Understanding Contract Roll Over Day for ES Minis

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ES Contract Rollover

In this post I will be discussing contract roll-over day and specifically in terms of ES (E-mini S&P 500 futures contract) contract rollover. After explaining about the ES contract rollover below I will get into specific detail on the contract rollover process (see the live video demonstration above) for the platform I use which is ninjatrader. But the process is pretty similar for most platforms out there.

This post is pretty specific to a very important part of futures trading i.e contract rollover. And while there are many things to learn in day trading, the best way to succeed is with a solid foundation in day trading fundamental principles and market movements from which you can develop more complex strategies over time.

But for this post and looking at ES contract rollover, it’s best if you also look at the video (above) to get a better idea of what I’m talking about. I’m going to do a quick demonstration of how to do a different (new) contract or contract rollover.

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But let me first begin with a brief overview of what I mean when talking about ES contract rollover.

What is the ES Contract Rollover?

When we talk about contract rollover this refers to contract expiration dates in futures trading. And after expiry the contract is no longer actively traded on the exchange. You can learn more about futures trading strategies on my site also.

But, if you want to maintain a position in any futures market you must close out the current contract and open a new one that will expire later.

This is what we refer to as contract rollover.

When talking about ES contract rollover this is referring specifically to the E-mini S&P 500 futures contract (one of the most actively traded equity index futures contracts).

ES contracts also have expiry dates and need to be rolled over i.e selling expiring contracts and at the same time buying contracts with later expiry dates – this is the process of ES contract rollover.

ES Contract Rollover Tutorial

It’s best if you can follow along with the instruction I give in the video above and follow the process with the written description below.

The first thing you need to know is that I work with the Ninja Trader platform.

To get started, you need to be in the main control center. Here are the steps to take:

You have to go into tools and select instrument manager.
In “available master instruments” find the text block under Names, type ES, and click on search. It will appear on the list window below.
Then look near the bottom where it says expiry. It will display a list of dates, pick the right ones for when you are doing this.
Click on the arrow next to it that is pointing to the left so that it goes to the list of your contracts.
Finally, you click “Ok” to save.

And bam! You are good to go.

So now it is time to go to the charts‘ area within Ninja Trader go to the top left corner and find where it says ES. A dropdown menu appears where you have to find the new contract, and then you just wait until it loads.

Now I’m going to give you a huge secret to help you save a ton of money.

DO NOT trade on roll-over day.

That is because this is a day where you find a lot of erratic movements. And I personally do not trade on that day. There is a lot of uncertainty and about half of the traders are still on the old contract and the other half on the new one. So I recommend just sitting it out.

The next day, after Futures Contract Roll Over Day for ES Minis, when everyone has gotten into the new contract it is best to go back into trading. This is one little trick that I recommend that will allow you to trade with a little less risk.

And this one little trick is part of my overall trading strategy which focuses on simplifying day trading technical analysis and indicators in order to be a consistent and profitable trader.

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Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below

Recommended Read: Advantages of Trading Futures