Common Terms and Definitions Used in E-Mini Day Trading
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Back Months:
Futures delivery months other than front month.
Bear:
One who expects a decline in prices. A news item is considered bearish if it is expected to result in lower prices.
Bear Market:
A market in which prices generally are declining over a period of months or years.
Bid:
An offer to buy a specific quantity of a commodity at a stated price.
CME:
Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This is where the Nasdaq and S&P 500 Emini markets are traded.
Contract:
An agreement made at a specific price for delivery on a certain day. The Emini Contracts are all cash based. Also known as Futures Contracts.
Day Trader:
An active trader who opens and closes positions the same day and seldom hold positions after the close. A day trader usually trades very liquid markets like the S&P 500 Eminis, Russell Eminis, Dow Eminis, and Nasdaq Eminis.
Dow Eminis:
The emini futures market that is a basket of 30 stocks. It is the average of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Emini:
A mini contract that is traded exclusively on an electronic trading facility.. E-Mini is a trademark of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Russell Eminis:
The Emini futures market that is a stock index of 2000 stocks.
Front Month:
The current trading month. The S&P 500 Eminis trade 4 contract months: March, June, September, and December.
Futures:
Market trading in contracts to buy and sell a particular commodity at a fixed price on a certain date.
Limit Order:
An order to enter a position at a set price or better.
Market Order:
An order to enter a position at the next available price.
Mini:
Refers to a futures contract that has a smaller contract size than an otherwise identical futures contract.
Stock Index:
An average of a basket of stocks, that are usually weighted, meaning some stocks have more “significance” in the index price than others.
Swing Trading:
Opposite of daytrading. Swing Traders speculate longer term on prices of stocks, futures, etc.
Tick:
The minimum price fluctuation price action can make. In the S&P 500 Eminis the minimum movement is $12.50. So each “tick” is $12.50.

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