ELITE Tape | NASDAQ Futures: Micro Takes the Bigger Loss

NASDAQ futures were on the wrong side of the ledger for ELITE accounts this week, and for once the micro contract did more damage than the full-size one. MNQ (Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100) finished as the week's single largest loss instrument, ahead of NQ (E-Mini NASDAQ-100) by a wide margin in dollar terms.

ETF is a futures prop firm for traders who want uncapped Live Elite payouts. Four of five sessions closed red for ELITE accounts in the week of June 29-July 3. Wednesday was the exception. It was the only session that finished net positive. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday all closed in the loss column.

NQ and MNQ both ended the week negative. So did Gold (GC), ES, Silver (SI), MES, Swiss Franc (6S), Micro Dow (MYM), Micro Crude Oil (MCL), and Copper (HG). Nothing in the NASDAQ complex avoided the red this week, and MNQ landing at the top of the loss list is a break from the pattern that has held for most of the year.

For a look at a week where these two contracts told a very different story, see the earlier ELITE Tape recap on MNQ vs NQ Futures.

MNQ held the top spot in trade volume for the 19th consecutive week. The gap between MNQ and every other instrument in the volume rankings remains as wide as it has been all year.

Below MNQ, NQ ranked second by volume. MES held third position, with ES close behind in fourth. Micro Gold (MGC), Micro Dow (MYM), Micro Russell 2000 (M2K), Gold (GC), E-Mini Dow (YM), and Swiss Franc (6S) rounded out the top 10.

Swiss Franc has now appeared in the volume top 10 for five straight weeks, and Micro Gold for four. The composition of the list has stayed concentrated in NASDAQ, S&P, and metals contracts for most of the year.

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MNQ was the top loss instrument this week, the first time in recent weeks it has outpaced NQ in dollar terms. The gap between MNQ and second place was substantial.

MNQ carries one-tenth the contract size of NQ, but this week shows that smaller size alone doesn't cap total exposure when volume concentrates heavily in one instrument. Elite Trader Funding's Position Size Calculator can help size positions relative to account risk before a loss column looks like this one.

NQ ranked second in the loss column, with Gold (GC) close behind in third. ES, Silver (SI), MES, Swiss Franc (6S), Micro Dow (MYM), Micro Crude Oil (MCL), and Copper (HG) filled out the bottom 10.

Gold has now appeared in the top loser list for six consecutive weeks. For a longer look at NQ's ongoing run in the loss column, see the earlier recap: NQ Futures Prop Firm: Sixteen Weeks in the Loss Column.

Wednesday was green. That is the short version. It was the only session of the week that closed on the profitable side for ELITE accounts, sandwiched between two losing sessions on either side.

Tuesday produced the single largest loss of the week. Thursday brought the heaviest trading activity of the week and still closed red. Monday and Friday were both losses as well, though lighter than Tuesday's session. Friday's lighter activity also reflects the holiday-shortened session.

There was no sustained skid this week. The week opened red, turned green in the middle, then turned red again for the close. Wednesday's reversal did not carry into Thursday or Friday.

• Mon 6/29: Relative volume moderate - Net Loss
• Tue 6/30: Relative volume higher - Net Loss (Heaviest)
• Wed 7/1: Relative volume lower - Net Profit
• Thu 7/2: Relative volume highest of the week - Net Loss
• Fri 7/3: Relative volume lowest of the week - Net Loss

Thursday was the busiest day of the week. It did not produce the best result. Volume peaked two sessions after the week's only green day, not on it.

The week's only profitable session, Wednesday, came in the middle of the week and carried the second-lightest volume. Friday had the lightest volume of all, though the session itself was shortened. Futures markets closed early at 1:00 PM ET in observance of the Independence Day holiday, observed Friday since the actual date fell on a Saturday. The half-day session still closed the week on a losing note. Tuesday, the second-busiest day, produced the week's largest loss.

Taken together, the two heaviest volume days of the week, Tuesday and Thursday, were both net losses. The lighter mid-week session was the one that turned green. More activity did not translate into a better outcome this week.

The profitable side of the ledger this week had an unusual name at the top. Nikkei/USD (NKD) led it, ahead of every other instrument that finished in the green.

Micro Bitcoin (MBT), Crude Oil (CL), Euro FX (6E), and Natural Gas (NG) rounded out the upper half of the profitable list. E-Mini Dow (YM), Platinum (PL), Micro Gold (MGC), Micro Silver (SIL), and E-Mini Russell 2000 (RTY) also finished in the green.

Micro Silver has now finished in the profitable column for four straight weeks, the longest active green streak in the data set.

If you found this post outside the usual prop trading circles: welcome. ELITE Tape is a weekly breakdown of what sim-funded futures traders at Elite Trader Funding actually traded, and how it went. Real position history data, every week, no forecasts.

For a week where the profitable list looked different, the NQ Bleeds, MES Wins recap is worth a look. This week's green list skewed toward commodities and currencies rather than equity index futures.

Streaks and frequency data we're watching:

• MNQ: 19 consecutive weeks as the top traded instrument among ELITE accounts. No week in the data set has produced a different result at the top of the volume chart.
• NQ: 19 consecutive weeks as the top loss instrument. This week was an exception in magnitude only: MNQ posted the larger dollar loss, but NQ's presence in the loss column has not broken.
• MNQ: 7 consecutive weeks in the top loser list. This week marks the first time in that stretch it has taken the top spot outright.
• Gold: 6 consecutive weeks in the top loser list. It has been consistent at the lower tier of the loss column throughout that run.
• Micro Silver: 4 consecutive weeks in the top profit list. The only instrument with a multi-week green streak at this point.

ELITE accounts are sim-funded. The trading activity in these recaps reflects position P/L in sim accounts, not Live Elite payouts. Traders who pass their evaluation move into ELITE Sim Funded accounts, 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.

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