1Your account
2Your trade
Trade 1 contract to risk $400 at your stop.
Prop futures accounts also cap how many contracts you may hold (for example 5 minis or 50 micros on a 50K account). Check your account's limit before you size up.
FX conversions use the ECB reference rates of 2026-10-13. Sizes are rounded down, so the risk never goes over what you set. A stop doesn't guarantee your fill: in fast markets the loss can be larger.
Worked example
A 20-point stop on NQ costs $20 per point for one contract. With $400 at risk: $400 ÷ (20 × $20) = 1 contract, losing $400 at the stop.
On a prop account the stop also has to fit the firm’s limits: what is left of today’s daily loss limit, the room to the max loss and the account’s contract limit. Pick your firm above and the calculator sizes the trade inside all of them.
Futures tick values
CME contract specifications, per contract. A point is a 1.00 move in the price.
| Contract | Tick size | Tick value | Point value |
|---|---|---|---|
| ES E-mini S&P 500 | 0.25 | $12.50 | $50 |
| MES Micro E-mini S&P 500 (1/10 of ES) | 0.25 | $1.25 | $5 |
| NQ E-mini Nasdaq-100 | 0.25 | $5 | $20 |
| MNQ Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (1/10 of NQ) | 0.25 | $0.50 | $2 |
| YM E-mini Dow | 1 | $5 | $5 |
| MYM Micro E-mini Dow (1/10 of YM) | 1 | $0.50 | $0.50 |
| RTY E-mini Russell 2000 | 0.1 | $5 | $50 |
| M2K Micro E-mini Russell 2000 (1/10 of RTY) | 0.1 | $0.50 | $5 |
| CL Crude oil | 0.01 | $10 | $1,000 |
| MCL Micro crude oil (1/10 of CL) | 0.01 | $1 | $100 |
| GC Gold | 0.1 | $10 | $100 |
| MGC Micro gold (1/10 of GC) | 0.1 | $1 | $10 |
With your prop firm’s limits
The same calculator, opened on a firm’s accounts with their daily loss limit, max loss and contract limit filled in.
Alpha Futures
Apex Trader Funding
Blue Guardian
Blueberry Funded
FTMO
FundedNext
FundingPips
Goat Funded Trader
Lucid Trading
Maven Trading
My Funded Futures
Take Profit Trader
The5ers
Topstep
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Questions
How many contracts should I trade?
Contracts = risk in dollars ÷ (stop in points × point value). With $400 at risk and a 20-point stop on NQ ($20 a point): 400 ÷ (20 × 20) = 1 contract; on MNQ ($2 a point) the same risk is 10 contracts. Round down, never up.
What is the tick value of MNQ?
MNQ moves in 0.25-point ticks worth $0.50 each, so one point is $2 per contract. NQ is ten times that: $5 a tick and $20 a point.
How many contracts can I trade on a prop firm account?
Most futures prop firms cap the contracts you may hold, often by account size (for example 4 minis or 40 micros on a 50K account at some firms), and some raise the cap as profit grows. Pick your firm in the calculator: it applies that account’s limit and shows when it, rather than your risk, decides the size.