E-mini Nasdaq 100 (NQ) 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 Nasdaq-100
Every March Nasdaq contract 2011–2026, measured over its tenure as the lead contract · Typically leads Dec 12 – Mar 11
The March contract holds the Nasdaq from mid-December to mid-March, and tech’s winter has been better than the broad market’s: 11 of 16 higher with the year’s first earnings season, January’s growth-stock bid, and the occasional late-winter accident all sharing one seat.
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.