching Pages/Layouts
• Time Horizons

Live Trading Session

• Regular Sessions vs. Intraday with Overnight
• Globex/Overnight Session Swing Highs/Lows
• Behaviors and Patterns
• Broadening Formations
• Trendlines, Channels and Fibs
• Channel Break
• Gapping, Filling & Traversing
• Gapping: Visibility
• Direction and Traversing
• Short-Term Psychology
• Speed
• Reversals

Day 5

Quick Review of Futures

• Long Term View Known & Clear
• Correlation Across Time Frames
• Cross-Referencing
• Rotations: 2 Types
• What to Look for in the Trade Indicators
• Long Term View of VIX
• NYSE STICK
• Oscillators
• Continuation Patterns

Live Trading Session

Managing the Trade in Review