Futures Contract Size Guide

We will be focusing on the 3 main equities, and how to calculate their contract sizes.

- ES (S&P 500)

- NQ (Nasdaq)

- YM (Dow Jones)

When trading these futures indices, you must know that position sizes are different

compared to the CFD’s we trade in MFF or FTMO. The contract sizes are as follows..

- Mini - The large contract.

- Micro - The smaller contract. (10 micros = 1 mini)

Now that you know the two contract sizes, you must also know how to calculate the

amount of contracts you want to buy/sell when executing a position. In order to do that,

we must know each equities Point Value.

The Point Value of an instrument, is essentially the dollar value per “point” on it’s

respected instrument (ie: ES is an instrument)

1 “point” is considered $1 on the ticker.

Ex: ES moves from 4000 to 4001, that will be considered a 1 point move.

It is also good to know that within each point, is 4 ticks.

Ex: ES moves from 4000 to 4000.25, that is considered a 1 tick move.

The “Point Value” of each equity is as follows:

ES! = $50 per point on 1 mini contract / $5 per point on 1 micro contract

NQ! = $20 per point on 1 mini contract / $2 per point on 1 micro contract

YM! = $5 per point on 1 mini contract / $0.50 per point on 1 micro contract

So, you may be wondering how these numbers allow you to calculate your position size

when trading your respected futures equity.

You’ll need to know a couple things in order to calculate position size, it’s quite simple.

1) Your risk in $

2) Your SL in points

3) The point value of the instrument you are trading.

Once you know these 3 numbers, you can use this formula to calculate position size.

Contract Size = Risk ($) / (SL risk in points x point value)

You MUST use the correct point value for the desired index you are trading.

For example, if you want to trade MES (Micro E-Mini S&P), you will assign the point

value of “5” to your formula.

Calculation Example:

You have a 10k account, and you want to long MES risking 1% ($100) with a 5 point

stop loss.

Risk = $100

Stop Loss = 5 points

Point Value = $5

Now plug in your numbers into the formula

$100 / (5 x 5) = 4 Micro Contracts

Your position size will be 4 Micros for this particular trade!

Any more questions, just ask!