At WhitePips the Nasdaq 100 can be traded two ways: as the NAS100 index CFD on MetaTrader 5, which carries no commission on any CFD plan, or as NQ and MNQ futures on Volumetrica, where one 0.25 tick is worth $5.00 and $0.50 per contract. The CFD sizes in fractions of a lot and can be held overnight; the futures size in whole contracts under a cap and are closed every afternoon. Either way the position has to be sized against the account's loss limits, because the index can cover a lot of ground in one session.
What is the Nasdaq 100?
The Nasdaq 100 is an index of the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock market. It is weighted by market value, so a handful of very large technology companies make up a big share of it, and their earnings, along with US economic data and interest-rate news, move it most.
It tends to move further in percentage terms than broader indices such as the S&P 500, and its index level is in five figures, so even an ordinary percentage move is a lot of points. That is why traders choose it, and why it needs careful sizing.
How do you trade NAS100 as a CFD on MT5?
NAS100, listed as US Tech 100 on the symbols page, is a cash index CFD: it tracks the underlying index rather than a dated contract, so there is no expiry and nothing to roll. It is available on every CFD plan, Edge, Instant and Prime, and indices carry no commission on any of them. The spread is still a cost, and so are swaps on a position held through the daily rollover, unless the account has the Swap-Free add-on.
What one lot of NAS100 is worth per index point depends on the symbol's contract size, and contract sizes for index CFDs differ between brokers. Check the symbol's specification in MT5: right-click NAS100 in Market Watch and choose Specification. On most MT5 servers the profit or loss on an index CFD is the move in points multiplied by the contract size and the number of lots, so the contract size tells you the dollars one lot makes or loses on a one-point move. Write that figure down; the sizing sums below need it.
CFD positions can be held overnight on every plan. Over the weekend they need the Weekend Holding add-on, chosen when the account is bought. Without it, anything still open at 4:45 PM New York time on Friday is closed by the system; the first time is a warning, the second closes the account.
How do NQ and MNQ futures work?
On the futures line the Nasdaq 100 is traded through the CME's E-mini Nasdaq 100 (NQ) and Micro Nasdaq 100 (MNQ). Both move in ticks of 0.25 index points.
- NQ: $5.00 per tick, so $20 per point.
- MNQ: $0.50 per tick, so $2 per point.
At an index level of 20,000, a 1% move is 200 points: $4,000 on one NQ and $400 on one MNQ. Contracts are traded whole, and every account has a Maximum Position Size in minis and micros: 2 Mini | 20 Micro on $25K, 4 | 40 on $50K, 6 | 60 on $100K, and on $150K 10 | 100 for One Step or 8 | 80 for Instant. Ten MNQ count as one NQ, and going over the cap once is a warning; a second time puts the account under review.
Futures positions are not held overnight. Anything open at 3:55 PM Chicago time, which is 4:55 PM New York, is closed by the system every day and before the weekend. The session runs from Sunday 5:00 PM to Friday 4:00 PM Chicago time, with a break from 4:00 to 5:00 PM each day, and you can open again when the next session starts.
CFD or futures: what changes for a Nasdaq trader?
- Sizing. The CFD sizes in small fractions of a lot, so a position can be matched closely to a risk figure. Futures move in whole contracts; at $2 a point, MNQ makes that step small enough for most stops.
- Holding. CFDs can be held overnight, and over the weekend with the add-on. Futures are flat by 3:55 PM Chicago time every day, with no add-on to change it.
- Loss limits. CFD plans have a static Max Loss and a hard Max Daily Loss: reaching either ends the account. On futures, One Step has an end-of-day trailing Maximum Loss Limit and Instant an intraday trailing one, and the Daily Loss Limit is soft: it stops trading for the rest of the day and the account stays open.
- News. On a funded futures account, no trade may be opened or closed from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after a high-impact US dollar release, on any instrument; a position opened earlier may be held through it. CFD plans state their own news rule. Read the News Trading line on your plan, and section 11 of the trading rules, before trading a release.
- Cost. NAS100 has no commission on any CFD plan; the spread and any swaps are the costs.
The post on CFDs and futures goes further into how the two instruments differ in structure and data.
How do you size a Nasdaq trade against the loss limits?
The method is the same on both lines. Decide the dollars at risk, set the stop in index points, and divide to find how many dollars per point the position may carry. Then turn that into lots or contracts.
Dollars per point = dollars at risk divided by the stop in points.
CFD, $100K Edge 1 Step. Max Daily Loss $4,000, Max Loss $7,500, static. Risk 1% of the account, $1,000, with a 50-point stop, and the position may carry $20 per point. If the specification shows one lot of NAS100 is worth V dollars a point, the size is 20 divided by V lots. Whatever V is on the server, the trade risks $1,000, and four full losses in one day reach the daily limit.
Futures, $50K One Step. Maximum Loss Limit $2,000, end-of-day trailing; Daily Loss Limit $1,250; cap 4 Mini | 40 Micro. The same 50-point stop on one NQ risks $1,000, half the Maximum Loss Limit on one trade. Risking $300 instead means $6 a point, which is 3 MNQ. Four such losses in a row cost $1,200, just under the daily limit.
Futures, $100K Instant. Maximum Loss Limit $4,000, intraday trailing; Daily Loss Limit $2,500; cap 6 Mini | 60 Micro. One NQ with a 50-point stop risks $1,000, a quarter of the Maximum Loss Limit. Intraday trailing follows the highest equity of the session, open profit included, so a trade that runs to +$1,500 and is then closed at break-even has still lifted the floor by $1,500. The account is back at $100,000 with $2,500 of room instead of $4,000.
Which other rules matter on the Nasdaq?
- Floating loss per symbol, Instant CFD plans. On Instant Pro and Instant Go, all open positions on one symbol together may not float below 1.5% of the starting balance, $1,500 on $100K. 1% sends a notice, the first 1.5% breach is a formal warning and each later one is a strike. Several NAS100 positions are counted together.
- Max Floating Loss per Trade, funded CFD accounts. One open trade may run against you by up to 2% of the starting balance, or 1.5% on Instant. It is not checked during the evaluation; Instant is funded from day one, so there it applies from the start.
- Max. Exposure, CFDs. The combined notional value of every open position may not go over the plan's cap: $1,250,000 on a $100K account.
- Scalping. On a funded CFD account, trades held under 60 seconds may carry at most 30% of the profit, counted from 10 closed trades. On futures, at most 50% of the profit may come from trades held under 30 seconds.
- Consistency, funded futures. No single day may make more than 40% of the payout cycle's net profit on the One Step funded account, or 20% on Instant. One very large Nasdaq day can hold a payout until other days catch up; it is not a breach.
None of these is specific to the Nasdaq, but a fast index meets them sooner than a slow currency pair does.
In short
NAS100 on MT5 is commission free, sized in lots whose value per point you read from the symbol's specification, and can be held overnight. NQ and MNQ on Volumetrica are $20 and $2 a point, sized in whole contracts under the plan's cap, and closed every day at 3:55 PM Chicago time. On both, decide the stop first and size so that one loss is a small share of the daily and maximum limits. Trading a leveraged index can lose money quickly. The accounts are simulated, but the limits that close them are applied exactly as written on the plan.