Micro Futures Explained: Notional Value vs Margin, and Why Small Size Does Not Mean Small Risk

Micro futures are smaller versions of standard futures contracts, usually one tenth of the size, that work exactly like their full-size counterparts: same underlying, same daily mark-to-market, same leverage. They lower the dollar amount per tick and per contract, which makes positions easier to size, but they do not make futures any less leveraged.

In short: CME Group’s Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) is $5 times the S&P 500, one tenth of the $50 E-mini, so each 0.25-point tick is $1.25 instead of $12.50. Other micros include Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 ($2 per point), Micro WTI Crude Oil (100 barrels), Micro Gold (10 ounces), Micro Bitcoin (0.1 bitcoin), Micro FX contracts, Yield futures ($10 per basis point) and, since February 2025, Micro Corn, Soybean and Wheat (500 bushels). A micro contract’s margin is a small fraction of its notional value, just like a standard contract’s, so the percentage risk on your deposit is the same.

Why micros exist

A single E-mini S&P 500 contract at an illustrative index level of 6,000 controls $300,000 of stock market exposure. For a small account, one contract is either all or nothing. CME launched the Micro E-mini equity index futures in May 2019 to fill that gap, then extended the idea to energy, metals, currencies, crypto, Treasury yields and grains.

Smaller size helps in three legitimate ways:

Precise sizing. A hedger with $60,000 of stock exposure can match it with two MES at 6,000 rather than over-hedging with one ES.
Learning the mechanics. The arithmetic of margin, daily settlement and rolling is the same, at one tenth of the dollar stakes.
Scaling. Positions can be added or reduced in small steps.

None of those change how leverage works.

The main micro contracts

Specifications from CME Group contract pages, fact cards and rulebooks, as of November 2026.

Micro contract	Code	Size	Tick	Tick value	Standard version
Micro E-mini S&P 500	MES	$5 x index	0.25 points	$1.25	ES, $50 x index
Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100	MNQ	$2 x index	0.25 points	$0.50	NQ, $20 x index
Micro WTI Crude Oil	MCL	100 barrels	$0.01/barrel	$1.00	CL, 1,000 barrels
Micro Gold	MGC	10 troy oz	$0.10/oz	$1.00	GC, 100 oz
1-Ounce Gold	1OZ	1 troy oz	$0.25/oz	$0.25	GC, 100 oz
Micro Bitcoin	MBT	0.1 bitcoin	$5/bitcoin	$0.50	BTC, 5 bitcoin
Micro CAD/USD	MCD	10,000 CAD	0.0001	$1.00	6C, 100,000 CAD
Micro Corn	MZC	500 bushels	1/2 cent	$2.50	ZC, 5,000 bushels
Micro Soybean	MZS	500 bushels	1/2 cent	$2.50	ZS, 5,000 bushels
Micro Wheat	MZW	500 bushels	1/2 cent	$2.50	ZW, 5,000 bushels
10-Year Yield futures	(yield)	$10 per basis point	0.1 basis point	$1.00	priced in yield, not a scaled-down ZN

Notes on the less obvious ones:

Micro WTI is financially settled against the standard CL settlement price and expires the business day before CL, so there is no delivery at Cushing. See crude oil futures explained.
1-Ounce Gold launched on January 13, 2025 and settles in cash to the GC daily settlement price. It is one tenth of Micro Gold.
Micro grains launched on February 24, 2025. They are cash settled to the standard contract and their tick is twice the standard tick size (half a cent rather than a quarter cent), so they are one tenth of the size but not one tenth of the tick in cents. More in agricultural futures explained.
Micro Bitcoin is one fiftieth of the standard BTC contract, not one tenth. Since May 29, 2026, CME’s crypto futures trade 24/7.
Yield futures (originally launched as Micro Treasury Yield futures in 2021) are quoted in yield and cash settled. They are a different design from Treasury futures, which are priced and physically delivered.

Notional value vs margin

Two numbers matter for any futures position:

Notional value: the full dollar exposure. For MES, that is the futures price x $5.
Initial margin: the deposit the exchange and broker require to open the position. It is a performance bond, not a down payment, and it is usually a small percentage of notional. See how futures margin works and the notional value glossary entry.

Margins change often, and brokers set their own requirements on top of the exchange’s. The figure below is illustrative; check CME’s margin pages and your broker for the actual requirement as of November 2026.

Worked example: one MES

Assume MES is at 6,000.00 and the margin requirement is $2,500 (illustrative).

Notional: 6,000.00 x $5 = $30,000.
Leverage: $30,000 / $2,500 = 12 to 1.

Now the index moves.

Index move	Points	Ticks	P&L on one MES	As % of $2,500 margin
+1%	+60.00	+240	+$300	+12%
minus 1%	minus 60.00	minus 240	minus $300	minus 12%
minus 3%	minus 180.00	minus 720	minus $900	minus 36%
minus 5%	minus 300.00	minus 1,200	minus $1,500	minus 60%
minus 10%	minus 600.00	minus 2,400	minus $3,000	minus 120%

(Each line: points / 0.25 = ticks; ticks x $1.25 = dollars.)

A 10% fall in the index, something that has happened over a few days more than once in the last two decades, loses more than the whole deposit on a single micro contract. You owe the shortfall.

Compare one ES

Now run the same numbers on one E-mini at 6,000.00, with an illustrative margin of $25,000:

Notional: $300,000. Leverage: 12 to 1.
A 5% fall: 300 points x $50 = $15,000, which is 60% of the margin.

The dollars are ten times larger, but the percentage hit to the deposit is identical. The micro did not reduce the risk per dollar of margin; it reduced the dollars per contract.

Why small size does not mean small risk

The leverage ratio is the same. As the table shows, micros are scaled-down copies. If margin is about one twelfth of notional, a move of about 8% against you wipes out the deposit, on a micro or a standard contract.
People buy more of them. Ten MES contracts are exactly one ES. Traders who move to micros because they “feel smaller” often end up holding the same exposure in more contracts.
Day-trading margins can be much lower. Some brokers set intraday margins well below the exchange’s overnight requirement. A lower deposit means higher effective leverage, and a position held past the cutoff can trigger a large margin call or forced liquidation.
Costs are larger relative to size. Commissions and exchange fees per micro contract are lower in dollars, but usually higher as a percentage of notional than on standard contracts. Frequent trading in micros can cost more per dollar of exposure.
Gaps and fast markets do not care about contract size. Stops can fill far from where they were placed, especially overnight or on weekends for 24/7 products.
Liquidity varies. The equity index micros are very actively traded; some others trade much less, with wider bid-ask spreads.

The honest summary is in futures risks explained honestly.

The same test on other micros

The pattern holds across asset classes. Using illustrative prices:

Micro WTI at $72.00: notional 100 x $72.00 = $7,200. A $5 move in oil, which has happened in a single day more than once, is 500 ticks x $1 = $500 per contract.
Micro Gold at $4,000: notional $40,000. A $100 move in gold is 1,000 ticks x $1 = $1,000.
Micro Bitcoin at $100,000: notional $10,000. A 10% move in bitcoin is $10,000 per bitcoin, which is $10,000 / $5 = 2,000 ticks, and 2,000 x $0.50 = $1,000 per contract (the same as $10,000 x 0.1 bitcoin).

In each case, divide the dollar move by your margin to see what fraction of the deposit it represents.

Using micros to size a hedge

Micros are well suited to matching a hedge to an exposure. Illustrative example: a Canadian investor holds US stocks worth US$90,000 and wants to reduce S&P 500 exposure for a few weeks. With MES at 6,000.00, each contract is $30,000 of notional, so 3 MES contracts match the portfolio’s value. With ES, the choice would have been one contract ($300,000, far too large) or none.

The hedge removes gains as well as losses while it is on, and it only works to the extent the portfolio moves with the S&P 500. See how hedging with futures works.

The takeaway

Micro futures are one tenth (sometimes one fiftieth or one hundredth) of a standard contract, with ticks worth a dollar or two instead of ten or twelve. They make futures easier to size, not safer. The ratio of notional value to margin is about the same as on full-size contracts, so a given percentage move does the same percentage damage to your deposit. Small contracts, multiplied by enough of them or by low intraday margins, carry exactly the risk of large ones.