Definition
What is Futures contract?
A futures contract is a standardised exchange-traded agreement to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a future date; traders use it to speculate on price moves with a fixed value per point.
Futures trade on exchanges such as the CME. Each contract has a fixed size, expressed as a dollar value per point of price movement, and a minimum price step called a tick.
Popular index futures include the E-mini S&P 500 (ES) at $50 per point and the E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ) at $20 per point. Micro contracts (MES, MNQ) are one tenth of that size.
Size in futures is counted in whole contracts, so micros are the way to trade smaller amounts. Prop firm futures accounts usually cap the number of contracts you can hold.
Example
Example: one ES contract moves $50 per point. A 4-point stop risks $200, which is 0.8% of a $25,000 account. The same stop on one MES contract risks $20.
At a prop firm
Axora Funded futures accounts ($25K to $150K) trade ES, NQ, YM, RTY, CL, GC, MES and MNQ during CME hours (Sunday 23:00 to Friday 22:00 UTC, with a daily 22:00–23:00 break), with a contract cap of 3 to 15 depending on size and a 6% profit target.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between futures and CFDs?
A future is a standardised exchange contract with a fixed point value; a CFD tracks a price with flexible lot sizes.
What are micro futures?
Smaller contracts, one tenth of the standard size, such as MES ($5 per point) and MNQ ($2 per point).