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

This July futures trading recap covers a second straight net-negative month for ELITE accounts. June closed in the red, and July followed the same path, even though the month opened with two profitable weeks in a row.

ETF is a futures prop firm for traders who want uncapped Live Elite rewards. July split cleanly in two: the first two weeks of the month were both net positive, and the final three weeks were all net negative. The heaviest loss of the month landed in the very last week, not in the middle of the slide.

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 Silver (SIL), Micro Bitcoin (MBT), and Euro FX (6E) rounded out the top five profitable instruments; Micro E-mini Russell 2000 (M2K), Ultra U.S. Treasury Bond (UB), Platinum (PL), Japanese Yen (6J), and 1-Ounce Gold (1OZ) completed the top 10.

Currency and metals names carried the month's entire 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, nearly three 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 Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES). Gold (GC), E-Mini Dow (YM), Crude Oil (CL), Micro Gold (MGC), Natural Gas (NG), and Silver (SI) rounded out the top 10 loss instruments for the month.

MNQ's presence here is the month's clearest shift from June. Last month MNQ led every instrument in both volume and profit at once, a combination we called out as unusual at the time; see June 2026: The Month That Opened Green and Closed Red. In July, MNQ kept its volume lead but moved into the loss column instead.

July's five weeks split cleanly: two profitable weeks to open the month, then three consecutive net-loss weeks to close it. 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 Gain
• Wk2: Jul 6-10: Relative volume low - Net Gain (Strongest)
• Wk3: Jul 13-17: Relative volume moderate - Net Loss
• Wk4: Jul 20-24: Relative volume highest of the month - Net Loss (Mildest of the Three)
• 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 positive on the lightest volume of the month, partly a function of the shortened Independence Day week.

Week 2 was the strongest week of the month on the P/L side, extending the positive open into a second straight week; see Currency Futures Carry the Green Column for that week's full breakdown.

Week 3 was the turn. Volume picked up and the month's direction flipped to net negative for the first time; see Micro E-mini Futures: Dow's Solo Climb. It was the second-heaviest loss week of the month.

Week 4 carried the month's heaviest trading volume by a clear margin, yet posted the mildest loss of the three red weeks; see ES vs MES Futures: Full-Size Wins, Micro Loses. More activity did not mean a deeper loss this time, a contrast with June, when the busiest weeks and the deepest-loss weeks were the same weeks.

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 for the second consecutive month (June and July).
• Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100 (MNQ) held the #1 volume spot for the second consecutive month, but flipped from #1 profit instrument in June to a top-10 loss instrument in July.
• ELITE accounts closed net negative for the second consecutive month (June and July).
• July's busiest week (Week 4) was not its worst-loss week, the opposite of June's pattern, where the busiest weeks were also the deepest-loss weeks.
• 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, where rewards use real capital and there is no cap.

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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