Contract Specifications

What you will be able to do

• Read a contract’s specifications: size, quote, tick size, tick value, months, settlement.
• Work out the dollar value of any price move from ticks or points.
• Work out a contract’s notional value, the amount of the underlying it controls.
• Read futures symbols as the exchange and your platform write them.

The specification sheet

Every futures contract has a specification sheet published by the exchange (on CME Group’s site, the Contract Specs tab of each product). The lines that matter most to a trader:

Line	Meaning	Example: E-mini S&P 500
Contract unit	How much of the underlying one contract covers	$50 × the S&P 500 index
Price quotation	How the price is written	Index points, to two decimals
Minimum price fluctuation (tick)	The smallest step the price can move, and its dollar value	0.25 points = $12.50
Listed contracts	Which months trade	March, June, September, December
Settlement method	What happens at expiration	Cash-settled
Termination of trading	The last day	Third Friday of the contract month
Trading hours	When it trades	Nearly 23 hours a day, Sunday evening to Friday afternoon (Class 5)

Ticks and points: the one formula

A tick is the minimum price step. The tick value is what one tick is worth on one contract. Every profit or loss is:

profit or loss = number of ticks × tick value × number of contracts

Some contracts are easier to think about in points (a move of 1.00 in the price). Then:

profit or loss = points × multiplier × contracts

The two give the same answer, because tick value = tick size × multiplier. For the E-mini S&P 500: 0.25 × $50 = $12.50.

The contracts you will see most

The examples in this course use these contracts. The specifications are the exchange’s; the prices in the examples are made up for teaching.

Contract (CME symbol)	Contract unit	Tick	Tick value	Point value
E-mini S&P 500 (ES)	$50 × index	0.25	$12.50	$50
Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES)	$5 × index	0.25	$1.25	$5
E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ)	$20 × index	0.25	$5.00	$20
Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ)	$2 × index	0.25	$0.50	$2
Crude oil, WTI (CL)	1,000 barrels	$0.01	$10.00	$1,000 per $1
Micro WTI crude oil (MCL)	100 barrels	$0.01	$1.00	$100 per $1
Gold (GC)	100 troy ounces	$0.10	$10.00	$100 per $1
Micro Gold (MGC)	10 troy ounces	$0.10	$1.00	$10 per $1
Euro FX (6E)	125,000 euros	0.00005	$6.25	$12.50 per pip
Micro EUR/USD (M6E)	12,500 euros	0.0001	$1.25	$1.25 per pip
10-Year Treasury Note (ZN)	$100,000 face value	½ of 1/32	$15.625	$1,000 per point

The Micro contracts are one-tenth of the full-size ones (the Micro EUR/USD is one-tenth of the Euro FX). They trade on the same exchange, follow the same prices and expire on the same schedule. For a new futures trader, they are the single most important product on this list: they let you trade the same market with one-tenth of the risk per tick.

Worked examples

E-mini S&P 500. You buy 1 ES at 6,000.00 and sell at 6,012.50. 12.50 points = 50 ticks. 50 × $12.50 = +$625. (Or 12.50 × $50 = $625.) With 1 MES instead: 50 × $1.25 = +$62.50.

Nasdaq-100. You sell 2 NQ at 21,500.00 and buy back at 21,560.00. The price rose 60 points against your short. 60 × $20 × 2 = −$2,400.

Crude oil. You sell 1 CL at $72.40 and buy back at $71.85. The price fell $0.55 = 55 ticks. 55 × $10 = +$550. With 1 MCL: 55 × $1 = +$55.

Gold. You buy 1 GC at $4,010.0 and sell at $4,025.5. $15.50 = 155 ticks. 155 × $10 = +$1,550. With 1 MGC: +$155.

Euro FX. You buy 1 6E at 1.12000 and sell at 1.12350. That is 35 pips, or 70 ticks of 0.00005. 70 × $6.25 = +$437.50, the same as 35 pips × $12.50. With 1 M6E: 35 × $1.25 = +$43.75.

10-Year Note. Treasury futures are quoted in points and 32nds of a point: 112’16 means 112 and 16/32. You buy 1 ZN at 112’16 and sell at 112’26. That is 10/32 = 20 half-ticks. 20 × $15.625 = +$312.50 (or 10/32 × $1,000 = $312.50).

Notional value: what one contract controls

notional value = price × multiplier (or price × contract unit)

Contract	Example price	Notional value
ES	6,000.00	6,000 × $50 = $300,000
MES	6,000.00	6,000 × $5 = $30,000
CL	$72.40	72.40 × 1,000 = $72,400
GC	$4,010.0	4,010 × 100 = $401,000
6E	1.12000	1.12 × 125,000 = $140,000
M6E	1.12000	1.12 × 12,500 = $14,000

Notional value tells you the real size of your position. One ES is a $300,000 position in the S&P 500 whatever the margin deposit is. Class 3 compares the two to measure leverage.

Reading the symbol

A futures symbol is the product code, a month code and a year.

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Code	F	G	H	J	K	M	N	Q	U	V	X	Z

• ESZ6 (or ESZ26): the E-mini S&P 500 expiring in December 2026.
• CLF7: crude oil, January 2027 delivery month.
• 6EH7: Euro FX, March 2027.

Platforms add their own prefix. On thinkorswim, futures start with a slash: /ESZ26, /CLF27; typing just /ES shows the current front month. Always check the month on the order ticket. The same product in two months is two different contracts at two different prices (Class 4).

The Micro check

Before every trade, say the tick value out loud. A trader who means to trade MES ($1.25 a tick) and clicks ES ($12.50 a tick) has made a trade ten times larger than planned. Most platforms let you set a default quantity and product; set them to the contract you actually trade.