Tick value — The dollar amount one tick of price movement is worth per contract.
How tick value works in prop trading
Tick value turns market movement into account movement. One tick on the E-mini S&P 500 is $12.50; on the Micro E-mini it is $1.25; on crude oil it is $10. Multiply tick value by the number of ticks in your stop and by your contract count and you have your exact dollar risk on the trade.
This is the calculation that should decide your account tier and your contract count, in that order. If your method uses a 20-tick stop on the E-mini, one contract risks $250 — roughly 12% of a typical $2,000 drawdown allowance, which will not survive a normal losing streak. The same trade in micros risks $25, which will. Most first-account failures are this arithmetic done backwards, or not at all.
Key points
- Dollar risk per trade equals stop in ticks times tick value times contracts.
- Micro contracts are one tenth the tick value of their full-size equivalent.
- Sizing so a single trade risks more than about 3% of the drawdown allowance rarely survives a losing streak.
- Tick value is fixed by the exchange and is not affected by the prop firm.
Example
A 20-tick stop on 2 E-mini S&P contracts risks 20 × $12.50 × 2 = $500. Against a $2,000 drawdown that is a quarter of the account's entire risk budget on one trade.
Also known as
- dollar per tick
- tick worth
- value per tick
Frequently asked questions
How much is one tick worth?
It depends on the contract: $12.50 on the E-mini S&P 500, $1.25 on the Micro E-mini, $10 on crude oil, $5 on the E-mini Nasdaq. Our futures tool lists tick value and margin for the commonly traded products.
How do I calculate risk per trade in futures?
Multiply your stop distance in ticks by the contract's tick value, then by the number of contracts. Compare the result against your remaining drawdown, not against the account size — the drawdown allowance is the real budget.
Put this into practice
Tick value is described here as a plain-language educational definition. Firms, platforms, and account programs may apply different conditions or calculations. Verify the current official terms before using this definition to make an account decision.