Emini futures, or simply eminis, are smaller-sized contracts of “full-grown” futures contracts that have been around for decades. Unlike the latter that have been traded on physical exchanges, eminis have always been traded electronically, allowing retail traders with access to the Internet to compete against institutional traders from the comfort of their homes or home based offices.
Success in this field is certainly possible and this author, if he may say so, is one example of this. Speaking from the perspective of someone who has been in the day trading trenches for over 5 years, I have some pretty good news for those just starting in emini trading. Listen, folks: it is now much easier to make progress towards your ambitious goal of becoming a consistently profitable trader than it was when I was a rookie. This has much, if not most, to do with technology, one very useful and important element of which are easily available trading simulators that these days render trading conditions in a respectably realistic way.
There are quite a few good simulators for emini trading currently available to emini traders, the best of them being probably ninjatrader review. One of the main advantages of NinjaTrader market software is that it can be used with most emini futures brokers out there. The thing I really like about the simulator is that it gives you detailed stats about your performance, like number and value of losers, number and values of winners, average values of trades, and even more complicated statistics that can be very useful for people to learn where they need to improve. NinjaTrader also allows you to trade live, so once you have mastered trading eminis in a simulated environment, you can use the very same platform for trading them for real.
I think people do know, as they should, that no amount of using simulators is going to make up for real world experience, but getting some practice is a huge advantage over going in blind. There is a major element that is lacking in simulated trading of emini futures. Of course that lacking element is emotional attachment to money.