Beginner's Guide To E-Mini Futures Contracts: Other E-Mini Contracts

While the e-mini stock index futures are the e-minis of choice for many traders, other e-mini contracts are available that provide exposure to a variety of asset classes. Certain products even have corresponding micro contracts that trade at an even smaller size than the e-minis.

Metals
The CME offers mini and micro contracts for copper, gold and silver:

• E-mini Copper (QC)
  
• miNY Gold (QO)
  
• E-micro Gold (MGC)
  
• miNY Silver (QI)
  
• E-mini Silver (XSN)

Forex
Several e-mini versions of popular forex pairs are offered by CME:

• E-mini EUR/USD (E7)
  
• E-mini JPY/USD (J7)
  
• E-micro AUD/USD (M6A)
  
• E-micro EUR/USD (M6E)
  
• E-micro GBP/USD (M6B)
  
• E-micro CAD/USD (MCD)
  
• E-micro USD/CAD (M6C)
  
• E-micro CHF/USD (MSF)
  
• E-micro USD/CHF (M6S)
  
• E-micro JPY/USD (MJY)
  
• E-micro USD/JPY (M6J)
  
• E-micro USD/RMB (MNY)

Commodities
The CME offers several agricultural commodities in mini sizes:

• Mini-sized Corn (XC)
  
• Mini-sized Wheat (XW)
  
• Mini-Sized Soybeans (XK)

Energy
A variety of mini energy products are offered by the CME:

• E-mini Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures (QM)
  
• E-mini Natural Gas Futures (QG)
  
• E-mini Heating Oil (QH)
  
• E-mini RBOB Gasoline (QU)

Other Index Products
The CME offers additional e-mini stock index futures products:

• E-mini S&P SmallCap 600 (SMC)
  
• E-mini NASDAQ Composite (QCN)
  
• E-mini NASDAQ Biotechnology Futures (BIO)

In addition to these futures products, many of the e-mini contracts are available as options.

SEE: Options Basics Tutorial

Conclusion
The e-minis are the small but mighty cousins of their larger, full-sized contracts. Because of their size and low margin requirements, the e-minis make ideal trading instruments for individual traders and investors. Due to their volatility and liquidity, the e-minis are also popular among institutional and high frequency trading firms. These characteristics make the e-minis attractive to new and professional traders alike.