Futures Trading Guides
Practical education for trading index, currency, rate, energy and metals futures with a focus on clear rules, realistic position sizing and account protection – for personal and funded prop accounts.
This page is written from the point of view of a trader, not a marketing brochure. Always verify contract specs and rules with your broker, exchange and prop firm.
Who These Guides Are For
- Intraday and swing traders in index, rate, FX, energy and metals futures.
- Prop-firm traders who must respect trailing or static drawdowns and daily loss limits.
- Discretionary traders who want structured playbooks instead of random entries.
- Investors who use futures for hedging or tactical exposure and want clearer rules.
Foundation: Futures ≠ Stocks with Leverage
- Futures are margin-based contracts, not ownership of the underlying asset.
- Ticks, point value, contract size and expiration matter more than “share price”.
- Leverage can work for or against you quickly; risk must be planned first.
Every example on this page assumes you have a written risk plan and understand that futures trading can lead to substantial losses. If you are unsure, reduce size and seek independent advice.
1. Futures Contract Basics You Must Know Cold
Before thinking about setups or indicators, you should know the “plumbing” of the contracts you trade. It is difficult to manage risk if you do not know exactly what each tick is worth.
Contract Size & Tick Value
How each move hits your P&L- Tick size (for example 0.25 points in some index futures, 0.5 or 1 in others).
- Tick value (dollars per tick), which can differ between full-size and micro contracts.
- Point value (ticks × tick value) to estimate larger moves quickly.
Build a small table for each symbol you trade so you can see tick/point value at a glance.
Trading Hours & Liquidity
When your edge actually exists- Regular trading hours vs. extended/overnight sessions.
- Volume and spread behaviour around open, lunch, and close.
- How roll periods and holidays change liquidity and slippage.
Margins & Limits
How much capital is really at risk- Exchange margin vs broker/prop intraday margin.
- Initial vs maintenance margin and what happens if requirements change.
- Daily price limits and how they affect stops and exits on extreme days.
2. Building a Futures Session Playbook
Random entries across the full 24-hour session usually lead to random results. A structured session plan can limit risk and help you focus on the windows where your edge is strongest.
Defining Your Session Windows
- Choose the products you focus on (for example one or two index futures, one rate, one energy contract).
- Mark primary sessions on your chart – for example cash index open, European open, US morning, US afternoon.
- Decide which windows you trade actively and which you avoid due to spreads or noise.
Example Session Rules
- Maximum number of trades per session.
- Time-based shutdown after a set loss or profit target is reached.
- No new positions in the last X minutes before major scheduled events.
Intraday vs Swing Playbooks
- Intraday: tight risk, defined session, flatten by end-of-day when required by rules or prop firms.
- Swing: wider stops, overnight risk, more emphasis on funding cost and margin changes.
- Keep separate playbooks and statistics for each style; mixing them hides problems.
A “playbook” is simply a documented set of behaviours you agree to follow: time, product, risk per trade, and when to stop.
3. Common Futures Trade Structures
Every trader eventually develops their own style, but most futures trades fall into a few structural categories. Understanding the structure helps you measure risk and build rules.
Opening Drive & Reversal
Index & rate futures- Focus on the first 30–90 minutes of the cash session.
- Use pre-market ranges and overnight highs/lows as reference.
- Tight risk, quick feedback, but also more noise and slippage when volatility spikes.
Range Break & Retest
All major contracts- Identify multi-hour or multi-day balance areas.
- Look for breaks with expanding volume and volatility.
- Use retests of the broken area to define risk and invalidation.
Trend Continuation Pullbacks
Strong directional environments- Trade in the direction of a clearly established trend on higher timeframes.
- Enter on pullbacks to moving averages, VWAP, or prior structure.
- Stops placed beyond recent swing extremes or volatility bands.
These are structures, not mechanical systems. You still decide which indicators, order-flow tools or execution rules you use to define entries, exits and filters.
4. Risk, Drawdown & Account Protection in Futures
Because futures are leveraged, risk management is not optional. A few principles apply across almost every product and style.
Key Risk Principles
- Define maximum loss per trade as a percentage of account, not “how it feels”.
- Set hard daily loss limits that match your broker’s or prop firm’s definitions.
- Use smaller contract sizes (for example micros where available) to keep risk within sustainable levels.
- Limit total open risk across correlated contracts (for example ES and NQ together).
Drawdown Management
- Track peak-to-trough drawdown in both dollars and R-multiples (risk units).
- Pre-define a “review zone” where you reduce size or pause trading after a series of losses.
- Prop accounts: keep personal limits tighter than the firm’s trailing or static limits to create a buffer.
Most futures traders fail not because their ideas are terrible, but because their size and drawdowns are too large for their capital and psychology.
5. Futures Trading Checklist
Use this checklist to stress-test your own futures approach. You do not need to be perfect, but each item you can answer clearly lowers your risk of random outcomes.
- You have a clear list of products you trade, with tick/point value and margin written down.
- You know exactly which session windows you trade and which you avoid.
- Your setups can be described in plain language: structure, trigger, invalidation.
- Risk per trade and per day is defined as a percentage of account, not only as a dollar figure.
- Drawdown limits and “pause rules” are written and visible near your screen.
- For funded accounts, your plan matches the firm’s rules on drawdown, trading hours and news restrictions.
- You keep a simple log of trades, including mistakes and rule-breaks, not only P&L.
How Futures Guides Fit into MRSLM Group
The futures guides connect directly with other areas of MRSLM Group:
- Trading & Prop Firms: understanding evaluation rules, payouts and risk limits before you deploy futures strategies in funded accounts.
- Broker Accounts: comparing margin policies, platforms and product offerings for the contracts you trade.
- AI Tools & Bots: translating futures playbooks into indicators, algos, backtests and risk dashboards.
When you combine product knowledge, market structure and real risk controls, futures trading becomes a structured business process instead of a series of guesses.
Risk & Legal Notice
MRSLM Group LLC provides educational information only. Nothing on this page is financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and no specific exchange, broker, prop firm or trading strategy is being recommended or guaranteed. Trading futures and other leveraged instruments involves a high level of risk and can result in substantial losses, including losses greater than your initial deposit in some products. Contract specifications, margin requirements and firm rules change over time; always consult the official documentation of your brokers, exchanges and prop firms and consider independent professional advice before trading with real capital.