CME Futures Margin, Tick Value & Micro vs Mini Calc

Try a worked example

CME Group contract (CME, CBOT, COMEX, NYMEX)

Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) (CME, $2 × Nasdaq-100 Index): tick size 0.25 = $0.50/tick · $2/point

Account balance (USD)

Max contracts: 50 on day margin · 1 overnight

Contracts to trade

Notional exposure: $176,687 (35.3× your balance)

Reference price

CME last on 22 Oct 2026: 29,447.75. Type today's price for an exact notional

Risk per trade ($)

Fits 3 MNQ at your stop

Stop distance (points)

100 ticks ($50.00/contract, before fees)

Broker day margin ($/contract)

Total: $300. Default is Tradovate's listed day margin on 22 Oct 2026; yours may differ

CME maintenance margin ($/contract)

Needed to hold past the 4:00 PM CT close. Default: CME, December 2026 contract, 22 Oct 2026

Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) · $5,000 balance

3× MNQ ($0.50/tick, $2/pt): $300 day margin vs $12,774 CME overnight maintenance (day-trade only: flatten before the close)

Margins are dated defaults from 22 Oct 2026, not live data. Check your broker before you trade.

Tick & point value (3×)

$6/pt

Per tick (0.25): $1.50

1 contract = $2/pt ($0.50/tick)

Broker day margin

$300

Excess over day margin: $4,700

3133 ticks (783.25 pts) against you to a day-margin call

Overnight (CME maintenance)

$12,774

Short by $7,774

Flatten before your broker's cutoff (NinjaTrader: 15 minutes before the session close) or it may liquidate the position, often with a fee

Stop-loss dollar risk

$150.00

On a 25-pt (100-tick) stop

For $150 risk: trade 3 MNQ

CME full-size vs Micro contract reference sheet

Contract	Contract unit	Tick size	Tick value	Point value	Broker day margin	CME maintenance
E-mini S&P 500 (ES)	$50 × S&P 500 Index	0.25	$12.50	$50	$500	$26,214
Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES)	$5 × S&P 500 Index	0.25	$1.25	$5	$50	$2,621
E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ)	$20 × Nasdaq-100 Index	0.25	$5	$20	$1,000	$42,579
Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ)	$2 × Nasdaq-100 Index	0.25	$0.50	$2	$100	$4,258
E-mini Dow ($5) (YM)	$5 × Dow Jones Industrial Average	1	$5	$5	$500	$15,418
Micro E-mini Dow (MYM)	$0.50 × Dow Jones Industrial Average	1	$0.50	$0.50	$50	$1,542
E-mini Russell 2000 (RTY)	$50 × Russell 2000 Index	0.1	$5	$50	$500	$10,848
Micro E-mini Russell 2000 (M2K)	$5 × Russell 2000 Index	0.1	$0.50	$5	$50	$1,085
Gold 100 oz (GC)	100 troy ounces	0.1	$10	$100	$2,000	$20,750
Micro Gold 10 oz (MGC)	10 troy ounces	0.1	$1	$10	$200	$2,075
Silver 5,000 oz (SI)	5,000 troy ounces	0.001	$5	$5,000	$4,000	$23,084
Micro Silver 1,000 oz (SIL)	1,000 troy ounces	0.005	$5	$1,000	$1,000	$4,617
Crude Oil 1,000 bbl (CL)	1,000 barrels	0.01	$10	$1,000	$1,000	$9,515
Micro WTI Crude Oil 100 bbl (MCL)	100 barrels	0.01	$1	$100	$100	$953
10-Year T-Note (ZN)	$100,000 face value	0.015625	$15.625	$1,000	$500	$1,875
Euro FX (6E)	125,000 euro	0.00005	$6.25	$125,000	$500	$2,100
Micro Bitcoin (MBT)	0.10 bitcoin	5	$0.50	$0.10	$100	$1,879

CME maintenance margins: December 2026 contract, higher of long and short, from cmegroup.com on 22 Oct 2026. Day margins: Tradovate's listed day margins on 22 Oct 2026. Reference prices: CME last prices that morning. All of them change often; check your broker.

Embed or cite it on your site

Free on any site, blog, Notion page or Substack: paste this code to show the live calculator. The credit line is optional; keep it, edit it, add rel="nofollow" or remove it.

<iframe src="https://proea.app/embed/tools/futures-margin-tick-calculator" title="CME futures margin, tick value & Micro vs Mini contract calculator" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" style="display:block;width:100%;height:820px;border:0;border-radius:12px"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:12px">CME futures margin, tick value & Micro vs Mini contract calculator by <a href="https://proea.app/en/tools/futures-margin-tick-calculator?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=futures-margin-tick-calculator">ProEA</a></p>

Writing about it instead? Cite the method and link the page:

The math: TickValue = TickSize × PointValue · RiskPerContract = StopPoints × PointValue · Notional = Price × PointValue × Contracts

Read the full guide

Why futures brokers charge two different margins: broker day margin vs CME maintenance

When you trade CME Group futures (CME, CBOT, COMEX and NYMEX contracts) in a personal brokerage account, two margin levels decide how many contracts you can hold. During the session many brokers set their own reduced day-trade margin for positions you close the same day: on 22 Oct 2026 Tradovate listed $50 for MES, MYM and M2K and $100 for MNQ, and $500 for ES, YM and RTY and $1,000 for NQ. To hold a position past the daily 4:00 PM CT close you need the exchange margin set by CME Clearing instead. CME's maintenance margin for the December 2026 contracts was $2,621 for MES, $4,258 for MNQ, $26,214 for ES and $42,579 for NQ on the same date, more than 40 times the day rates, and brokers usually ask for initial margin to carry a position (Tradovate's initial was about 110% of CME maintenance). NinjaTrader, for example, applies day margins until 15 minutes before the session close; a position that does not meet the overnight requirement may be liquidated by the broker, usually with a fee. Margins change often, so treat these as dated examples and check your broker's current numbers.

Full-size contracts and their Micros

The Micro E-mini index futures are one-tenth of the E-minis: MES is $5 per point against ES at $50, MNQ $2 against NQ at $20, MYM $0.50 against YM at $5 and M2K $5 against RTY at $50, with the same tick sizes. Gold, silver and crude oil are full-size contracts, not E-minis: Micro Gold (MGC, 10 oz) is one-tenth of GC (100 oz), Micro WTI Crude (MCL, 100 barrels) is one-tenth of CL (1,000 barrels), and Micro Silver (SIL, 1,000 oz) is one-fifth of SI (5,000 oz). Contract units and tick values are from CME Group's contract specifications.

Pair CME margin checks with position sizing, prop firm comparisons and Section 1256 tax math

Size your exact contract count from dollar risk in our Futures Position Size Calculator, compare personal CME brokerage tax treatment in the US Section 1256 (60/40) Tax Calculator, or compare personal futures against funded evaluations in the Futures vs Forex Prop Firm Calculator.

Method and privacy

Method: Tick value = tick size × point value, from CME Group contract specifications. Risk per contract = stop points × point value (commissions and fees not included); contracts that fit your risk = floor(risk budget ÷ risk per contract). Margin required = margin per contract × contracts; max contracts = floor(balance ÷ margin per contract). Room to a day-margin call = floor((balance − day margin) ÷ (tick value × contracts)) ticks. Notional = reference price × point value × contracts. Defaults, read on 22 Oct 2026: CME maintenance margins for the December 2026 contract (higher of long and short) and CME last prices from cmegroup.com, and Tradovate's listed day margins as one broker's example. Brokers usually require initial margin, about 110% of CME maintenance at Tradovate, to carry a position overnight. Margins change often; check your broker.

Calculations run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded. Your last numbers stay in this browser so you can pick up where you left off; Forget them clears them. A link with your numbers carries them after the # sign, which browsers do not send to servers, and the page takes them out of the address before any analytics loads. Copy and download actions save your calculation locally. The site may record coarse tool actions under its privacy policy, without inputs, results, file contents or filenames.

Common questions

What is the exact tick value and point value of ES vs MES, NQ vs MNQ, and GC vs MGC?

E-mini S&P 500 (ES) is $50/point ($12.50 per 0.25 tick), while Micro E-mini S&P (MES) is 1/10th at $5/point ($1.25 per 0.25 tick). E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ) is $20/point ($5.00 per 0.25 tick), while Micro Nasdaq (MNQ) is $2/point ($0.50 per 0.25 tick). COMEX Gold (GC, 100 oz) is $100 per $1.00 move ($10.00 per $0.10 tick), while Micro Gold (MGC, 10 oz) is $10 per $1.00 move ($1.00 per $0.10 tick).

How many ticks is $500 on NQ?

100 ticks. One NQ tick is 0.25 index points and is worth $5.00 per contract (CME Group contract specifications), so $500 ÷ $5.00 = 100 ticks, which is 25 points. On Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) a tick is worth $0.50, so $500 is 1,000 ticks, or 250 points, on one contract.

How many ticks are 100 points?

It depends on the contract's tick size. ES, MES, NQ and MNQ move in 0.25-point ticks, so 100 points is 400 ticks; RTY and M2K tick in 0.10 points, so 100 points is 1,000 ticks; YM and MYM tick in whole points, so 100 points is 100 ticks. Per contract, 100 points is $5,000 on ES, $500 on MES, $2,000 on NQ, $200 on MNQ and $500 on YM.

How much margin do I need to trade MNQ?

There are two numbers. To hold MNQ past the 4:00 PM CT close, CME's maintenance margin for the December 2026 contract was $4,258 long and $4,058 short on 22 Oct 2026 (cmegroup.com), and brokers usually want initial margin to carry the position: Tradovate listed $4,683.67, about 110% of maintenance. For trades you open and close in the same session, brokers set their own day margin, for example $100 per MNQ at Tradovate on the same date. Both change often, so check your broker before you trade.

Can I trade MNQ with a small account?

A broker's day margin lets you open MNQ with little cash ($100 per contract at Tradovate on 22 Oct 2026), but margin is not what you can lose. A 25-point stop on one MNQ is $50, a 100-point move is $200, and every contract still open at the close needs CME's maintenance margin ($4,258 per MNQ on that date) plus your broker's buffer. Size from your dollar risk first, as this calculator does; a broker can liquidate positions your account cannot margin, often with a fee, and futures losses can exceed your deposit.

Why is overnight margin so much higher than day-trading margin?

A day-trade margin is a broker's own reduced rate for positions closed in the same session, for example $500 per ES and $50 per MES at Tradovate on 22 Oct 2026. Holding past the close needs the exchange margin set by CME Clearing, which on that date was $26,214 per ES and $2,621 per MES (maintenance, December 2026 contract), about 52 times the day rate. NinjaTrader applies its day rates until 15 minutes before the session close and asks for initial margin to carry a position.

Why should a $5,000 futures account or $50,000 prop challenge trade Micros (MNQ/MES) instead of Minis (NQ/ES)?

Even if a broker's $1,000 day margin (Tradovate's NQ rate on 22 Oct 2026) lets you open 1 NQ contract on a $5,000 account, a 15-point Nasdaq pullback costs $300 per NQ contract (6% of a $5,000 cash account, or 15% of a $2,000 prop firm drawdown). MNQ is $2 per point, so the same $300 covers 10 contracts, or you can trade 3–5 MNQ contracts ($90–$150 at 15 points) and scale out at several targets.

Get this size on your TradingView chart

Prop Firm Challenge Toolkit (.pine) Your daily-loss limit and drawdown floor (static, trailing end-of-day or trailing intraday) on the TradingView chart, with a sizer that turns risk % and stop into a size. It uses the numbers you enter; it does not read your broker. $29 once.

Goes deeper

Explore ProEA tools Pine Pro Library: TradingView desks with full Pine v6 source ($49 once)Pine Script v5 to v6 converter Complete Suite: every desk and tool, one payment