Most futures contracts trade electronically during some part of the day and some,
such as the E-mini® S&P 500® futures contract, only trade electronically.
Electronic trading of the E-mini's along with essentially all of the electronically traded products
of CME Group take place on the CME® Globex®
trading platform. This platform is an open access marketplace that allows the day trader to
participate directly in the trading process, view the book of orders and prices for the E-mini
and enter their own buy and sell orders globally nearly 24 hours a day. Speed of execution and confirmation (typically
measured in milliseconds) transparency, anonymity and
reliability of this electronic platform have all been instrumental to the contract's success among day traders.
In fact, electronic trading has become the execution of choice among traders.
According to CME Group, electronically executed trading accounted for 86% of its total volume in 2009.
Trading on the Globex platform is generally available Sunday evening
through late Friday afternoon. For the E-mini S&P 500 day trader, the official close of trading for the
day is at 3:15 p.m. CT. All open trades need to be closed out prior to the official close.
Trading hours of the E-mini S&P 500 futures on Globex are as follows (Central Time):
Opens Sunday and Holidays at 5:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. next day.
Trading for next trade date resumes:
Monday – Friday 3:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. next day with exception of
daily maintenance shutdown from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
According to a recent order execution study
conducted by CME Group, approximately two-thirds of all E-mini market orders
consist of one to five contracts, and larger-size market orders tend to be placed in the time period corresponding to the
open and close of the equity cash market. The study also notes that approximately 90 percent of all market orders of fewer than 50 contracts are
being executed in 50 milliseconds or less.
The Globex platform is continuously enhanced to serve customers with high-speed,
high-volume capacity. The CME Globex Control Center monitors trading activity
and system performance around-the-clock to assure the orderly
functioning of E-mini S&P 500 futures as well as all other electronic markets.
The following trademarks and service marks are owned by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.: CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE®,
CME E-mini®, CME®, E-mini® and Globex®. The following are trademarks of The McGraw-Hill Companies: S&P®, S&P 500®.