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NQ contract

NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100)

Trading

Definition

The Nasdaq-100 mini futures contract. Each point is worth $20, and the tick is 0.25 points, meaning $5 per contract. It is more volatile than ES, and therefore popular with scalpers and risky for small accounts.

Detailed explanation

NQ moves many points in a day, so even when the point value is lower than ES, the risk per trade is similar or higher. A technical stop of 25 points is $500 per mini contract. In an account with a drawdown threshold of $2,000, this means one NQ contract with a wide stop can consume a quarter of the threshold in a single trade. This is where MNQ comes in, allowing the same trade for $50.

An example from the prop world

An NQ stop of 10 points costs $200 per mini contract and $20 per MNQ contract. In an account with a $2,000 threshold, ten consecutive losses like these in minis will wipe out the account, but in micros, they are only $200.

How it works at the firms on this site

Based on the rules listed on our firm pages. Rules get updated, so check the firm's page before buying.

Risk calculator

How many contracts to open against your stop and the account's loss limit

MNQ contract

The micro version of NQ: the same Nasdaq-100 index at one-tenth the size. Each point is worth $2 and the tick (0.25 point) is worth $0.50. It is popular among evaluation traders who want the volatility of NQ without the risk of a mini contract.

ES contract

The S&P 500 mini futures contract, one of the most traded contracts in the world. Each point is worth $50, and the tick is 0.25 points, meaning $12.50 per contract.

Tick value and point value

A tick is a contract's smallest price move, and the tick value is how many dollars that move is worth for one contract. A point is made up of several ticks, so the point value is the tick value times the number of ticks in a point.

Hedging

Opening opposite positions, long and short, on the same underlying asset or on correlated assets at the same time, in the same account or across accounts. At most prop firms this is prohibited.

Position size

The decision of how many contracts to open in a trade. It's calculated from the end to the beginning: how much you are allowed to lose per trade, divided by the loss of one contract up to the drawdown. In a prop account, this is the most important decision, because it determines how many mistakes the account can absorb before the threshold.

News trading policy

This is a risk management rule in funded trading accounts that prohibits traders from opening, closing or modifying active positions within a set time window (usually a few minutes) before, during and after the release of major high-impact economic events (Tier One).