Page 180 - THE MARKET WHISPERER

176 PART 6 - Indices, Sectors And Crystal Balls

NASDAQ 100 Futures Contract: NQ

The NQ is the NASDAQ 100 futures contract. It is professionally known
as the E-mini NASDAQ 100 Futures contract. Just as the ES represents
the S&P 500’s expected future, so the NQ represents the NASDAQ 100’s
expected future.

The NQ is a contract traded on Chicago’s CME. If you watch the NQ
during the trading session, you will see that in actuality, it precedes the
NDX or QQQ. Paying your broker for the ES package should automatically
include all E-mini indices, thus the NQ will be in that package too. It is
electronically traded almost 24 hours a day. Checking its chart just before
the trading session opens will show you whether the NASDAQ will open up
or down, long before many others know.

The NQ Symbol
As with the ES, NQ contracts expire every three months on the third Friday
at the end of each quarter.

An example of the symbol for futures expiring at the end of the second
quarter would be /NQM3. The slash and the letters “NQ” will always
remain part of the symbol. The rest decodes precisely the same way as for
the ES: “M” represents contracts expiring at the end of the second quarter,
and “3” represents the year 2013.