Futures let you buy (or sell) into indexes like the S&P 500 and Russell 2000. A long /ES or /MES futures position should be equivalent to holding SPY shares. It is essentially an ETF without fees, however the longer-dated future price will be higher than the current index. There is an inherent loan when you long a future, and that interest is baked in.
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I have been replacing some of my ETF positions with futures. For example, US small cap can be replaced with /RTY or /M2K. Using futures allows me to leverage easily without needing any margin loan. If my rebalancing requires I put $10k into US small cap, instead of buying the SCHA ETF, I might instead buy 1 /M2K future, which is currently the same notional value, but costs much less.
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For example, US small cap can be replaced with /RTY or /M2K. Using futures allows me to leverage easily without needing any margin loan. If my rebalancing requires I put $10k into US small cap, instead of buying the SCHA ETF, I might instead buy 1 /M2K future, which is currently the same notional value, but costs much less.
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Forum threads:
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- [[Non-US] S&P e-mini futures vs ETFs](https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=329552)