What Is Tick Size?

Tick size is the smallest price increment a futures contract can trade in, set by the exchange in the contract’s specifications. Tick value is how much money one tick is worth for one contract, found by multiplying the tick size by the contract size.

How it works

Every futures contract has a fixed size: 1,000 barrels of crude oil, 100 troy ounces of gold, $50 times an index. Prices can only move in set steps. Multiply the step by the size and you get the dollar amount that changes hands, per contract, each time the price ticks up or down.

Tick value = tick size × contract size (or multiplier)

Examples

These figures come from the exchanges’ published contract specifications, as of November 2026. Exchanges can change them, so check the current specs before relying on them.

Contract	Exchange	Contract size	Tick size	Tick value
E-mini S&P 500	CME	$50 × index	0.25 index points	$12.50
Micro E-mini S&P 500	CME	$5 × index	0.25 index points	$1.25
Light sweet crude oil (WTI)	NYMEX	1,000 barrels	$0.01 per barrel	$10.00
Gold	COMEX	100 troy ounces	$0.10 per ounce	$10.00
Corn	CBOT	5,000 bushels	1/4 cent per bushel	$12.50
S&P/TSX 60 index (SXF)	Montreal Exchange	C$200 × index	0.10 index points	C$20.00

A tiny example

Prices are illustrative. You buy one crude oil contract at $70.00 and sell it at $70.45. The price moved $0.45, which is 45 ticks of $0.01.

45 ticks × $10 = $450 profit, before commissions and fees.

Had the price fallen to $69.55 instead, the same 45 ticks would be a $450 loss.

Why it matters

• It turns price moves into dollars. Traders often think in ticks or points. Knowing the tick value tells you what a move actually costs or pays.
• It shows how big a contract really is. A $12.50 tick sounds small until you notice the E-mini can move hundreds of ticks in a day. The size behind the tick is its notional value.
• It drives costs. The bid-ask spread is usually one tick in liquid contracts. Paying one tick to get in and one to get out is a real cost per round trip.
• It sets margin arithmetic. Your daily gain or loss under mark-to-market is just ticks moved × tick value × number of contracts.

Things to watch

• Spreads can have smaller ticks. Some exchanges allow finer increments for calendar spreads than for outright trades, as the Montreal Exchange does for SXF.
• Micro contracts change the tick value, not the tick size. A Micro E-mini moves in the same 0.25-point steps as the E-mini, worth one tenth as much. See micro futures explained.
• Interest rate futures use fractions. Treasury futures are quoted in 32nds of a point, which takes some getting used to.

For the full list of what a contract specification includes, see futures contract specifications.

Related: Futures contract specifications · What Is Notional Value? · Micro futures explained