> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.daytraderincome.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why NQ, and only NQ - URL: https://www.daytraderincome.com/why-nq/ - Published: 2026-09-18T22:34:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T22:13:21.000Z - Description: One market, for the same reason as one strategy. What Nasdaq-100 futures give an intraday record, and what the record can't tell you about anything else. - Author: Indy Karveli - Tags: Markets, #Import 2026-10-08 14:50, #Import 2026-10-10 11:04 This site runs on one market: Nasdaq-100 futures. NQ for the full contract, MNQ for the micro. Not stocks, not forex, not options, not a basket of futures. One. That's a choice, and it's the same choice as running one strategy — so it's worth explaining. ## Why one market at all Every market has its own hours, its own liquidity, its own way of moving, and its own costs. A strategy that works on one is not automatically a strategy that works on another, and a trader who runs the same rules across five markets has five small records instead of one large one. One market means one record. Every session on this site is comparable with every other session, because the instrument, the timeframe and the rules never change. That's the only way the numbers accumulate into something you can read. **DTI** Contract mathTicks, points and dollars on Nasdaq futures 1 point = 4 ticks of 0.250.250.250.250.25\= 1.00 pointWorth on one contractper tickper point20-pt moveMNQ$0.50$2$40NQ$5$20$400A 20-point stop, in dollars1 MNQ: $401 NQ: $4001 point = 4 ticks of 0.250.250.250.250.25\= 1.00 pointWorth on one contractper tickper point20-pt moveMNQ$0.50$2$40NQ$5$20$400A 20-point stop, in dollars1 MNQ: $401 NQ: $400Ten MNQ = one NQ in dollars. Contract values per CME specs: NQ is $20 per index point and MNQ is $2\. Ten MNQ contracts move the same dollars as one NQ. ## Why this one Liquidity. NQ is one of the most heavily traded futures contracts in the world, which means fills close to the level the rules produce and a spread that stays narrow during the session. Slippage — the gap between the chart and the fill — is the cost that quietly eats intraday strategies, and NQ keeps it small. Movement. The Nasdaq-100 moves enough inside a session for an intraday strategy to have something to work with. Some markets don't. Hours. Futures trade almost around the clock, but the rules here only run during the US session, when the volume is. Every close names the window. And the micro. MNQ is one-tenth the size of NQ, which means the arithmetic on this site can assume one micro contract and stay meaningful for a small account. The point value of an MNQ is published by CME. That's the number you multiply the record's points by — it's the exchange's figure, not mine. ## What the record doesn't tell you Whether the strategy would work on ES, or gold, or a stock. I don't know and I don't claim to. The rules are conditions about price and time on one chart, and in principle a chart is a chart — but in practice every market has its own character, and the honest position is that this record is evidence about NQ and nothing else. If you trade something else, the reasoning on this site still applies: one setup, one timeframe, one market, run long enough to measure. The specific rules and the specific numbers don't transfer. The discipline does. ## Why it won't change For the same reason the strategy won't change because of a bad week. The moment a red month on NQ becomes a reason to try ES instead, the record breaks — and the whole point of the record is that it doesn't break. If the market ever changes, that gets its own dated post saying so, and the record marks the line. Until then, every session is NQ. Notice Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any instrument, or advice tailored to any person. I am not a registered investment adviser or commodity trading advisor and I do not manage money for anyone. Trading carries a substantial risk of loss and you can lose more than your deposit. [Full disclosures](https://www.daytraderincome.com/privacy/).