ELITE Tape | July 2026 Futures Trading Recap: A Second Straight Month in the Red

This July futures trading recap covers another net-negative month for ELITE accounts. June closed in the red, and July followed the same path: all five of its weeks closed net negative.

ETF is a futures prop firm for traders who want uncapped Live Elite rewards. July's losses built toward the end of the month: the first week was its lightest, and the heaviest loss landed in the very last week.

Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) held its usual role as the busiest instrument of the month, while E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) was the single largest drag on July's P/L. Both stories, along with the full month-by-month and week-by-week breakdown, are covered below.

Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) led every instrument in July by a wide margin, more than four 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 E-Mini S&P 500 (ES). Micro Gold (MGC) and Gold (GC) rounded out the metals activity, while Micro Crude Oil (MCL) and Crude Oil (CL) saw lighter but steady trading. Micro E-mini Dow (MYM) and E-Mini Dow (YM) closed out the top 10 most traded instruments for the month.

For the full breakdown of instruments ELITE accounts can trade, see ETF's What Instruments Can I Trade guide; for ticker symbols across contract families specifically, see the Forex and Futures Symbol Guide. A month where the busiest week and the worst-loss week were not the same week is also a good moment to think about position sizing relative to how much a given week is actually trending; ETF's Position Size Calculator models how contract size and account risk fit together.

Nikkei/USD (NKD) led every instrument in profit for the month, ahead of Swiss Franc (6S) in second. Micro Bitcoin (MBT), Micro E-mini Russell 2000 (M2K), and Euro FX (6E) rounded out the top five profitable instruments; Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond (UB), Platinum (PL), Japanese Yen (6J), 1-Ounce Gold (1OZ), and Australian Dollar (6A) completed the top 10.

Currencies and metals made up most of the month's profit column. No instrument from the NASDAQ, S&P, or Dow index complex finished July in the green, full-size or micro.

E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) was the single largest drag on the month, roughly double 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 Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES). Gold (GC), Micro Gold (MGC), E-Mini Dow (YM), Crude Oil (CL), Natural Gas (NG), and Silver (SI) rounded out the top 10 loss instruments for the month.

MNQ finished second in the loss column, the same spot it held in June; see June 2026: Five Weeks, Not One Green. In both months it was also the busiest instrument on the board.

All five of July's weeks closed net negative. Volume and loss size did not move together this month; the busiest week was not the worst week, and the worst week was not the busiest.

• Wk1: Jul 1-3: Relative volume lowest of the month - Net Loss (Lightest)
• Wk2: Jul 6-10: Relative volume low - Net Loss (3rd Heaviest)
• Wk3: Jul 13-17: Relative volume moderate - Net Loss (2nd Heaviest)
• Wk4: Jul 20-24: Relative volume highest of the month - Net Loss (2nd Lightest)
• Wk5: Jul 26-31: Relative volume high - Net Loss (Heaviest)

Week 1 covered the month's first three trading days, the tail end of the calendar week detailed in NASDAQ Futures: Micro Takes the Bigger Loss, and closed net negative on the lightest volume of the month, partly a function of the shortened Independence Day week. It was also the month's lightest loss.

Week 2 posted the month's third-heaviest loss; see Currency Futures Carry the Green Column for that week's full breakdown.

Week 3 was the second-heaviest loss week of the month, as volume picked up; see Micro E-mini Futures: Dow's Solo Climb.

Week 4 carried the month's heaviest trading volume by a clear margin, yet posted the month's second-lightest loss; see ES vs MES Futures: Full-Size Wins, Micro Loses. More activity did not mean a deeper loss this time, and June showed the same split: its busiest week was not its worst.

Week 5 closed out the month as its single heaviest loss week, on the second-highest volume of the month; see MNQ Futures Prop Firm: The Rebound Day Hurt the Most for that week's full breakdown, including the divergence between the market's best and worst trading sessions.

• E-Mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) was the single largest monthly P/L drag in both June and July.
• Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) held the #1 volume spot in both June and July, and finished second in the loss column both months.
• ELITE accounts closed net negative in both June and July, and no week in either month finished green.
• July's busiest week (Week 4) was not its worst-loss week, and the same was true in June (busiest: Week 2; worst: Week 4).
• No instrument from the NASDAQ, S&P, or Dow index complex, full-size or micro, finished July in the profit column.

ELITE accounts are sim-funded. The trading activity in these recaps reflects position P/L in sim accounts, not Live Elite rewards. 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, ETF's real-capital program, where there is no cap on rewards.

For a full explanation of how rewards work at each stage, see How Prop Firm Payouts Work: Sim vs Live vs Guaranteed. For daily reward structure specifics, see Daily Payout Prop Firms: How Live Elite Pays You. For the longer-running story behind NQ's presence in the loss column, see NQ Futures Prop Firm: Sixteen Weeks in the Loss Column.

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