Markets
Futures contracts and the research record
The eight markets the screener covers: what each contract is, what a tick is worth, when it trades and expires, and what the research record says about trading it.
- ES E-mini S&P 500CME · $12.50 a tickCost, R 0.053 · Screened 19,886
- NQ E-mini Nasdaq-100CME · $5.00 a tickCost, R 0.012 · Screened 64,276
- YM E-mini DowCBOT · $5.00 a tickCost, R 0.023 · Screened 1,504
- RTY E-mini Russell 2000CME · $5.00 a tickCost, R 0.029 · Screened 1,378
- CL WTI Crude OilNYMEX · $10.00 a tickCost, R 0.053 · Screened 1,181
- GC GoldCOMEX · $10.00 a tickCost, R 0.041 · Screened 2,238
- SI SilverCOMEX · $25.00 a tickCost, R 0.081 · Screened 3,117
- NG Henry Hub Natural GasNYMEX · $10.00 a tickCost, R 0.084 · Screened 45
Cost is the round trip the screening engine charges, in units of the trade's risk, at the menu's 0.8-ATR stop on 30-minute bars; a screen written in the Strategy Language pays the same round trip for every contract it enters, and what that is in R depends on the stop you write, or on the ATR of its bars when you write none. Screened counts specifications in the ledger on each market’s tape, measured 28 October 2026.
Why the cost column matters more than the tick value
A tick value says what a move is worth. Cost in R says how much of every trade’s risk is spent before the trade starts, and it is the column that decides most verdicts. An edge worth a few hundredths of an R per trade clears its costs on the cheapest tapes and on nothing else, which is why the same idea can pass on one market and fail on the next with an identical signal.
The position size calculator shows the same figure for your own stop and costs, and the tick value calculator covers all sixteen contracts, micros included.
- CME · ES · MES
ES futures: the E-mini S&P 500
The E-mini S&P 500 is one of the most liquid futures contracts in the world, and the contract most automated index strategies are built on first. One contract is $50 times the S&P 500 Index, so each 0.25-point tick is worth $12.50.
- CME · NQ · MNQ
NQ futures: the E-mini Nasdaq-100
The E-mini Nasdaq-100 tracks the hundred largest non-financial companies listed on Nasdaq, and it typically covers more ground in a day than ES or YM. One contract is $20 times the Nasdaq-100 Index, so each 0.25-point tick is worth $5.
- CBOT · YM · MYM
YM futures: the E-mini Dow
The E-mini Dow tracks the thirty stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and it is the one U.S. equity-index contract listed on CBOT rather than CME. It trades in whole index points: each one-point tick is worth $5.
- CME · RTY · M2K
RTY futures: the E-mini Russell 2000
The E-mini Russell 2000 tracks U.S. small-cap stocks: the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000. One contract is $50 times the index, so each 0.10-point tick is worth $5.
- NYMEX · CL · MCL
CL futures: NYMEX WTI crude oil
NYMEX WTI crude oil futures are one of the most liquid commodity contracts in the world and the benchmark for U.S. oil. One contract is 1,000 barrels, so each one-cent tick is worth $10 and a one-dollar move is worth $1,000.
- COMEX · GC · MGC
GC futures: COMEX gold
COMEX gold futures are the most widely traded gold futures contract. One contract is 100 troy ounces, so each ten-cent tick is worth $10 and a one-dollar move in the price of gold is worth $100.
- COMEX · SI · SIL
SI futures: COMEX silver
COMEX silver futures price 5,000 troy ounces per contract, which gives silver the largest tick value on this list: half a cent an ounce is $25, twice an ES tick. A one-dollar move in silver is worth $5,000 per contract.
- NYMEX · NG · QG
NG futures: NYMEX Henry Hub natural gas
Henry Hub natural gas futures are the U.S. benchmark for gas prices and one of the most volatile contracts on any exchange. One contract is 10,000 MMBtu, so each tenth-of-a-cent tick is worth $10 and a one-dollar move is worth $10,000.
An idea on any of these markets
Describe it in a sentence. The desk turns it into an exact specification, screens it against tick data through seven gates written down in advance, and returns a verdict in seconds.