There are different ways traders attempt to identify "quiet periods" that have the potential to be followed by bursts of price activity. Some people look for narrow consolidations, for example. The Market Facilitation Index (MFI) is an indicator that can serve the same role —mathematically.

In "The Market Facilitation Index" (Active Trader, October 2004), the MFI was applied to 45–minute bars of the E–Mini S&P futures (ES) as a way to determine periods of intraday price action from which short–term trends might emerge.

The following analysis updates that study of the E–Mini S&P and also applies the same analysis to the E–Mini Nasdaq 100 (NQ) and E–Mini Russell 2000 (ER2) futures contracts to look for unique opportunities in these three markets.