Hedge funds often prefer trading the E-mini over the big S&P since the older ("big") contract still uses the open outcry pit trading method, with its inherent delays, versus the all-electronic Globex system for the E-mini.
In June 2005 the exchange introduced a yet smaller product based on the S&P, with the underlying asset being 100 shares of the highly-popular SPDR exchange-traded fund.
According to US government investigations, the sale of 75,000 E-mini contracts by a single trader was the trigger to cause the 2010 Flash Crash.
[7] This claim was later addressed by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, not mentioning any "accident" and implying the program was a methodical hedge whose execution generated "less than 9% of the volume during the" twenty minutes.
[8][9] On December 7, 2016, multiple buyers purchased around 16,000 E-mini S&P 500, in what was described as a series of stop orders triggered by a single contract trading at 2225.00.