The formula
tick value = tick size × contract multiplier
position value per tick = tick value × number of contracts
Two numbers, both from the exchange contract specification, neither from your broker. Common ones on the index futures:
| Contract | Tick size | Multiplier | One tick | One point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES (E-mini S&P) | 0.25 | 50 | $12.50 | $50 |
| MES (Micro S&P) | 0.25 | 5 | $1.25 | $5 |
| NQ (E-mini Nasdaq) | 0.25 | 20 | $5.00 | $20 |
| MNQ (Micro Nasdaq) | 0.25 | 2 | $0.50 | $2 |
Verify these against the exchange before sizing anything on them — specifications do change, and this table is a starting point rather than a source of truth.
The step that catches people
Look at the table again: the tick size is identical between the full contract and the micro. Only the multiplier changes, by a factor of ten.
That is why this calculator asks for the two numbers separately instead of offering a symbol dropdown. A trader who has spent months on MES thinks in $1.25 ticks. Moving to ES, the chart looks the same, the tick size is the same, the ladder is the same — and every tick is now worth ten times more. The error does not announce itself; it simply multiplies the day's result, in whichever direction the day was going.
The reverse trip is gentler but still costly: sizing an MES position with ES numbers produces a position a tenth the intended size, and a strategy that appears to have stopped working.
Ticks, points, and handles
Futures traders use three words for two things, which does not help:
- A tick is the smallest increment the contract trades in.
- A point or handle is one full unit of the index — four ticks on the index futures, where the tick is 0.25.
A stop "eight ticks away" and a stop "two points away" are the same stop on ES. Mixing them in the other direction, treating eight points as eight ticks, is a four-fold sizing error, and it happens most often when a plan written in one vocabulary is executed in the other.
Why this matters more on a funded account
On a personal account an oversized position is a bad trade. On an evaluation or funded account it is frequently the end of the account, because the daily loss limit is a hard boundary rather than a preference.
The chain is short: contracts × tick value × ticks against you, compared with the room the firm leaves. Get the multiplier wrong and every figure downstream is wrong by the same factor — including the one that was supposed to keep you inside the limit. The prop drawdown calculator works on the money side of that once the tick value is right.