Equity Index 

Fine-tune your U.S. Equity Index exposure with CME’s portfolio of products and capitalize on deep liquidity in futures and options on the benchmark S&P, NASDAQ-100, and Dow indices; flexible access to suit your trading needs nearly 24 hours a day; and counterparty credit guaranteed by CME Clearing.

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About E-mini S&P 500

An electronically traded futures contract one fifth the size of standard S&P futures, E-mini S&P 500 futures and options are based on the underlying Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Made up of 500 individual stocks representing the market capitalizations of large companies, the S&P 500 Index is a leading indicator of large-cap U.S. equities.

- What are E-mini S&P500 Futures?

The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based market capitalization weighted index that tracks 500 of the largest companies in leading industries in the US economy. This index also serves as a key indicator of the health of the US stock market. The S&P 500 is a futures contract that allows market participants to take positions on the performance of the S&P 500 index electronically in an active and liquid marketplace.

- Why would you want to trade E-mini S&P500 Futures?

1. The global markets don’t go to sleep. CME Group futures are open nearly around the clock and provide both trading opportunities and risk mitigation ability at all times.

2. Most financial and commodity products are cyclical in that they experience times of low and high volatility environments. The ability to access such a diverse set of products in one place means there is almost always a trading opportunity.

3. S&P 500 is viewed as a gauge for market performance.

- How do you trade E-mini S&P500 Futures?

Equity Index futures are “futures contracts” on equity indices. They are cash settled contracts and the majority have quarterly expiration dates scheduled for the months of March, June, September, and December.

With a single transaction, investors can use equity index futures products to manage risk or seek profits based on whether they think the stock market will rise or fall.