Futures Contract Specs and Tick Values: Gold, Oil, Natural Gas and Corn

Every futures contract has a fixed size and a minimum price step called a tick, and multiplying the two gives the tick value: the money you make or lose per tick, per contract. Gold (GC) is 100 troy ounces with a $0.10 tick worth $10; WTI crude (CL) is 1,000 barrels with a $0.01 tick worth $10; Henry Hub natural gas (NG) is 10,000 MMBtu with a $0.001 tick worth $10; and corn (ZC) is 5,000 bushels with a quarter-cent tick worth $12.50. Know these numbers before you place a single order.

Key contract specifications

Contract	Exchange	Size	Tick size	Tick value	Value of a 1-unit move
Gold (GC)	COMEX	100 troy oz	$0.10 per oz	$10	$100 per $1
Micro Gold (MGC)	COMEX	10 troy oz	$0.10 per oz	$1	$10 per $1
Silver (SI)	COMEX	5,000 troy oz	$0.005 per oz	$25	$5,000 per $1
Micro Silver (SIL)	COMEX	1,000 troy oz	$0.005 per oz	$5	$1,000 per $1
Copper (HG)	COMEX	25,000 lb	$0.0005 per lb	$12.50	$250 per 1 cent
WTI Crude (CL)	NYMEX	1,000 barrels	$0.01 per bbl	$10	$1,000 per $1
Micro WTI (MCL)	NYMEX	100 barrels	$0.01 per bbl	$1	$100 per $1
Brent Crude	ICE	1,000 barrels	$0.01 per bbl	$10	$1,000 per $1
Natural Gas (NG)	NYMEX	10,000 MMBtu	$0.001 per MMBtu	$10	$100 per 1 cent
Corn (ZC)	CBOT	5,000 bushels	1/4 cent per bu	$12.50	$50 per 1 cent
Wheat (ZW), Soybeans (ZS)	CBOT	5,000 bushels	1/4 cent per bu	$12.50	$50 per 1 cent
Live Cattle (LE)	CME	40,000 lb	0.025 cents per lb	$10	$400 per 1 cent

Exchanges occasionally change specifications and launch or delist products, so confirm the details on the CME Group or ICE website before you trade.

The profit and loss formula

There are two equivalent ways to calculate a futures result:

• Price method: P&L = (exit price - entry price) x contract size x number of contracts
• Tick method: P&L = number of ticks moved x tick value x number of contracts

For a short position, flip the sign: you gain when the exit price is lower than the entry.

Example (gold): You buy 2 GC at $4,012.30 and sell at $4,030.80. The move is $18.50, which is 185 ticks of $0.10. P&L = 185 x $10 x 2 = $3,700. Check with the price method: 18.50 x 100 x 2 = $3,700.

Example (crude): You short 1 CL at $78.45 and the market rises, so you buy back at $79.10. The move against you is $0.65, or 65 ticks. P&L = -65 x $10 = -$650.

Example (natural gas): You buy 1 NG at $3.120 and sell at $3.265. The move is $0.145, or 145 ticks of $0.001. P&L = 145 x $10 = $1,450.

Example (corn): You buy 3 ZC at 498'2 (498.25 cents) and sell at 506'4 (506.50 cents). The move is 8.25 cents, or 33 quarter-cent ticks. P&L = 33 x $12.50 x 3 = $1,237.50. Check: 0.0825 x 5,000 x 3 = $1,237.50.

Why tick value matters for risk

Knowing the tick value lets you translate a normal day's movement into money. The Average True Range (ATR) measures the average daily range of a market; you will learn to calculate it in the charts and indicators lesson. Using round, illustrative ATR values:

Contract	Illustrative price	Illustrative daily ATR	Money per contract per ATR
Gold GC	$4,000	$60	60 x 100 = $6,000
WTI CL	$80	$2.00	2.00 x 1,000 = $2,000
Natural gas NG	$3.00	$0.15	0.15 x 10,000 = $1,500
Corn ZC	500 cents	9 cents	0.09 x 5,000 = $450

Two lessons jump out. First, one full gold contract can swing about $6,000 on an ordinary day, which is 30% of a $20,000 account. Second, the money at risk per contract differs widely between markets, so trading "one contract of everything" gives you wildly unequal risk. The position sizing lesson fixes this.

Micro and mini contracts

To open futures to smaller accounts, exchanges list smaller versions of several contracts:

• Micro Gold (MGC): 10 ounces, $1 per tick, one-tenth of GC.
• Micro WTI (MCL): 100 barrels, $1 per tick, one-tenth of CL.
• Micro Silver (SIL): 1,000 ounces, one-fifth of SI.
• Mini-sized grains at CBOT cover 1,000 bushels.

The list changes as exchanges add products, so check what is currently available for the market you want. Smaller contracts usually have less trading volume and a higher cost per dollar of exposure, but they let you size positions properly, which matters far more.

Other specifications to check

Before trading any contract, look up:

• Trading hours, including the daily break.
• Last trading day and first notice day, covered in the expiry and rolling lesson.
• Price limits: grains and livestock have daily price limits; energy and metals use temporary halts when prices move too far too fast.
• Settlement method: physical delivery or cash.
• Margin: set by the exchange and your broker, and changed often.

CFD equivalents

CFD brokers set their own contract sizes. One lot of XAUUSD is often 100 ounces, but a WTI CFD lot might be 100 or 1,000 barrels depending on the broker, and minimum sizes can be as small as 0.01 lot. Always open the instrument's specification and calculate: "How much do I gain or lose if the price moves $1?"