E-mini S&P 500 (ES) December (Z) 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 December S&P contract 2010–2025, measured over its tenure as the lead contract · Typically leads Sep 12 – Dec 11
The December contract holds the S&P from mid-September to mid-December, and its file contains the most repeatable route in the equity study: an early-autumn dip, a late-October turn, and the year-end rally carried to the hand-off. Thirteen of sixteen tenures finished higher (81%), and the +0.46 consistency reading says they mostly did it the same way.
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.