Significant news this week regarding for traders of the E-Mini S&P 500 (ES), YM (Mini-sized Dow), NQ (E-Mini NASDAQ-100) and EMD (E-Mini S&P MidCap 400) – as of Sunday, November 18, 2012 the close of the CME Globex for electronically traded equity index futures contracts will change from 4:15 p.m. US/Eastern to 5:15 p.m. US/Eastern. Your broker will most likely cancel any orders you have that are not filled by 5:15 p.m. US/Eastern. This time change will affect your day trading starting Monday, November 19.
• There will be a 15-minute halt in electronic trading from 4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. US/Eastern
• Trading for equity index contracts listed on CME Globex will resume at 4:30 p.m. US/Eastern for the same trade date for 45 minutes, closing at 5:15 p.m. US/Eastern. This includes Fridays, meaning that the end of the trading week on CME Globex also will be changed to 5:15 p.m. US/Eastern
• CME Globex trades that take place during the 4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. US/Eastern time frame will be subject to the daily settlement prices calculated at 4:15 p.m. US/Eastern (i.e., settlement times will not change).
• Trading of equity index contracts on CME Globex will be closed from 5:15 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. US/Eastern.
• Trading re-opens at 6:00 p.m. US/Eastern on CME Globex (Sundays-Thursdays) for the new trade date.
These changes to CME Globex hours coincide with the implementation of daily price limits on equity index contracts (switching from quarterly price limits, pending regulatory review). Daily price limits will be applied each day starting at 6:00 p.m. US/Eastern. The changes are designed to harmonize CME products with the underlying markets at U.S. stock exchanges, which will adopt daily price limits on February 4, 2013, in accordance with updated market-wide circuit breaker rules.
• Trading re-opens at 6:00 p.m. US/Eastern on CME Globex (Sundays-Thursdays) for the new trade date.
• The Reference price for daily price limits for the next trade date will be calculated based on the 4:00 p.m. US/Eastern futures prices.
• The width of the equity index futures price limit band will be based on the underlying cash equity index.
• The daily limits will be published on the CME Group website prior to the CME Globex open at 6:00 p.m. US/Eastern.
• CME Globex trading hour changes are effective for both U.S. and international equity index futures and options.
Here is the official announcement from the CME
And a helpful table from the CME
When reading the announcement from the CME website, note that the time zone in use is Central Time (CT). This is an hour behind us here in Florida (Eastern Time / ET).
What does this all mean for you? We do not foresee an impact to any of our Day Trade to Win strategies or methods. John Paul indicates that he is unsure if there will be significantly tradeable volatility during the extending electronic trading hour. You may want to stay away from trading during this time at first. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how an expansion in trading time impacts the markets.
Update – correct your chart settings with NInja Trader
