- What Is A Futures Contract?
- Futures vs. Options
- What Is Margin In Futures Trading?
- Initial Margin and Maintenance Margin
- What is Contract Value?
- Futures Trading Account Value
What Is Contract Value?
It is very important that you understand the contract specifications before you do any futures trading. Besides defining what you are trading, contract specifications provide the size of the contract as well as the price unit, thus allowing you to calculate the value of any contract.
Margin requirements typically are a percentage of the contract value, so that is why initial and maintenance margin requirements can change frequently.
| FUTURES CONTRACT | CONTRACT SPECS | CURRENT QUOTE | CONTRACT VALUE |
| CME E-Mini S&P | $50 x S&P Index |
1030.10 |
$51,505 |
| Gold | 100 oz. – $0.10/oz. |
$950.70 |
$95,070 |
| 10-Year T-Note | $100,000 |
118-00 |
$118,000 |
| E-mini Euro FX | 62,500 Euros - $.0001/euro |
$1.4362/euro |
$89,762 |
| Crude Oil | 1,000 barrels – $0.01/barrel |
$72.70 |
$72,700 |
| Soybeans | 5,000 bushels - 0.25c/bu |
$11.11 |
$55,550 |
| Dow Jones $10 | $5 x DJIA Index |
9,526 |
$47,630 |
