Futures Market Education

Futures Contract Specifications / Futures Contract Details

[TABLE=3]

Instrument Symbol Tick Size $ / Tick Ticks / 1 Point
Nymex Crude Oil CL .01 $10.00 100
miNY Crude Oil QM .025 $12.50 40
CME E-mini S&P 500 ES .25 $12.50 4
Nymex Natural Gas NG .001 $10.00 1000
miNY Natural Gas QG .005 $12.50 200
Comex Gold GC .10 $10.00 10
CBOT 100 oz Gold ZG .10 $10.00 10
CBOT mini-sized Gold YG .10 $3.32 10
CBOT mini Dow YM 1 $5.00 1
CME E-mini Euro FX E7 .0001 $6.25  

Tick Size - the minimum price fluctuation of each futures instrument.
$ / Tick - the amount of money in USD each tick is worth (1 contract).
Ticks / 1 Point - The numer of ticks in 1 point.

You can multiply the $/Tick times the Ticks/1Point to see how much each point of movement in the futures contract is worth in USD (based on 1 contract). You can then multiply that value times the number of contracts you plan to trade to get the amount in USD each dollar of movement in the futures contract would be worth.