The specs that matter
Tick size — the smallest price move
Tick size — the smallest price move
The minimum increment a price can move. The E-mini S&P 500 (
ES) moves in
0.25 increments; crude oil (CL) in 0.01; gold (GC) in 0.10. Prices
only ever land on multiples of the tick size.Tick value — what one tick is worth
Tick value — what one tick is worth
The dollar value of a single tick, per contract. One
ES tick is 10; one MES tick is $1.25. This is the smallest
amount your P&L can change on one contract.Full point value — what a whole point is worth
Full point value — what a whole point is worth
The dollar value of a 1.00 move in price, per contract. It’s simply:For
point value
ES: $12.50 ÷ 0.25 = $50 per point. For CL: $10 ÷ 0.01 = $1,000
per point. This is the number you use to translate a dollar stop into a price
distance (see the worked example below).Initial & maintenance margin
Initial & maintenance margin
Initial margin is the capital your broker requires to open one contract;
maintenance margin is the lower level you must stay above to keep it open.
Margins are set by the exchange and brokers and change with volatility — treat
the figures as indicative, not live quotes. (Backtests don’t enforce margin
calls; margin tells you what a position would tie up in the real world.)
Session hours
Session hours
CME futures trade nearly 23 hours a day, Sunday evening through Friday
afternoon. The “session” listed for each contract is the regular (day)
session — the core liquid hours. By default, day-trading strategies enter
during the regular session and close positions at end of day; you can change
the trading window in chat.
Roll & expiration
Roll & expiration
Each contract expires; trading then moves (“rolls”) to the next listed month.
AskFutures backtests on back-adjusted continuous contracts, so it stitches
expiring months into one smooth multi-year history and rolls a set number of
days ahead of each expiration. You get a single clean price series per market
without managing roll dates yourself.
The key relationship
The one formula worth remembering ties the three price specs together:point value
A worked example: turning a “$500 stop” into a price distance
Say you want a $500 stop on one contract of the E-mini S&P 500 (ES).
Divide the dollar stop by the point value
$500 ÷ $50 per point = 10 points. Your stop sits 10 points away from
entry.Convert to ticks if you like
10 points ÷ 0.25 tick size = 40 ticks — the same distance expressed in the
smallest increments.| Market | Point value | $500 stop = |
|---|---|---|
ES (E-mini S&P 500) | $50 / point | 10.00 points |
MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) | $5 / point | 100.00 points |
CL (Crude Oil) | $1,000 / point | 0.50 points |
GC (Gold) | $100 / point | 5.00 points |
This is exactly the math AskFutures does for you. When you say “stop at $500”,
it converts the dollar amount into the right price distance for the symbol — so
the same idea sizes correctly whether you trade the full-size or the micro. You
can also specify stops directly in ticks, points, or percent instead of
dollars.
How specs flow into your results
Tick value and point value are what turn a price move into dollars in your backtest. The simulator also subtracts modeled trading costs — 1 tick of slippage plus commission (2.50/side full-size) by default — so reported P&L is net of those. See Is the backtest real? for the full picture of what the engine models.Next steps
Supported symbols
The full CME Group universe, grouped by asset class.
Risk & trade management
Stops, targets, trailing stops, and end-of-day exits.
What a strategy is made of
Markets, entries, exits, filters, and parameters.
Is the backtest real?
How costs and prices become trustworthy numbers.