A tick is the smallest price step a futures contract can make, and its tick value is what that step is worth in dollars on one contract. On CME Group's index contracts a 0.25 tick is $12.50 on the E-mini S&P 500 (ES) and $5.00 on the E-mini Nasdaq 100 (NQ); on crude oil (CL) a 0.01 tick is $10.00, and on gold (GC) a 0.10 tick is $10.00. Each micro moves in the same ticks for one tenth of the money: $1.25 on MES, $0.50 on MNQ, $1.00 on MCL and $1.00 on MGC.
Those figures are the exchange's contract specifications, not WhitePips terms, and they are the same at every firm. What a WhitePips futures plan sets is how many contracts you may hold at once. This post lists the values for the main contracts on the futures line, turns them into dollars per point, and shows how to size a position from them.
What is a tick, and what is a tick value?
Every futures contract has a minimum price step set by the exchange. ES moves in steps of 0.25 index points: it can trade at 5,000.00 or 5,000.25, never at 5,000.10. That step is the tick size. The tick value is the profit or loss on one contract when the price moves by one tick.
Stops and targets are often read in points rather than ticks, so it pays to know both. A point is a move of 1.00 in the price. ES has four ticks in a point, so a point is four ticks of $12.50, which is $50 per contract. Once you know the dollars per point for the contract you trade, every stop and target on the chart can be read straight off in dollars.
What are the tick values for ES, NQ, YM and RTY?
The four US equity index contracts and their micros, as listed on the symbols page:
- ES, E-mini S&P 500: tick 0.25 = $12.50, so $50 per point. MES, Micro S&P 500: tick 0.25 = $1.25, so $5 per point.
- NQ, E-mini Nasdaq 100: tick 0.25 = $5.00, so $20 per point. MNQ, Micro Nasdaq 100: tick 0.25 = $0.50, so $2 per point.
- YM, E-mini Dow: tick 1 = $5.00, so $5 per point. MYM, Micro Dow: tick 1 = $0.50, so $0.50 per point.
- RTY, E-mini Russell 2000: tick 0.10 = $5.00, so $50 per point. M2K, Micro Russell 2000: tick 0.10 = $0.50, so $5 per point.
The per-point figures are the ones that catch people out. NQ has the smaller tick value of the two big index contracts, $5.00 against $12.50, but the Nasdaq 100 sits at a much higher index level than the S&P 500, so the same percentage move is many more points. At an index level of 20,000, a 1% move is 200 points: $4,000 on one NQ and $400 on one MNQ.
YM is the opposite case. Its tick is a whole point and worth only $5.00, but the Dow's index level is high too, so a 1% move is a few hundred points there as well. Compare contracts by dollars per percentage move, not by the size of the tick.
What are the tick values for crude oil and gold?
- CL, crude oil: tick 0.01 = $10.00. A $1.00 move in the oil price is 100 ticks, $1,000 per contract. MCL, micro crude oil: tick 0.01 = $1.00, so $100 per $1.00 move.
- GC, gold: tick 0.10 = $10.00. A $1.00 move in the gold price is 10 ticks, $100 per contract. MGC, micro gold: tick 0.10 = $1.00, so $10 per $1.00 move.
| Contract | Tick | Tick value | Per point |
|---|---|---|---|
| ES, E-mini S&P 500 | 0.25 | $12.50 | $50 |
| MES, Micro S&P 500 | 0.25 | $1.25 | $5 |
| NQ, E-mini Nasdaq 100 | 0.25 | $5.00 | $20 |
| MNQ, Micro Nasdaq 100 | 0.25 | $0.50 | $2 |
| YM, E-mini Dow | 1 | $5.00 | $5 |
| MYM, Micro Dow | 1 | $0.50 | $0.50 |
| RTY, E-mini Russell 2000 | 0.10 | $5.00 | $50 |
| M2K, Micro Russell 2000 | 0.10 | $0.50 | $5 |
| CL, crude oil | 0.01 | $10.00 | $1,000 per $1.00 |
| MCL, micro crude oil | 0.01 | $1.00 | $100 per $1.00 |
| GC, gold | 0.10 | $10.00 | $100 per $1.00 |
| MGC, micro gold | 0.10 | $1.00 | $10 per $1.00 |
CL is 1,000 barrels, which is why each cent is $10. A 50-cent move, the kind oil can make around its weekly US inventory figures, is $500 on one CL and $50 on one MCL.
GC is 100 troy ounces, which is why $1 in the gold price is $100 a contract. That is the same arithmetic as one standard lot of XAUUSD on MetaTrader 5, which is also 100 ounces, and MGC at 10 ounces matches 0.10 lots. A trader moving from gold CFDs to gold futures keeps the same dollar sums but can only size in steps of one MGC. The gold sizing post works through the CFD side.
How do minis and micros count against the Maximum Position Size?
Every WhitePips futures account has a Maximum Position Size written in both units, such as 2 Mini | 20 Micro. It is the most contracts open at the same moment, not a limit on how many trades you take. A micro is one tenth of a mini, so the two figures are one limit written twice, and any mix that adds up to the same size is fine.
- One Step: $25K 2 Mini | 20 Micro, $50K 4 Mini | 40 Micro, $100K 6 Mini | 60 Micro, $150K 10 Mini | 100 Micro.
- Instant: $25K 2 Mini | 20 Micro, $50K 4 Mini | 40 Micro, $100K 6 Mini | 60 Micro, $150K 8 Mini | 80 Micro.
| Account | One Step | Instant |
|---|---|---|
| $25K | 2 Mini | 20 Micro | 2 Mini | 20 Micro |
| $50K | 4 Mini | 40 Micro | 4 Mini | 40 Micro |
| $100K | 6 Mini | 60 Micro | 6 Mini | 60 Micro |
| $150K | 10 Mini | 100 Micro | 8 Mini | 80 Micro |
On a $50K account, 3 ES and 10 MES is 4 minis in total, exactly the cap. So is 2 NQ and 20 MNQ. One more micro on either is over it. Going over once is a warning; a second time puts the account under review. The cap counts contracts, not dollars, so one NQ and one YM each use one mini of it, even though one is worth $20 a point and the other $5.
How do you size a futures position from the tick value?
The method is the same for every contract. Decide the dollars you will risk, set the stop in ticks, and divide.
Contracts = dollars at risk divided by (stop in ticks multiplied by the tick value).
Take a $50K One Step evaluation: a $2,000 Maximum Loss Limit that trails the end-of-day balance, and a $1,250 Daily Loss Limit that stops trading for the rest of the day when it is reached. Suppose you plan to risk $250 a trade, an eighth of the Maximum Loss Limit.
- ES, 8-point stop: 32 ticks at $12.50 is $400 per contract, so one ES is already over the $250 budget. In MES the same stop is $40 a contract, and 6 MES risk $240.
- NQ, 25-point stop: 100 ticks at $5.00 is $500 per contract. In MNQ it is $50 a contract, and 5 MNQ risk $250.
- CL, 20-cent stop: 20 ticks at $10.00 is $200 per contract, so 1 CL risks $200. Twelve MCL at $20 each would risk $240.
- GC, $3.00 stop: 30 ticks at $10.00 is $300 per contract, over budget. In MGC it is $30 a contract, and 8 MGC risk $240.
All of those fit well inside the 4 Mini | 40 Micro cap; six MES is 0.6 of a mini. For a careful position the cap is rarely what binds. The loss limits are. At $250 a trade, five losses on the same day reach the $1,250 Daily Loss Limit, and eight in a row with nothing won between them reach the $2,000 Maximum Loss Limit, which ends the account.
Should you trade minis or micros?
Micros exist for the problem in the examples above: a mini is often too large a step for the risk a smaller account can carry. With NQ at $20 a point, one contract with a 50-point stop risks $1,000. That is the whole Maximum Loss Limit on a $25K One Step and half of it on a $50K. MNQ lets the same idea be traded at $100 of risk per contract, in any multiple of that up to the cap.
Minis have one practical advantage: fewer contracts to manage for the same exposure. But a position that can only be sized in steps of $1,000 of risk is not really being sized. If the right size for your stop falls between one mini and two, the answer is a number of micros. Mixing them is allowed, and the cap counts the mix in minis.
What else can you trade on the futures line?
Besides the contracts above, the symbols page lists natural gas (NG), silver (SI) and micro silver (SIL), the currency futures 6E, 6B, 6J and 6A, and corn, soybeans and wheat. Tick sizes and tick values are set by the exchange, and the exact tradable symbol list is set on the platform, so check Volumetrica before planning around a contract.
Whatever the contract, every open position is closed by the system at 3:55 PM Chicago time, which is 4:55 PM New York, every day and before the weekend. Nothing is held overnight on the futures plans. A position in the red at 3:50 PM will be closed five minutes later whether you want it closed or not, and the loss counts.
Futures are leveraged, and a few dozen ticks can be a large sum of money. WhitePips accounts are simulated, but the loss limits that end them are applied exactly as written; every figure for each account size is on the One Step plan page.