Index Futures Trading That Feels Calm And Repeatable

You do not need a thousand tricks to make index futures trading work. You need one routine that travels well across sessions, clean ticket math in cash, and a habit of reviewing the same numbers every week.

The goal is the same whether you trade s&p 500 futures or run nasdaq futures online during your best hours. Keep risk visible, keep costs honest, and let your process be boring on purpose.

The big picture in one minute

• Index futures are standardized contracts that track broad equity baskets.
• They trade nearly around the clock, give tidy exposure with margin, and make it easy to scale size up or down through micro contracts.
• Think in cash risk per trade, not in contract count.
• Work in set windows, not all day.
• Track slippage and commissions like a chef tracks cost of ingredients.

“Consistency is a skill, not a mood.”

Contracts you will actually use

Index lane	Standard contract	Micro contract	Tick size and value	Notes
S&P 500	E-mini ES	Micro MES	0.25 points per tick; ES tick value 12.50 USD, MES 1.25 USD	Great for trend and first-hour structure
Nasdaq 100	E-mini NQ	Micro MNQ	0.25 points per tick; NQ tick value 5.00 USD, MNQ 0.50 USD	Faster tempo, respect volatility
Russell 2000	E-mini RTY	Micro M2K	0.10 points per tick; RTY tick 5.00 USD, M2K 0.50 USD	Small caps add personality to opens

Session rhythm that shapes your plan

Window	Why it matters	What it feels like
Pre market to cash open	Price discovery and gap alignment	Quick tests of overnight levels, clean range boxes
First hour of cash	Most decisive moves of the day	Range break and retest, trend from open
Midday	Rotation more than trend	Fades and VWAP plays, smaller size
Last hour	Positioning into close	Reversion or continuation with volume return

“Trade your window, not the whole day.”

Ticket math in plain cash

• Pick a fixed cash amount you can lose without stress.
• Let the platform translate it into size.

Example for ES or MES

• Risk unit: 50 dollars
• Stop distance: 4 ticks on MES (1 point)
• Tick value: 1.25 dollars for MES
• Risk per contract: 4 × 1.25 = 5 dollars
• Position size: 50 ÷ 5 = 10 MES contracts

“You cannot control the market. You can always control position size.”

Cost lines that decide more than you think

Cost or friction	Where it shows up	Practical way to manage
Commission per side	Every fill	Size for your average ticket, not your best day
Exchange and clearing	Monthly or per contract	Subscribe to only what you use, review monthly
Data feeds	Market depth and quotes	Buy the depth you actually need
Slippage	Opens and news minutes	Use limits on breaks, prefer retests
Platform fees	Terminals or routing	Ensure they fit the benefit, not nostalgia

Three entry frameworks that travel well

• Range break and retest: Box the open’s range. When the price closes outside, wait for a retest. Enter on the first sign of continuation. Works well to trade s&p 500 futures on trend days.
• Pullback into value: Identify a directional push with higher lows or lower highs. Mark a prior value area or VWAP band. Enter on the first pullback that shows slowing momentum. This helps on Nasdaq futures online when the tape accelerates.
• Quiet-session fade: During calmer periods, when price stretches into a well tested band, fade back toward value with small size and firm stops. Use smaller targets and protect gains quickly.

“If the entry needs a paragraph to justify it, it is not ready.”

A simple routine for fast and calm days

• Before your window:
  • Mark yesterday’s high and low plus overnight extremes.
  • Note two catalysts with local times.
  • Write your cash risk per trade and per-day stop on a sticky note.
• During:
  • Two attempts per idea, then stand down.
  • Brackets place stops and targets with the entry.
  • Screenshot before and after, one line reason in, one line reason out.
• After:
  • Tag the trade type, session, and outcome in R.
  • Log total costs and any slippage.
  • Close the platform at your planned time.

S&P vs Nasdaq personality, side by side

Trait	S&P 500 futures	Nasdaq 100 futures
Typical speed	Smoother, more rotational	Faster, more explosive
Opening structure	Clean range boxes and retests	Wider first move, momentum pushes
Best fit setups	Range retests, pullback entries	Breaks with quick retests, trend follow
Risk management	Slightly wider stops acceptable

Nasdaq Establishes New Digital Biz, To Offer Custody Services for Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum

American stock market exchange Nasdaq has announced the launch of “Nasdaq Digital Assets,” a new business that will power the digital asset ecosystem. 

With this new digital business, Nasdaq has indicated that it is ready to offer custody services for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum following increased institutional demand. Nasdaq Digital Assets Will Provide a Proprietary Custody Solution with Liquidity and Execution Services for Financial Institutions.

According the Nasdaq's press release, Nasdaq Digital Assets will initially develop an advanced custody 
solution that will incorporate liquidity and execution services to address industry challenges around connectivity, availability, and efficiency.

Nasdaq’s custody solution will bring together the best attributes of hot and cold crypto wallets through an innovative technology offering, which will provide a high degree of accessibility and scalability without compromising security. Nasdaq’s offering is subject to regulatory approval in applicable jurisdictions.

Custody services provided typically include the settlement, safekeeping, and reporting of customers' marketable securities and cash. The custodian (Nasdaq, in this case) is responsible for the safety of the financial products. With this crypto holders may make additional income on custody assets by loaning cryptos on a short-term basis. In 2022, Wall Street has increasingly taken an interest in cryptocurrencies despite the slump in prices.

Nasdaq, which is the second largest U.S. stock market exchange, has announced the introduction of custody services among its many products. According to a press release by the stock market operator, this move was motivated by increasing institutional interest. Although the post has not specified the digital assets the operator will offer, two obvious coins have captured the attention of institutional investors in the last couple of years- Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH).

For most institutional investors, the two largest cryptocurrencies offer the most network security, price stability, and liquidity to act as introductory investments in the crypto space.

Tal Cohen, head of North American markets at Nasdaq, expressed confidence in the latest venture, noting — "Demand among institutional investors for engaging in digital assets has increased in recent years, and Nasdaq is well-positioned to accelerate broader adoption and drive sustainable growth."

Bloomberg has since reported that while the company is open to working with native crypto firms, there were no immediate plans to acquire a crypto firm.

China's Nasdaq Style Exchange STAR MARKET debuts in Latest Market Liberalization Move of China

Shares on Shanghai's new Nasdaq-style technology board soared Monday, with one firm rocketing more than 500 per cent, as investors rushed to grab a piece of China's latest market liberalisation in a frenzied debut.

All 25 components on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Sci-Tech Innovation Board, or STAR Market, were driven sharply higher in a hearty initial endorsement of China's plan to use the board to help fund fast-growing tech firms and discourage them listing abroad.

Anji Technology, a solar energy battery manufacturer, closed morning trade up 415.44 per cent at 202 yuan after earlier soaring as high as 520 per cent.

The board's biggest component, China Railway Signal & Communication, rose 125.64 per cent to 13.20 yuan on market-leading turnover of 7.6 billion yuan (USD 1.1 billion).

The introduction of the board, for which listing and trading rules have been dramatically eased, represents one of China's most significant financial market reforms yet and a potential weapon in its growing tech rivalry with the United States. The tech board is yet to draw any household names.



China hopes it will eventually include listings from among the country's rich stable of tech "unicorns" -- start-ups valued at a minimum $1 billion -- which include Alibaba-linked mobile-payments pioneer Ant Financial, ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing, and online-services platform Meituan-Dianping.

China's government envisions the board being mentioned in the same breath someday as the tech-heavy Nasdaq, encouraging firms to list at home after the likes of Alibaba and Baidu chose Wall Street.

That will take time -- the Nasdaq has more than 3,000 companies listed and is one of the world's biggest exchanges.

"I think the science and technology board will develop into a major and important sector in China's capital markets, but it will take a long time, maybe 10 years, 20 years, or even longer," said Jiang Liangqing, a fund manager at Ruisen Capital Management.

It is a leap of faith for China's volatility-averse authorities, as its stocks have been given relatively free rein.

For the first time, Chinese companies can list without a track record of past profits or restrictions on IPO pricing.

There will be no limits on price movements for the first five days of trading, after which a daily 20 percent band is imposed.

China's two main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen are subject to a 10 percent band to contain volatility.

With attention on the new exchange, those markets languished Monday. Shanghai's main index was 0.57 per cent lower at midday while Shenzhen's was down 0.87 per cent.

The tech board was announced in November by President Xi Jinping as a battle with the United States for technological supremacy heated up.

Xi has called on China's tech leaders to become global champions, while the US has fought back in part by taking steps to clip the wings of Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

When big tech companies list overseas, the government in Beijing loses influence over their fundraising and Chinese investors cannot share in those companies' success due to restrictions on purchasing overseas-listed shares. China realised it needed to loosen up.

"If China didn't launch this new tech board now, it would miss the chance to transform its economic development into this 'new economy' mode," said Yang Delong, chief economist at First Seafront Fund.

But there are concerns that the new board could siphon liquidity from China's main markets, already pressured by slowing economic growth and the US trade war.

As a result, analysts believe regulators will take a measured pace in growing the tech board. AFP

Gurgaon-based Droom to List on NASDAQ in 2020, Announces Sandeep Aggarwal

Gurgaon-based Droom, an online marketplace to buy and sell new and used automobiles, is preparing to list on the Nasdaq exchange in the second half of 2020, its founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal told a business daily.

In an interview to Sandeep Soni of Financial Express (FE), Aggarwal said that the public listing would also give 150 of 360 employees at Droom having stock option to convert their sweat equity into capital. Besides, Droom is also hiring across multiple positions as it aims to be a 500-people company in the next four months.

For NASDAQ listing, Droom is also working with some bankers.

Additionally, the company is also planning to raise a fresh round of funding however the exact timing and size of capital will be decided in nine months before the planned NASDAQ listing, according Aggarwal.

In May this year, Droom raised $30 million (~ Rs 203 crore) in Series D equity financing round led by world's largest automaker, Toyota, through its subsidiary Toyota Tsusho Corp.

Founded in June 2014, Droom has raised a total of $125 million in six rounds of investments and is valued approximately $550 million. Droom might raise a round of around $100-150 million in 2019 in a pre-IPO round to expand its market share, global presence and invest in technology and infrastructure.

Besides, the FE report further suggests that Droom also is proactively pushing its overseas expansion plan with Malaysia in November this year, Singapore in December and Thailand in January 2019.

By end of 2019 Droom will be available in total nine countries including Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

In December 2016, Droom has launched Droom History, an unbiased report which curates historical data available through various authorised data providers to deliver in-depth information about a vehicle’s background. Generated using Droom’s proprietary technology, the report addresses issues related with a vehicle’s safety, trust, and value.

In June of same year, announced the closing of its Series B funding in a round led by BEENEXT from Singapore and Digital Garage from Japan. Majority of existing investors are participating in the current round including Lightbox and BEENOS. Also, in September, the company entered into a partnership with CashCare, an innovative consumer lending platform where short-term loans are provided on a real-time basis.

[Top Image - ET Auto]

Meet 15 Startups Selected by Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center for India Programme

San Francisco-based nonprofit Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center recently unveiled the name of the 15 Indian startups it has finalised for its Milestone Makers India programme. As the name suggests, the programme aims to lend a helping hand to early-to-mid-stage founders in achieving crucial milestones for their startups and make their businesses a roaring success. Although the programme doesn't promise any direct funding opportunity, it does offer to connect deserving entrepreneurs with potential investors through the Startup India Advisory network.

The programme, which is the Center's first one outside of the United States, was launched in March earlier this year in association with New Delhi-based Startup India Advisory.

The Milestone programme is different from most accelerators in the country as against focusing on startups and companies per se, the programme focuses on building a great leader with excellent execution skills out of each of the enrolled startup entrepreneur.

Though initially the startup set out to select 25 startups for its first May 2017 batch, it ended up choosing only 15. The list, which boosts of having eight women and seven men, has each of 15 different startups belong to a different sector.

The 2014 established organisation, which has been designed to educate, innovate, and connect aspiring and current entrepreneurs, will be closely working with the selected entrepreneurs for a long period of 12 weeks (3 months). During this time, each of the enrolled startup founder will be provided with one coach, three to four business mentors, a customized set of classes and access to other useful resources—all valued around a whopping $250,000.

The 15 finalists are as follows:

Name: Manuring It!
Founder: Amit Arora

Starting its official journey in October, 2016, Manuring it! works with landless farmers in states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh to produce organic manure and sell the same in rural areas to farmers through a Mobile Missed Call with zero cash payments. It helps with the employment of landless farmers thus trying to rid them of poverty and bringing organic manure to the land holding farmers with just one missed call.

Name: DAZL
Founder: Aditi Chadha

The startup, which has won seed funding from Vodafone and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has successfully developed a IoT device that fits right inside fashion accessories and helps women manage their safety, health and daily communication needs. Being pitched as fashion with intelligence, DAZL provides location based safety alerts and a wide range of customised notifications.

Name: Zola India
Founder: Gina Joseph

Zola is a culmination of Gina Joseph’s passions and creative ideas about jewellery. It draws inspirations and appreciation of art, architecture and culture of India; the vibrant colours, textures, rich cultural heritage and folklore, fine workmanship and seamless Indian beauty. The startup provides rural and folk artisans a platform to express themselves through wearable art and is a voice that narrates their stories to the world, which thereby allows them to realize sustained economic empowerment by conducting regular design Intervention and Innovation workshops and introducing new materials, processes and technologies in jewellery design. Gina's seven years experience as a media professional in advertising, public relations and journalism helps her in spreading the message about the extraordinary work they're doing.

Name: Rooter
Founder: Piyush Kumar

Started in September 2016, Rooter aims to connect its users to fans with similar sport interests around their workplace and home. Within just a few months of going live, Rooter has been successful in connecting 100,000 fans on board across football, cricket, tennis and basketball. Available for both Android and Apple's iOS devices, the startup is funded by Bollywood actor Boman Irani and Intex Technologies.

Name: Crop Stacks Agritech
Founder: Vivek Naik

Founded in November 2016, the startup as the name suggests aims to help Indians grow food in their homes using hydroponics. Naik, who is also the founder at Goa Startup Launchpad, has a rich experience of working in the manufacturing industry which is helping him well in growing Crop Stacks Agritech.

Name: Caredose
Founder: Gauri Angrish

The New Delhi-based startup simplifies the process of managing our medication and ensures strict adherence, which helps the user maximise the benefit of their medication and minimise their healthcare expenditure. They do so by realising the power of their inventive packaging, proprietary technology and full service pharmacy. Angrish experience of working as an analyst at McKinsey and Co. in the pharmaceutical and medical device vertical helps him in Caredose.

Name: EasyGov
Founder: Amit Shukla

EasyGov provide easy and convenient access to and availability of Government schemes and services. The information to avail any service with rights of people is offered at no cost on EasyGov. Though the startup charges for doing all task on behalf of individual for availing any Government service.

Name: G for Gestures
Founder: Rachana Bagde

The startup integrates gesture technology with virtual reality and allows users to interact through their body gestures and get an immersive experience in VR without having to wear any expensive VR headgear. Bagde is currently pursuing final year of a dual degree course for M.Tech degree from IIIT Gwalior.

Name: Little Passports Edutours
Founder: Prachi Kagzi

Little Passports is a novel concept in the kids travel space for India and aspires to organise educative travel tours for kids aged between 3 to 15 accompanied with their mother/father. The concept resonates well with today's parents who value 'learning by doing'.

Name: WaterScience
Founder: Sudeep Nadukkandy

Starting its journey in July 2014, WaterScience aims to make treated water affordable and accessible to everyone in India. Its first product, CLEO Shower Filter, reduces chlorine and effects of hard water, which is serious problem in India.

Name: Fandoro
Founder: Smita Mishra

A SaaS-based social gifting platform, Fandoro is making gifting hassle-free with its machine learning algorithm-enabled recommendation engine and gift checkout process. The platform enables small and medium gift retailers to have an online presence and leverage technology for increased sales. Mishra's 15 years experience in IT industry helps her immensely in Fandoro.

Name: Planet Abled
Founder: Neha Arora

Planet-Abled provides accessible travel solutions and leisure excursions for people with different disabilities. There are over a billion people with different disabilities in the world, but the percentage of them travelling is miniscule, owning to lack of accessible travel options available. The startup has an identified this gap and has come forward to give them the freedom to travel no matter what their disability is. Whether they want to experience a small facet of the city they are in or they want to travel across multiple cities of their interest, they have something unique, safe and enjoyable for everyone.

Name: Threye Interactive
Founder: Anurag Rana

Working around the fields of gaming, augmented reality, virtual reality and robotics, the startup aims to bring military technology for consumer use. It's esteemed list of clients include the Defense Research and Development Organisation and Indian Air Force. The award winning interactive tech development company is currently in the midst of developing an augmented reality headset which will facilitate training and operations.

Name: Happy Adda Studios
Founder: Raja Sekhar Vasa

Being accelerated by Google through its Developers Launchpad Accelerator programme, the startup is into developing vernacular mobile games that reach out to the untapped audience in small towns and villages. Its mobile game “Jalebi – A Desi Adda” has already crossed over 500,000 daily active users within just six months of release and now has 6.5 million users. The startup has acquired a unique status of being India's first ever desi game center.

Name: Let’s Barter India
Founder: Pooja Bhayana

The startup is a community for like-minded people in India to connect and barter their pre-loved goods. Its bring back the concept of barter, and make exchanging a cool concept again. Founded in October 2015, Let’s Barter has started as a Facebook group to be a facilitator of barter and trade. It has currently 1,86,000 members.

As Funding Gets Dry, India's Tech Startups Contemplate Listing On Nasdaq To Raise Money

The sorry condition of funding in India's Startup ecosystem from last year is continuing its run even in the new year. So much so that it has now become a matter of common knowledge all around the world. Anticipating the tough times ahead, several India-based startups like GirnarSoft (brand behind auto portals CarDekho, Gaadi and ZigWheels), ShopClues and Policy-Bazaar etc. are now contemplating listing themselves on the American stock exchange, Nasdaq, which already has the shares of several other Indian companies like Azure Power, Make My Trip and Yatra Online currently trading on it.

The Indian startups are now considering a route to Nasdaq as the valuations in the industry have come under immense pressure and raising further rounds of funding is becoming a more difficult task by the day. As of now, listing is one of the few options left for these India-based digital and tech firms. Nasdaq is emerging as a popular choice among the startups as it's home to several tech and Internet biggies like Intel, Amazon, Cisco and Microsoft etc.

According to a statement given by ShopClues cofounder Radhika Aggarwal to ET, the valuation of the famous Tiger Global-backed ecommerce marketplace can be pegged to be over $1.1billion. According to her, the startup would be able to break even by the end of financial year 2017-2018 (i.e. March 2018). She said, "We will be ready to list by year-end."

Another startup eyeing a listing on Nasdaq is online financial products platform PolicyBazaar, which has been successful in raising a whopping 500 crore since starting its shop nine years back in 2008. The Tiger Global and Premji Invest funded startup is hopeful that it will be able to break even by the end of the current financial year. Commenting on the Nasdaq listing, PolicyBazaar's cofounder Alok Bansal said that the company is open to the idea and is currently in the process of vetting it completely.

Umesh Hora, CEO, GirnarSoft, which is the parent company which runs auto portals CarDekho, Gaadi and ZigWheel, said that a listing on the US exchange would be an opportunity worth exploring for India-based tech firms looking to break the glass barrier and reach greater heights.

Offering his expert opinion on Indian-firms making a move to Nasadq, Make My Trip cofounder Deep Kalra said in a statement to ET that he believes that the firms are making the right decision as now is the right time to list since the Indian startup ecosystem is now maturing and pulling a high-value funding round under such conditions seems an extremely difficult task. While he believed that the time was right, but he also expressed concerns over whether the Indian internet firms were ready for a Nasdaq listing since the listing requires robust corporate governance and excellent processes.

[Image: Indeed.com]