The S&P 500 index is  a widely held index of 500 different stocks and considered to be representative of the various industries in the US.  It is chosen by a comittee from Standard and Poors and started in 1957. The S&P 500 Index is considered to be the Benchmark for US stocks and is compared to many mutual funds to guage performance.  The stocks in the fund generally trade over a million shares a day and are very liquid trading on average 1,500,000 contracts a day. The E-mini Contract was created by the CME (Chicago Merchantile Exchange) as a fast and efficient way to trade the S&P 500.  The smaller contract size is easily accesible and can be traded for only $500 per contract through some brokers.  It is Electronically traded and very reliable trading around the clock except for Saturdays and 15 minutes a day to reconcile accounts from 4:15 to 4:30. The S&P 500 Emini, called the ES, moves in .25 increments called ticks.  Each of these increments is worth $12.50.  On average the ES moves $12.50 a day, a total of 50 ticks in one direction.   What is interesting is the path it takes, up and down during the day which creates opportunity to take profits.   You can make money in either direction, as long as you can call the direction. All accounts traded before 4:00 are settled that day, so access to your profits can be almost daily.   d