Why are there so few candles on my chart today compared to my teacher's?

[patpat]

I follow a teacher who uses a 6500 volume chart. I thought today (Tuesday 9-15) was extremely slow because there were so few candles. But then I saw his chart this evening, and he has many more candles than I do. I compared yesterday's chart to his, and the same thing; I have far fewer candles than he does. At first I thought I may have missed the contract rollover, but that doesn't occur for a few days. Do you have any suggestions as to what I am getting so few candles? I trade the ES, my broker is AMP. Thanks.
ps... I also tried reloading historical data, it didn't change anything.

[NinjaTrader_Kyle]

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

Are you certain that the other party is using a ES 09-15 chart? The reason that I ask is that roll over to the 12-15 contracts took place last Thursday. Due to this, volume in the 09-15 contact would be lower than the 12-15 contract. The following link to CME offers an example: http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/equi...olume_voi.html

[patpat]

Thank you. I zoomed in on his chart, and he is using 12-15. I thought rollover occurred on the 3rd thursday of the month. Thanks again.

[sledge]

Yeah - monthly options are the 3rd friday of the month.

Your futures contract probably expires on that day

My broker sends out email reminders and warning... They even said not to trade the old one last Friday... I rollover on the weekend.. this mid week stuff is for the birds if you ask me.

[Harry]

Thank you. I zoomed in on his chart, and he is using 12-15. I thought rollover occurred on the 3rd thursday of the month. Thanks again.

No this is not correct. Index futures expire on the 3rd Friday of the contract month. The roll date is always the Thursday 8 days prior to expiry.

Therefore you need to consider two cases:

(a) The contract month does not start with a Friday -> In this case case index futures are rolled on the second Thursday of the contract month.

(b) The first day of the contract month is a Friday -> In this case index futures are rolled on the first Thursday of the contract month.

This means that index futures are mostly rolled on the second Thursday, sometimes on the first Thursday of the contract month. Rolling them on the third Thursday is would be one or two weeks late.

[sandman]

Whenever a roller over date is imminent I open up two Time and Sales windows, one with the contract about to expire, the other one with the new one. As long as the number of contracts is higher in the "old' one I trade that one. When the number of contracts is higher for the new one, then I start trading that new one. That's the easiest way for me. Works for every instrument e.g. 6A, 6E, CL, TF, ES.

sandman