ELITE Tape | August 2026 Futures Trading Recap: Every Week Landed in the Red

This August futures trading recap covers a third straight net-negative month for ELITE accounts, and the deepest one yet: every one of the month's five weeks closed net negative, a sharper decline than June's mixed month or July's two-good-three-bad split.

ETF is a futures prop firm for traders who want uncapped Live Elite payouts. August's total loss ran more than double July's and well beyond June's, making it the worst of the three straight red months on record. Losses also grew steadily across the first three weeks of the month before easing somewhat in the back half.

E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) was the single largest drag on the month for a third consecutive month, while Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) again led every instrument in volume. Full detail on where the volume, profit, and loss went, plus the week-by-week breakdown, is below.

Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) led every instrument in volume for a third consecutive month, nearly three times the volume of the next-busiest contract. E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) held the second spot, followed by Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) and Micro Gold (MGC). E-Mini S&P 500 (ES) and Gold (GC) rounded out the index and metals activity, while Micro E-mini Dow (MYM), E-Mini Dow (YM), E-Mini Russell 2000 (RTY), and Micro Crude Oil (MCL) closed out the top 10 most traded instruments for the month.

MNQ and NQ together made up the clear majority of all ELITE trading activity this month, the same two instruments behind the month's largest loss. For the full breakdown of instruments ELITE accounts can trade, see ETF's What Instruments Can I Trade guide, and for ticker symbols across contract families, the Forex and Futures Symbol Guide. A month this lopsided toward one instrument pair, and this deep in the red, is also a good moment to think about how a losing stretch plays out over time; ETF's Trailing Drawdown Calculator models that.

E-Mini Russell 2000 (RTY) led every instrument in profit for the month, though the margin over the rest of the list was thin. Micro E-mini Russell 2000 (M2K) held second, followed by Micro Crude Oil (MCL). Canadian Dollar (6C), Platinum (PL), Ultra US Treasury Bond (UB), Live Cattle (LE), Micro Copper (MHG), 100-Ounce Silver (SIC), and British Pound (6B) rounded out the top 10 profitable instruments for the month.

The entire profit column this month was shallow. Even the single best-performing instrument gained only a modest amount for the full month, a sign of how little ground ELITE accounts made up anywhere in August. No instrument from the NASDAQ, S&P, or Dow index complex, full-size or micro, finished the month in the green, the same as July.

E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) was the single largest drag on the month, more than 1.7 times the size of the next-largest loss. Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) took the second spot, followed by E-Mini S&P 500 (ES) and Gold (GC). Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES), E-Mini Dow (YM), Micro Gold (MGC), Silver (SI), Copper (HG), and Swiss Franc (6S) rounded out the top 10 loss instruments for the month.

NQ has now been the single largest monthly loss instrument for three consecutive months, extending the pattern first called out in July 2026 Futures Trading Recap: A Second Straight Month in the Red, which itself picked up from June 2026: The Month That Opened Green and Closed Red.

August's five weeks all closed net negative, but not evenly: the first three weeks got progressively worse before the back half of the month eased. Volume and loss size did not move together this month either; the busiest week was not the worst week, echoing the same split July's own busiest week showed.

• Week 1 (Aug 3-7): Lightest volume of the four full weeks - Net Loss (mildest of the month's opening stretch)
• Week 2 (Aug 10-14): Volume picked up - Net Loss (deeper than Week 1)
• Week 3 (Aug 17-21): Volume picked up again - Net Loss (heaviest of the month)
• Week 4 (Aug 24-28): Busiest week of the month by a clear margin - Net Loss (mildest of the four full weeks, despite the heaviest volume)
• Week 5 (Aug 31 only): A single trading day, the trailing edge of a week that continues into September - Net Loss (closed the month on a red note)

Week 1 was the tail end of the month's opening stretch and the mildest loss of the four full weeks; see MNQ Contract Size: The Bigger Bet Strikes Again for that week's full breakdown.

Week 2 deepened the slide on higher volume; see NQ Futures Prop Firm: Even a Record Day Landed Red.

Week 3 was the month's low point, its heaviest loss even though volume that week still trailed Week 4's; see MNQ Futures: The Nasdaq Selloff ELITE Barely Felt.

Week 4 carried the month's heaviest trading volume by a clear margin, yet posted the mildest loss of the four full weeks; see E-Mini Nasdaq Futures: A Green Day Breaks the Streak. More activity did not mean a deeper loss this time, the same pattern July's own Week 4 showed.

Week 5 covered only the month's first trading day, Monday, August 31, since the calendar week it belongs to runs into September; that week's own full recap will publish separately once the complete week closes.

• E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) has been the single largest monthly P/L drag for three consecutive months (June, July, and August).
• Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) has held the #1 volume spot for three consecutive months (June, July, and August).
• ELITE accounts have closed net negative for three consecutive months (June, July, and August), and August's loss was the deepest of the three by a wide margin, more than double July's.
• For a second consecutive month, the month's busiest week was not its worst-loss week (true of July's Week 4 and August's Week 4 alike).
• No instrument from the NASDAQ, S&P, or Dow index complex, full-size or micro, finished in the green for a second consecutive month.
• Separately, in ELITE Tape's own weekly recaps, NQ's own week-by-week top-10-loss-instrument streak has held every week since we've been tracking this data, 28 consecutive weeks as of the most recent weekly issue.

ELITE accounts are sim-funded. The trading activity in these recaps reflects position P/L in sim accounts, not Live Elite payouts. Traders reach an Elite Sim-Funded account either by passing an evaluation or by purchasing Direct to Funding (DTF), which skips the evaluation step, and those who do well may progress to Live Elite, where payouts use real capital and there is no cap.

For a full explanation of how payouts work at each stage, see How Prop Firm Payouts Work: Sim vs Live vs Guaranteed. For daily payout structure specifics, see Daily Payout Prop Firms: How Live Elite Pays You.

ETF is a futures prop firm for traders who want uncapped Live Elite payouts, built on evaluation paths and account options for every stage of that journey. Evaluations are available for every account size, including the Static Evaluation for traders who want a fixed drawdown structure. Real trader results, community feedback, and program details are available through ETF's testimonials, rewards program, affiliate program, and trading competitions.

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