Futures Contract Specifications: The Complete Reference for Day Traders (2026)

Futures contract specifications are the technical details that define how each futures product trades — tick size, tick value, contract multiplier, trading hours, and margin requirements. If you're trading with a prop firm, you need to know these numbers cold. There's no room for guessing whether a tick on crude oil is worth $10 or $12.50 when your drawdown is $2,500.

I trade ES, NQ, CL, and GC almost every day. Over four years and probably 50+ prop firm accounts, I've watched traders blow evaluations because they didn't understand the dollar impact of each tick on the contract they were trading. Position sizing falls apart without exact tick values.

This article is my working reference. It covers every contract you'll encounter at a futures prop firm, including month codes, tick values with actual dollar math, margin differences, and which contracts the major firms let you trade.

What Are Futures Contract Specifications?

Every futures contract traded on the CME Group exchanges has a standardized set of specifications. These specs are fixed by the exchange and don't change between brokers or prop firms. They tell you exactly what you're trading.

The core specs you need to know for each contract:

• Tick size — the minimum price increment the contract can move
• Tick value — the dollar amount one tick is worth
• Point value — the dollar amount one full point is worth (usually multiple ticks per point)
• Contract size / multiplier — what the contract represents in terms of the underlying asset
• Trading hours — when the contract trades on Globex (electronic)
• Contract months — which months are available (and their letter codes)
• Margin requirements — how much capital the exchange requires to hold a position overnight

For day traders at prop firms, tick value is the single most important number. It determines your profit and loss on every trade. Get it wrong, and your risk calculations are off from the start.

One thing that trips people up: the specs are identical whether you trade through a retail broker, a prop firm, or a hedge fund's prime broker. The exchange sets them. What differs between firms is which contracts they allow, what margin they require, and whether they let you hold through certain news events.

CME Futures Contract Specifications Table

As of April 2026, here are the specifications for the contracts you'll actually trade at prop firms. I've organized this by exchange and included both standard and micro contracts.

*Day margin shown is approximate intraday margin at prop firms. Exchange margins for overnight positions are significantly higher.

A few notes on this table. Silver (SI) is deceptively expensive per tick — $25.00. That's double the ES tick value. Traders who jump from ES to SI without checking the specs often get a painful surprise. The best futures contracts to trade at a prop firm aren't always the ones with the most volume. They're the ones where the tick value fits your account size.

The ZB (Treasury Bond) tick size is unusual. It's quoted in fractions of a point — 1/32 of a point, to be exact. One full point on ZB is $1,000. One tick (1/32 of a point) is $31.25. You'll see prices displayed as something like 118'16, which means 118 and 16/32 points.

Futures Contract Month Codes Explained

Every futures contract has an expiration month, and each month is assigned a single-letter code. You'll see these codes on your trading platform combined with the year — so ESH6 means E-mini S&P 500, March 2026.

The month code system is the same across all exchanges and has been used for decades. Memorize these and you'll never accidentally trade the wrong contract month.

The easy mnemonic: January starts with F (not J, because J is April). The letters skip I, L, O, P, R, S, T, W, and Y. Nobody knows exactly why, but the theory is that these letters could be confused with numbers (I looks like 1, O looks like 0) or with other trading abbreviations.

How contract symbols work in practice:

The full symbol is three parts: product code + month code + year digit.

• ESM6 = E-mini S&P 500, June 2026
• CLF7 = Crude Oil, January 2027
• GCZ6 = Gold, December 2026
• NQU6 = E-mini NASDAQ 100, September 2026

For equity index futures (ES, NQ, RTY) and Treasury futures (ZB), the quarterly months matter most: H, M, U, Z (March, June, September, December). These are the months with the highest volume and open interest. As a day trader, you'll almost always trade the front-month quarterly contract.

Crude oil and gold trade every month, so all 12 codes are relevant. But the front month still carries the bulk of the volume.

Rollover dates matter. Most prop firms require you to roll to the new front-month contract before expiration. Some firms auto-roll your positions, others require you to close and re-open in the new month manually. If you're not sure when your contract rolls, check CME trading hours and session times for the specific product. Rolling too late can mean trading a low-liquidity contract with wide spreads.

Futures Tick Value: How to Calculate Your Dollar Risk

The futures tick value is the dollar amount your P&L changes for each minimum price movement. This is the number that connects price movement on your chart to actual dollars in your account.

Here's how the math works for each major contract:

E-mini S&P 500 (ES):
The ES moves in increments of 0.25 points. The contract multiplier is $50 per point. So one tick = 0.25 x $50 = $12.50. If the ES moves from 5,200.00 to 5,201.00, that's 4 ticks, or $50.00 per contract.

E-mini NASDAQ 100 (NQ):
NQ also has a 0.25 tick size, but the multiplier is $20 per point. One tick = 0.25 x $20 = $5.00. Don't let the smaller tick value fool you. NQ moves faster than ES in point terms. A 10-point move on NQ (40 ticks) is $200 per contract. The same $200 on ES requires a 4-point move (16 ticks). NQ's volatility per dollar of margin is higher.

Crude Oil (CL):
CL ticks in $0.01 increments. The contract represents 1,000 barrels. One tick = $0.01 x 1,000 = $10.00. Crude moves fast. A $0.50 move is 50 ticks, which is $500 per contract. This is why crude oil is both popular and dangerous at prop firms. The gold futures market has a similar dynamic — $10.00 per tick on GC.

Gold (GC):
Gold ticks in $0.10 increments. The contract covers 100 troy ounces. One tick = $0.10 x 100 = $10.00. Same tick value as CL, but gold tends to move in smoother trends with fewer spikes. That makes it more forgiving for traders who like to hold positions for 15-30 minutes.

Silver (SI):
Silver's tick value catches people off guard. The tick size is $0.005 (half a cent). But the contract covers 5,000 troy ounces. One tick = $0.005 x 5,000 = $25.00. That's the highest tick value of any commonly traded prop firm contract. Silver can move $0.20 in a session easily — that's 40 ticks, or $1,000 per contract. I don't trade SI on small accounts.

30-Year Treasury Bond (ZB):
Treasury bonds are quoted in fractions — specifically, 32nds of a point. One point = $1,000 (the contract represents $100,000 face value). One tick = 1/32 of a point = $1,000 / 32 = $31.25. ZB is liquid, moves in clean ranges, and the tick value sits between ES and SI.

The formula for any contract:

Tick value = Tick size x Contract multiplier

If you can't remember the multiplier, just divide the point value by the number of ticks per point. For ES: $50 per point / 4 ticks per point = $12.50 per tick. Same answer.

Knowing tick values isn't academic. It directly feeds into your risk management at prop firms. If your stop loss is 8 ticks on ES and you're trading 2 contracts, you're risking 8 x $12.50 x 2 = $200 on that trade.

Margin Requirements for Futures Day Traders

Margin in futures is different from margin in stocks. It's a performance bond, not a loan. You're not borrowing money. You're posting collateral to guarantee you can cover losses.

There are two types of margin that matter:

Exchange (initial) margin is set by the CME and updated regularly. As of April 2026, initial margin for one ES contract is around $13,200. For overnight positions, this is the number that counts.

Day trade margin is set by your broker or prop firm. This is the reduced margin available during regular trading hours (typically 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET for equities, though futures market hours extend well beyond that). Prop firms and active-trader brokers routinely offer $500 day trade margins on ES. Some go as low as $50 on micros.

The day trade margin is what makes futures accessible for smaller accounts and prop firm evaluations. On a $50,000 prop firm account, you couldn't trade a single ES contract if you had to post $13,200 in exchange margin. But with $500 day trade margins, that same account could theoretically support 100 ES contracts. Whether you should is a different question entirely.

Margin by contract (typical prop firm day trade):

• ES: $500 per contract
• NQ: $500 per contract
• CL: $500 per contract
• GC: $500 per contract
• SI: $700 per contract
• ZB: $500 per contract
• RTY: $500 per contract
• MES/MNQ/MCL/MGC: $50 per contract

These numbers vary between firms. Apex Trader Funding uses different day trade margins than Topstep. Always check the firm's specific rules before assuming. The firm's margin setting also affects how many contracts you can stack, which directly impacts your position sizing strategy.

The margin trap: Just because you can hold 20 CL contracts doesn't mean you should. Margin tells you what's allowed. Your trading plan tells you what's smart. I've seen traders max out their contract allocation on CL and get wiped by a $0.30 move. That's $6,000 on 20 contracts in about 90 seconds.

Which Futures Contracts Do Prop Firms Allow?

Not every futures contract is available at every prop firm. Most firms restrict you to CME Group products — meaning contracts traded on CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX. But even within that universe, there are limitations.

Contracts allowed at most prop firms:

• Equity index futures: ES, NQ, RTY, YM (and their micro versions MES, MNQ, M2K, MYM)
• Energy futures: CL, NG (and micros MCL, MNG)
• Metals: GC, SI (and micros MGC, SIL)
• Treasury futures: ZB, ZN, ZF, ZT
• Currency futures: 6E, 6J, 6B, 6A (some firms restrict these)

Contracts restricted or blocked at many firms:

• Agricultural futures (ZC, ZS, ZW, ZL, ZM) — restricted at many firms due to illiquidity and volatile limit moves
• Bitcoin futures (BTC) and Micro Bitcoin (MBT) — some firms allow them, most don't
• Forex futures (6E, 6J, etc.) — some firms exclude all currency products
• VIX futures (VX) — generally not allowed due to extreme volatility

When you're choosing a prop firm, check the allowed instruments list before you sign up. If you trade CL and the firm only allows equity indices, you've wasted your evaluation fee.

Lucid Trading has one of the broader allowed product lists among futures prop firms. They let you trade most CME Group products including metals and energy. Other firms are more restrictive.

Micro vs Standard Futures Contracts

Micro futures are 1/10th the size of their standard counterparts. The CME introduced them to lower the barrier to entry, and they've become the default for many prop firm traders, especially on smaller accounts.

Size comparison:

• MES = 1/10th of ES ($1.25 per tick vs $12.50)
• MNQ = 1/10th of NQ ($0.50 per tick vs $5.00)
• MCL = 1/10th of CL ($1.00 per tick vs $10.00)
• MGC = 1/10th of GC ($1.00 per tick vs $10.00)

Advantages of micros:

Precision in position sizing. If your risk model says you should trade 1.5 ES contracts, you can trade 1 ES + 5 MES instead. That's exact sizing, no rounding.

Lower capital exposure per contract. On a $25,000 evaluation, trading MES means each tick is $1.25. You'd need to give back 2,000 ticks to hit a typical $2,500 drawdown limit. On standard ES, that's only 200 ticks — about a 50-point move. Big difference in breathing room.

Disadvantages of micros:

Commissions eat more of your profits on a per-tick basis. If you pay $0.50 per side per contract, a round-turn on MES costs $1.00. Your tick value is $1.25. That's 80% of one tick in commissions. On ES, the same $1.00 round-turn is only 8% of the $12.50 tick value.

Fills can be slightly worse during fast markets. Micro contracts have good liquidity during normal sessions, but when volume spikes, the standard contracts absorb large orders more efficiently.

I cover the full breakdown in my micro futures trading guide. The short version: if you're on a $25K-$50K evaluation, micros give you more flexibility. If you're on a $100K+ account, standard contracts are more cost-efficient. Many funded traders use a mix — 2 standard ES contracts plus 3 MES to fine-tune their position size.

For a deeper look at how micro futures trading works at prop firms specifically, including contract limits and scaling rules, that guide goes into the details.

Best Futures Contracts for Beginners at Prop Firms

If you're new to futures and evaluating prop firms, the contract you choose matters more than the strategy you run. Picking the wrong instrument for your experience level is a fast way to fail an evaluation.

My ranking for beginners, from easiest to hardest:

1. MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) — The lowest risk per tick ($1.25), the most liquid micro contract, and the most predictable price action of any index product. Start here. It's not exciting, but it won't blow up your account on a single bad trade either.

2. MNQ (Micro E-mini NASDAQ 100) — More volatile than MES, but still manageable at $0.50 per tick. Good if you like faster-moving markets and can handle wider stops. The NQ tends to have cleaner breakouts than ES during the best trading hours.

3. ES (E-mini S&P 500) — The standard version. High liquidity, tight spreads, predictable behavior during cash session hours. The $12.50 tick value is reasonable on accounts of $50K or more. This is the contract I trade most often. My ES futures trading guide covers the specific setups and session timing I use.

4. MCL (Micro Crude Oil) — If you want to learn energy futures without the full CL risk, MCL at $1.00 per tick is reasonable. But energy markets are less predictable than indices. News-driven spikes happen without warning. Learn to check the EIA inventory calendar.

5. NQ (E-mini NASDAQ 100) — Fast, volatile, and unforgiving. NQ can move 50 points in 10 minutes during earnings season. The $5.00 tick value adds up quickly. I wouldn't recommend starting with NQ on a standard contract unless you've already passed evaluations on MES or ES.

Contracts to avoid as a beginner:

• SI (Silver) — $25.00 per tick. One bad entry can cost you $500 before you blink.
• CL (Crude Oil) — $10.00 per tick and prone to violent inventory-report moves.
• ZB (30-Year Bond) — $31.25 per tick. Treasury markets also react aggressively to Fed announcements and economic data.

The general rule: start with a contract where your maximum daily loss target allows at least 30-40 ticks of drawdown. On a $50K account with a $2,000 daily loss limit, that's 160 ticks on MES, 32 ticks on NQ, or only 8 ticks on SI. The math is clear.

If you're completely new to futures, read my futures trading for beginners guide before diving into contract specs. Understanding order types, session times, and basic day trading strategies matters more than memorizing tick values.

How Contract Specifications Affect Prop Firm Trading

Contract specs don't just live on a reference sheet. They have direct consequences for your prop firm account.

Drawdown impact. Every prop firm account has a maximum drawdown — a trailing or static loss limit. When you know your tick value, you can calculate exactly how many ticks you can lose before hitting that drawdown. On a $50K account with a $2,500 trailing drawdown, you can lose 200 ticks on ES (50 points), or 250 ticks on CL ($2.50), or only 100 ticks on SI ($0.50). Same account, wildly different risk profiles depending on the contract.

Contract limits. Most prop firms cap the number of contracts you can hold simultaneously. A $50K account might allow 5 ES contracts, 50 MES, 3 CL, and so on. These limits are based on the contract's margin and volatility, not just your account balance. Exceeding your contract limit — even for a second — can violate the firm's rules and fail your evaluation.

News event restrictions. Some firms prohibit holding positions through high-impact news events (FOMC, NFP, CPI). This matters because different contracts react to different news. CL reacts to EIA inventory reports. ES reacts to Fed decisions. GC reacts to inflation data. Know which reports affect your contract and check the economic calendar before every session.

Scaling. Once you're funded, some firms let you scale up your contract allocation as your account grows. Understanding contract specs lets you plan this scaling. Going from 2 ES to 4 ES doubles your tick exposure from $25 to $50 per tick. That's obvious in theory, but traders still overlook it during a hot streak.

The traders I see passing evaluations consistently are the ones who've done the tick math before they place the first trade. They know their max position size, their risk per tick, and their stop distance in both ticks and dollars. The best indicators for day trading don't help if you don't know the dollar value of the moves you're reading.

Contract Rollover and Expiration Dates

Futures contracts expire. Unlike stocks, you can't just buy and hold. Every quarter (for index futures) or every month (for energy and metals), the front-month contract expires and volume shifts to the next month.

Key rollover dates for 2026 (equity index futures — ES, NQ, RTY):

• March (H) contract: rolls to June (M) around the second Thursday of March
• June (M) contract: rolls to September (U) around the second Thursday of June
• September (U) contract: rolls to December (Z) around the second Thursday of September
• December (Z) contract: rolls to March (H) of the next year around the second Thursday of December

The exact rollover date is when volume and open interest in the new contract exceed the expiring contract. For ES, this typically happens 8 days before expiration — on what's called "rollover Thursday."

Crude oil and gold roll monthly. CL volume shifts to the new front month about 3-4 trading days before expiration. Gold (GC) is similar, though the most active months are the even months (February, April, June, August, October, December) and the nearby odd months.

What happens if you don't roll?

On a prop firm, most platforms auto-roll your charts to the front-month contract. But some don't auto-roll your positions. If you hold a position in the expiring contract and don't close it before the firm's rollover deadline, you risk:

• Trading a low-liquidity contract with wide bid/ask spreads
• Getting a forced liquidation from the firm
• Account violation if the firm treats it as a rule breach

I make it a habit to close all positions at least 2 days before the expected rollover date. It's not worth the risk of slippage or a rule violation over a position I could re-enter in the new contract month.

For traders comparing prop firms to retail forex accounts, the rollover process is one of the structural differences. I've written about the broader futures vs forex comparison for context.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most important futures contract specifications for day traders?

The three specifications that matter most for day traders are tick value, tick size, and contract multiplier. Tick value determines your dollar profit or loss per minimum price movement. On the E-mini S&P 500 (ES), one tick is $12.50. On Crude Oil (CL), it's $10.00. Knowing these numbers is non-negotiable for calculating position size and stop-loss levels.

What do futures contract month codes mean?

Futures contract month codes are single-letter abbreviations assigned to each calendar month. F = January, G = February, H = March, J = April, K = May, M = June, N = July, Q = August, U = September, V = October, X = November, Z = December. For equity index futures like the ES and NQ, the quarterly months (H, M, U, Z) carry the most volume.

How do you calculate the tick value of a futures contract?

The tick value of any futures contract equals the tick size multiplied by the contract multiplier. For the E-mini S&P 500 (ES), the tick size is 0.25 points and the multiplier is $50 per point, so one tick = 0.25 x $50 = $12.50. For Crude Oil (CL), the tick size is $0.01 and the multiplier is 1,000 barrels, so one tick = $0.01 x 1,000 = $10.00.

What is the difference between tick size and tick value?

Tick size is the minimum price increment a futures contract can move — it's measured in the contract's native price unit (points, dollars, fractions). Tick value is that movement converted into dollars. For Gold (GC), the tick size is $0.10 in price and the tick value is $10.00. These are two different numbers describing the same minimum movement.

Which futures contracts have the highest tick value?

Among commonly traded CME futures, Silver (SI) has the highest tick value at $25.00 per tick, followed by the 30-Year Treasury Bond (ZB) at $31.25 per tick. Silver's high tick value comes from its 5,000 troy ounce contract size combined with a $0.005 tick increment. These contracts carry significantly more risk per tick than equity index futures.

What margin do you need to day trade futures at a prop firm?

Most futures prop firms offer intraday margins of approximately $500 per standard contract (ES, NQ, CL, GC) and $50 per micro contract (MES, MNQ, MCL, MGC). These are well below the CME's exchange-set margins, which can exceed $13,000 for a single ES contract. Day trade margins only apply during regular trading hours and require positions to be closed before the session ends.

Can you trade micro futures at prop firms?

Yes. Most futures prop firms allow micro futures contracts including MES, MNQ, MCL, and MGC. Micro contracts are 1/10th the size of standard contracts, making them popular for evaluation accounts where capital preservation is critical. A Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) has a tick value of $1.25 versus $12.50 for the standard ES, giving traders more precision in position sizing.

What does the futures contract symbol ESM6 mean?

The futures symbol ESM6 breaks down into three parts. ES is the product code for the E-mini S&P 500, M is the month code for June, and 6 represents the year 2026. Every futures symbol follows this format: product code + month letter + year digit. So NQZ6 would be the E-mini NASDAQ 100 December 2026 contract.

When do futures contracts expire and how do you roll over?

Equity index futures (ES, NQ, RTY) expire quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Volume typically shifts to the next contract about 8 days before expiration, on what traders call "rollover Thursday." Crude Oil (CL) contracts expire monthly, with volume rolling 3-4 days before expiration. At prop firms, you should close positions in the expiring contract and re-open in the new front month before the firm's rollover deadline.

Are futures contract specifications the same across all brokers and prop firms?

Yes. Futures contract specifications — tick size, tick value, contract multiplier, and trading hours — are set by the exchange (CME Group) and are identical regardless of your broker or prop firm. What differs between firms is which contracts they allow you to trade, the day trade margin they offer, position limits, and rules about holding through news events or overnight.