MNQ Tick Value Calculator

What one tick of the Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 is worth — a tenth of its e-mini parent, which is the point of trading it.

The Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 is one tenth of the NQ contract in every dimension that costs money, and identical to it in every dimension that does not. CME lists MNQ at $2.00 per index point against NQ's $20.00, so a tick is worth $0.50 rather than $5.00 — but both contracts trade in the same 0.25-point increments, against the same index, on the same order book.

Formula: cash = points moved / tick size x tick value x contracts

Your figures

Currency

Contract

Sets the point value and tick size. Choose 'Custom' to enter them yourself.

Number of contracts

Price move

In points. Negative for a move against the position.

Conversion rate

Contract currency to your account currency. 1 when they match. Use the rate that applied on the day for a past trade.

Custom point value

Only used when Contract is set to Custom.

Custom tick size

Only used when Contract is set to Custom.

Results

Profit

+US$20.00

+10.00 points on 1 contract

Tick value, one contract: US$0.50
Tick value, whole position: US$0.50
Point value, whole position: US$2.00
Ticks moved: +40.00
Contract size: $2 × index
Exchange: CME

What this means

One tick on MNQ — Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 is worth US$0.50 per contract, so a 40-tick move across 1 contract is US$20.00. Tick value is fixed by the contract specification — it does not change as the price moves.

Excludes commission and exchange fees, which are charged per contract per side and matter disproportionately on short-term futures trades.
Specifications are a reference and are occasionally revised. Verify against your broker or the exchange before trading.

The link reopens this calculator with the same numbers. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.

Continue with these figures

About the MNQ Tick Value calculation

That asymmetry is where the arithmetic usually goes wrong. Someone who knows the Nasdaq-100 moves in quarter-points often assumes the micro's increment is a tenth of a quarter-point too, and ends up sizing a stop in ticks that carries ten times the cash they meant. A 40-point stop is 160 ticks on either contract; it is $800 on NQ and $80 on MNQ.

The tenth is also what makes the contract useful rather than merely smaller. Exposure can be built and unwound in $2-per-point steps, so a position can be entered in thirds and taken off in halves instead of being all or nothing, and ten micros reproduce one mini's point exposure exactly — which means moving between the two sizes does not have to change the risk.

MNQ Tick Value formula

MNQ tick value = point value × tick size
               = $2.00 × 0.25
               = $0.50 per tick

ticks moved    = points moved ÷ 0.25
P/L            = points moved × $2.00 × contracts

MNQ against NQ:
  point value    $2.00  vs  $20.00   — one tenth
  tick value     $0.50  vs   $5.00   — one tenth
  tick size       0.25  vs    0.25   — identical

point value: Cash value of a one-point move in the Nasdaq-100 for one contract: $2.00 on MNQ, $20.00 on NQ.
tick size: 0.25 index points on both MNQ and NQ. The micro is not a finer increment, only a smaller multiplier.
tick value: Point value times tick size, so $0.50 on MNQ. Set by the specification, not by where the index happens to be trading.
contracts: How many MNQ are held. Ten of them carry the same point exposure as one NQ.

Only the multiplier is divided by ten. Tick size stays at 0.25 index points on the micro and the mini alike, so any stop or target converts to the same tick count on either contract and only the money attached to each tick changes. Counting ticks and assuming the cash follows is the mistake this page exists to prevent.

Judging MNQ against MES by their multipliers alone is misleading, because the two indices are quoted at different magnitudes. With the Nasdaq-100 near 24,000 one MNQ represents $48,000 of notional value; with the S&P 500 near 6,000 one MES represents $30,000. One per cent of the higher index is also 240 points against 60, so matching the contract count across the two does not match the cash at stake in either direction.

Ten micros and one mini are both $20 per point, and crossing a one-tick spread costs $5.00 on either route, because ten lots of $0.50 come to one lot of $5.00. Fees are where they separate: commission is billed on every contract, on each side of the trade, so the micro route is invoiced ten times for identical exposure, and whether the flexibility covers that gap is a question about the schedule your own broker applies.

MNQ Tick Value: a worked example

A 60-point Nasdaq-100 move on three Micro E-mini contracts, with the index quoted at 24,000 and the point value $2.00. The page opens on one contract and a ten-point move, so change those two fields to match.

Tick value, one contract$2.00 × 0.25 = $0.50
Point value, three contracts$2.00 × 3 = $6.00 per point
Ticks in a 60-point move60 ÷ 0.25 = 240 ticks
Value of the move240 × $0.50 × 3 = $360
Same move on one NQ60 × $20.00 = $1,200
Notional per contract24,000 × $2.00 = $48,000

$360 across the three micros, against $1,200 on a single NQ for the identical 60-point move. Three MNQ sit at 30% of one mini's exposure, an increment a single NQ cannot express. The 240-tick count is the same on both contracts; only the $0.50 behind each tick differs.

How to use the MNQ Tick Value calculator

Select MNQ so the $2.00 point value and the 0.25 tick size fill in from the published specification.
Enter the number of contracts. Micros are where varying the count is worth doing — two, three or seven are all positions a single mini cannot hold.
Enter the move in points rather than ticks. There are four ticks to a point at 0.25, and the tool reports the tick count beside the cash figure.
Read the per-tick number before placing a stop: at $0.50 a tick, a 100-tick stop is $50 per contract, which is a more concrete figure to hold in mind than the point distance.
To compare against NQ, run the same point move at a tenth of the contract count, or at $20.00 per point, and the two results should agree.

Limitations of the MNQ Tick Value calculator

Every calculation makes assumptions. These are the ones that matter here.

The ten-micros-against-one-mini comparison here is exposure only. Fees scale with the contract count, so the micro route is billed ten times over for the same $20.00 per point, and only your broker's own schedule settles whether that gap is material.
Every figure is arithmetic on what you typed — the index level, the point move and the contract count. The site holds no Nasdaq-100 quote, so the result describes a hypothetical move rather than today's market.
Fills are assumed at the price entered, on all contracts at once. Micro and mini quotes can sit a tick apart when the book thins, and ten micro orders do not necessarily fill together or at one price.
MNQ settles in US dollars. An account denominated in sterling or euros carries a conversion this page does not perform, so $0.50 is reported as $0.50 and nothing further.
The $2.00 multiplier is CME's published figure, and an exchange can revise a specification. Your own contract statement is the authority for what was actually traded.

Frequently asked questions about MNQ Tick Value

Is the MNQ tick the same size as the NQ tick?

The tick size is identical — 0.25 index points on both contracts — and that is precisely why the cash figures catch people out. What differs is the multiplier: $2.00 per point on MNQ against $20.00 on NQ, which puts the tick at $0.50 rather than $5.00. The same increments appear on the screen with a tenth of the money behind each one.

Does holding ten MNQ behave the same as holding one NQ?

On point exposure, yes. Ten contracts at $2.00 per point is $20.00 per point, matching one NQ, and a one-tick spread costs $5.00 on either route. Three things diverge: commission is billed per contract so ten micros are charged ten times, the micro position can be reduced in tenths while the mini is all or nothing, and margin is set separately for each contract rather than scaling exactly by ten.

Why is one MNQ a larger position than one MES?

Because the two indices are quoted at different levels. At 24,000 the Nasdaq-100 gives one MNQ a notional value of $48,000, while the S&P 500 near 6,000 gives one MES $30,000. One per cent of the higher index is 240 points against 60, so an equivalent percentage move produces a different cash figure even though both are described as micro contracts.

How many micros make sense on a small account?

This page will not name a figure, because the count that fits depends on the amount you are prepared to lose on one trade and how wide your stop is, and both of those are yours to set. The trade-off is visible in the arithmetic either way: raising the contract count raises the cash per point and the commission bill together, while a low count leaves nothing to scale out of. Enter your own stop distance and contract count and the per-tick and per-point figures follow.

What does a 50-point MNQ stop cost per contract?

Fifty index points is 200 ticks at 0.25 points each, and at $0.50 a tick that is $100 per contract. The same 200-tick stop on NQ is $1,000. Nothing about the stop's width on the chart changes between the two contracts — only the multiplier attached to it does.

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. See our methodology and editorial policy.

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