E-minis, or electronic miniature contracts. are indexed day trades. Despite their name, their value and cost to buy in per share is not "mini" in the least and they can rope in hefty profits too. If you are thinking about buying into some e-mini trades, here are three good reasons to buy them instead of standard S&P trades.

Electronic Trades Are Faster and More Efficient

Standard S&P trades still rely on pit outcry trading. This means it takes a broker some time to get the number of shares you want at the price you want. With e-minis, you simply log in to an account you have established online, click on the stocks you want, type in the number of shares of each, click to buy and the money is immediately transferred from your checking account to the online trading company. With a very short time, the shares you bought are transferred into your "e-portfolio" at the price at which you bought in, and not at a higher price after you bought your shares.

E-minis Are Traded on the Chicago Market

Because e-minis are traded on the Chicago market, you have a little more time to pick up shares before the market closes on Fridays when you are on the East Coast. The time zone difference between New York City and Chicago is such that you do not have to concern yourself with remembering to buy in by 4 pm Eastern time. You have an extra hour to watch e-mini stocks and buy in during that hour if the prices should fall to something more agreeable to you, thereby saving you some money.

E-mini Contracts Cost One-Fifth Their S&P Counterparts

Make no mistake--e-mini contracts are not cheap. You cannot buy into them for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Since their value is frequently one-fifth of their S&P counterparts, they do cost far less per share than the big contracts, but you still need some big money to buy an e-mini. If you have some money but you are not a millionaire, then buying e-minis is an excellent option. You can get several more shares for your money than you can for one share of S&P, you can quickly diversify your portfolio and you can make faster profits that you can actually see online as the price per share rises. Usually, the profits are in line with what the full price shares are too.