E-mini S&P 500 (ES) March (H) contract study: year-by-year results, the day-by-day shape of the move and where highs and lows printed.
Contract Almanac · E-mini S&P 500
Every March S&P contract 2011–2026, measured over its tenure as the lead contract · Typically leads Dec 12 – Mar 10
The March contract is the S&P’s winter seat, holding the board from mid-December to mid-March, and it is where the equity calendar’s accidents have historically lived: 10 of 16 higher, the board’s lowest rate, with the COVID crash of February 2020 landing squarely inside this tenure for a 16.2% loss.
Each year is one contract, measured from the open of the day it took over the lead to the close of the day it handed off, the same roll convention used across all Traders Brief research. An index contract holds the lead for a full quarter, roughly 63 trading days from one roll to the next — these are quarterly seats, not months, and the day counts read accordingly. All highs and lows are the contract’s own trades, marked by trading day of the tenure, not calendar day.