/ES —/NQ —/CL —/GC —/ZB —/6E —/SI —/HG —/ES —/NQ —/CL —/GC —/ZB —/6E —/SI —/HG —
Strategic Market AnalysisFree Resource
Futures Glossary
143 futures trading terms in plain English — from tick and contango to roll, settlement and R-multiple. Search, filter by topic or jump to a letter.
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- 60/40 tax treatmentMargin & Accounts
- U.S. regulated futures generally fall under Section 1256: gains are taxed 60% as long-term and 40% as short-term, regardless of holding period. Ask a tax professional about your situation.
A
- Account equityMargin & Accounts
- Cash plus open profit or loss — what your account would be worth if you closed everything now. Also called net liquidation value.
- Algorithmic tradingTrading Styles
- Trading by computer program from predefined rules. Much of futures volume is algorithmic.
- Ask (Offer)Basics
- The lowest price sellers are currently willing to accept. You buy at the ask with a market order.
- ATR (average true range)Charts & Levels
- The average size of a bar's range over a period. A quick measure of volatility, often used to size stops.
B
- BackwardationBasics
- The opposite of contango: later-dated futures trade below nearer ones, usually because the item is in short supply right now.
- BasisBasics
- The difference between the futures price and the spot or cash price. It shrinks toward zero as expiration approaches.
- BiasCharts & Levels
- The expected direction for the period — bullish, bearish or neutral — and the price where that view stops being true.
- Bias lineCharts & Levels
- Our name for the price that flips the weekly bias. Above it, the bullish view holds; below it, it's off.
- BidBasics
- The highest price buyers are currently willing to pay. You sell at the bid with a market order.
- Bracket orderOrders & Execution
- An entry order with a stop-loss and a profit target attached. When the entry fills, both exits go in automatically. See also: OCO (one-cancels-other)
- Break-even win rateRisk Management
- The win rate where a strategy neither makes nor loses money: 1 ÷ (1 + reward:risk). At 2.5R it's 28.6%; at 1R it's 50% (before costs).
- BreakoutCharts & Levels
- Price moving and closing beyond resistance (or below support, a breakdown).
- Buying powerMargin & Accounts
- How much margin you have available for new positions.
C
- Calendar spreadContracts & Expiration
- Buying one contract month and selling another of the same product — for example long December, short March. It's how a roll is often done in one order.
- CandlestickCharts & Levels
- A chart bar showing a period's open, high, low and close. The body spans open to close; the lines are wicks.
- Cash indexBasics
- The index itself (for example the Nasdaq-100, NDX), which only updates during stock-market hours. /NQ trades nearly 24 hours a day and usually sits a little above it. See also: Fair value
- Cash settlementContracts & Expiration
- Settling at expiration with money rather than goods. Equity index futures are cash-settled — nobody delivers 100 stocks to your door.
- CFTCMargin & Accounts
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission — the U.S. government regulator for futures markets.
- CME GroupBasics
- The exchange operator that lists /ES, /NQ, gold (through COMEX) and most other U.S. futures.
- Commissions and feesOrders & Execution
- What you pay to trade: broker commission plus exchange, clearing and NFA fees. Small per trade, but they add up for frequent traders.
- ConfluenceCharts & Levels
- Several reasons lining up at one price — a prior high, a moving average and a round number together make a stronger level.
- ContangoBasics
- When later-dated futures trade above nearer ones (or above spot). Normal for gold and stock index futures, because holding the asset has a cost — mostly interest. See also: Backwardation, Roll
- Continuous contractContracts & Expiration
- A chart that stitches successive front months together so you can see long-term history (for example NQ1! on TradingView).
- Contract monthContracts & Expiration
- The month a contract expires. Equity index futures like /NQ and /ES expire quarterly: March, June, September and December.
- CPIEvents & Economy
- The Consumer Price Index — the main U.S. inflation report, released monthly at 8:30 AM ET. Often one of the biggest market movers of the month.
D
- Daily loss limitRisk Management
- A preset amount at which you stop trading for the day — protection against revenge trading.
- Daily maintenance breakEvents & Economy
- The one-hour pause in CME equity index futures each Monday–Thursday, 5:00–6:00 PM ET (2:00–3:00 PM PT).
- Day orderOrders & Execution
- An order that cancels automatically at the end of the trading session if it hasn't filled.
- Day tradingTrading Styles
- Opening and closing positions within the same session, flat before the close.
- Day-trade marginMargin & Accounts
- A lower margin some brokers allow for positions closed the same session. It's set by the broker, not the exchange, and can be raised without notice.
- Depth of market (DOM)Orders & Execution
- A live ladder of the resting bids and offers at each price. Many futures traders place and manage orders directly from it.
- DrawdownRisk Management
- A decline from an account's peak value to a later low.
E
- E-miniBasics
- CME's electronically traded index futures, "mini" because they replaced larger floor-traded contracts. /ES and /NQ are E-minis.
- Earnings seasonEvents & Economy
- The weeks each quarter when companies report results. Big Nasdaq-100 names like Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia can move /NQ on their own.
- Economic calendarEvents & Economy
- The schedule of data releases and central-bank events. Check it every week — scheduled news causes many of the week's biggest moves.
- EdgeRisk Management
- A repeatable reason a strategy should make money over many trades — positive expectancy, after costs.
- EMA (exponential moving average)Charts & Levels
- A moving average that weights recent prices more heavily, so it reacts faster. The 20 and 50 EMA are common dynamic support and resistance.
- /ES (E-mini S&P 500)Basics
- CME futures on the S&P 500 index. $50 per point; a tick is 0.25 points, or $12.50. The micro version, /MES, is $5 per point.
- ETH (extended trading hours)Events & Economy
- Everything outside regular hours — the overnight and pre-market Globex session. Also called Globex or overnight trading.
- Exchange holidayEvents & Economy
- Days CME closes early or doesn't trade, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Check CME's holiday calendar before planning trades around one.
- ExpectancyRisk Management
- What a strategy makes per trade on average: win rate × average win − loss rate × average loss. Positive expectancy is the definition of an edge.
- ExpirationContracts & Expiration
- The date a contract stops trading and settles. /ES and /NQ expire on the third Friday of the contract month.
F
- Fair valueBasics
- Where index futures "should" trade relative to the cash index, given interest rates and expected dividends until expiration.
- False breakoutCharts & Levels
- A move through a level that quickly reverses back. One reason many traders wait for a candle close beyond the level.
- FCM (futures commission merchant)Margin & Accounts
- A firm registered to hold customer money for futures trading. Your futures broker is (or clears through) an FCM.
- Fed funds rateEvents & Economy
- The Federal Reserve's benchmark short-term interest rate. Expectations for it drive much of what stocks and gold do.
- FillOrders & Execution
- The execution of your order, and the price you got.
- Final settlementContracts & Expiration
- The price a contract settles at on expiration. For /ES and /NQ it's based on the special opening quotation of the index's stocks on expiration Friday.
- First notice dayContracts & Expiration
- The first day a holder of a physically delivered contract (like gold) can be assigned delivery. Retail brokers usually require you to be out before it.
- FlatBasics
- Having no open position.
- FOMCEvents & Economy
- The Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. interest-rate policy. It meets eight times a year; the decision comes at 2:00 PM ET with a press conference after.
- FOMC minutesEvents & Economy
- The detailed record of an FOMC meeting, released three weeks later at 2:00 PM ET. Can move markets if it changes rate expectations.
- Front monthContracts & Expiration
- The nearest-expiring contract that most traders are using. Charts labeled /NQ or NQ1! usually show the front month.
- Futures contractBasics
- An agreement to buy or sell something — an index, gold, oil — at a set price on a future date. Traders rarely hold to that date; most buy and sell the contract itself to profit from price moves. See also: Expiration, Cash settlement
G
- GapCharts & Levels
- A jump between one bar's close and the next bar's open. In /NQ gaps mostly appear after the weekend or the daily break.
- /GC (Gold futures)Basics
- COMEX gold futures covering 100 troy ounces. $100 per point (per $1 move in gold); a tick is $0.10, worth $10. The micro, /MGC, is 10 ounces — $10 per point.
- GlobexBasics
- CME's electronic trading platform. /NQ trades on Globex from Sunday 6:00 PM ET to Friday 5:00 PM ET, with a daily one-hour break. See also: Daily maintenance break
- GTC (good 'til canceled)Orders & Execution
- An order that stays working until it fills or you cancel it. Check your broker's rules — some still expire GTC orders at contract expiration.
H
I
- Initial marginMargin & Accounts
- The deposit required to open a futures position overnight. It's a good-faith deposit, not a down payment — you can lose more than it.
- InvalidationRisk Management
- The price at which a trade idea or bias is clearly wrong. Stops belong just beyond it.
J
- Jobs report (NFP)Events & Economy
- The monthly employment report with nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate, usually the first Friday of the month at 8:30 AM ET.
K
- Key levelCharts & Levels
- A price that matters to many traders — a prior high or low, a breakout point, a round number — where reactions are likely.
L
- Last trading dayContracts & Expiration
- The final day a contract month can be traded.
- LeverageBasics
- Controlling a large notional value with a small margin deposit. It magnifies gains and losses equally — the reason position size matters so much in futures.
- Limit orderOrders & Execution
- Buy or sell only at your price or better. You control the price but might not get filled.
- LiquidityBasics
- How easily you can trade without moving the price. High liquidity means tight spreads and fills close to where you expect.
- LongBasics
- Owning a contract (having bought it). You profit if the price rises.
M
- Maintenance marginMargin & Accounts
- The minimum account equity needed to keep a position open. Drop below it and you get a margin call.
- Margin callMargin & Accounts
- A demand to add money (or reduce positions) because equity fell below maintenance margin. Brokers may close your position if you don't act.
- Mark-to-marketMargin & Accounts
- Futures gains and losses are settled into your account every day at the settlement price, not just when you close the trade.
- Market orderOrders & Execution
- Buy or sell immediately at the best available price. Fast, but you accept whatever price you get. See also: Slippage
- Max drawdownRisk Management
- The largest peak-to-low decline over a period — the worst stretch a strategy has put you through.
- Mean reversionTrading Styles
- Betting that a stretched price will snap back toward its average.
- Micro contractBasics
- A one-tenth-size version of a popular contract (/MNQ, /MES, /MGC). Lower dollar risk per point, the same price action.
- /MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100)Basics
- One-tenth the size of /NQ: $2 per point, $0.50 per tick. Same chart, same levels — a smaller way to trade or practice sizing.
- Momentum tradingTrading Styles
- Buying strength and selling weakness, expecting a move to continue.
- Month codesContracts & Expiration
- Letters for each month in a futures symbol: F Jan, G Feb, H Mar, J Apr, K May, M Jun, N Jul, Q Aug, U Sep, V Oct, X Nov, Z Dec. NQZ6 is the December 2026 /NQ.
- Moving averageCharts & Levels
- The average price over a number of bars, plotted as a line to smooth out noise and show direction.
- MultiplierBasics
- The dollar value of one point: /NQ $20, /ES $50, /GC $100. Price × multiplier = the contract's notional value.
N
- NFAMargin & Accounts
- The National Futures Association — the industry's self-regulatory body. You can check any firm or advisor on its BASIC database.
- Notional valueBasics
- The total value a contract controls. /NQ at 31,000 × $20 = $620,000 of Nasdaq-100 exposure from a single contract. See also: Leverage
- /NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100)Basics
- CME futures on the Nasdaq-100 index. Each point is worth $20 and the smallest move (a tick) is 0.25 points, or $5 per contract. See also: /MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100), Tick
O
- OCO (one-cancels-other)Orders & Execution
- Two linked orders where filling one cancels the other — typically your stop and your target.
- Open interestBasics
- The number of contracts still open (not yet closed out) at the end of the day. Unlike volume, it measures commitment, not activity.
- Order bookOrders & Execution
- All resting buy and sell limit orders at each price level. The DOM displays it.
- Overnight high / lowCharts & Levels
- The highest and lowest prices from the Globex session before the 9:30 AM ET stock-market open. Common intraday reference levels.
P
- Paper tradingMargin & Accounts
- Practicing with simulated money on a real-time platform. Good for learning the mechanics; it doesn't reproduce the pressure of real money.
- Partial fillOrders & Execution
- Only some of your contracts filled at your price; the rest are still working.
- Pattern day trader ruleMargin & Accounts
- The U.S. rule requiring $25,000 to day trade stocks frequently in a margin account. It does not apply to futures accounts.
- PCEEvents & Economy
- Personal Consumption Expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure.
- Physical deliveryContracts & Expiration
- Settling by actually delivering the commodity. Gold futures are physically delivered, which is why traders close or roll before the delivery period. See also: First notice day
- PointBasics
- A one-unit move in the price, such as /NQ going from 31,300 to 31,301. What a point is worth depends on the contract. See also: Multiplier
- PositionBasics
- Your open trade: the contract, direction (long or short) and number of contracts.
- Position sizingRisk Management
- Choosing how many contracts to trade so a stop-out costs only your planned risk. Contracts = dollars at risk ÷ (stop distance × dollars per point).
- Position tradingTrading Styles
- Holding for weeks or months based on the bigger trend.
- Price limitsEvents & Economy
- Exchange-set bands that pause or cap trading after an extreme move. Equity index futures limits are tied to the stock market's 7%, 13% and 20% circuit breakers.
- Prop firm evaluationTrading Styles
- A paid challenge where you trade a simulated account under strict rules (profit target, daily loss limit, max drawdown) to earn a funded account.
- PullbackCharts & Levels
- A temporary move against the trend before it resumes.
R
- R (R-multiple)Risk Management
- Your planned risk on a trade, used as a unit. If the stop costs $300, then 1R = $300, a $600 win is +2R and a full loss is −1R.
- Range (consolidation)Charts & Levels
- Price moving sideways between support and resistance without a clear trend.
- ResistanceCharts & Levels
- A price area where selling has stopped rallies before. A close above it often brings continuation.
- RetestCharts & Levels
- Price returning to a level it just broke — old resistance acting as new support, for example.
- Reward:risk ratioRisk Management
- Potential profit divided by potential loss. Entry 31,300, stop 31,140, target 31,700: 400 ÷ 160 = 2.5R. See also: Break-even win rate
- Risk of ruinRisk Management
- The probability of losing so much that you can't keep trading. Small risk per trade keeps it near zero.
- Risk per tradeRisk Management
- How much of your account you accept losing on one trade — commonly 1–2%.
- Risk-on / risk-offEvents & Economy
- Shorthand for market mood. Risk-on: investors buy stocks and growth. Risk-off: they move to safety like bonds, the dollar or gold.
- RollContracts & Expiration
- Closing a position in the expiring contract and opening the same position in the next one. For /NQ and /ES, most traders roll about a week before expiration, when volume shifts to the new month. See also: Rollover date
- Rollover dateContracts & Expiration
- The day volume moves to the next contract month. Charts and platforms often switch automatically, which can create a small price jump on continuous charts.
- Round turnOrders & Execution
- A complete trade — the buy and the sell. Commissions are often quoted per side or per round turn.
- RSI (relative strength index)Charts & Levels
- A 0–100 momentum indicator. Above 70 is called overbought and below 30 oversold — but strong trends can stay there for a long time.
- RTH (regular trading hours)Events & Economy
- For index futures, the U.S. stock-market session: 9:30 AM–4:00 PM ET (6:30 AM–1:00 PM PT). Volume is highest here.
S
- ScalpingTrading Styles
- Very short trades — seconds to minutes — aiming for a few ticks each. Needs fast execution and low costs.
- Settlement priceContracts & Expiration
- The official end-of-day price set by the exchange. It's used to mark every open position to market and calculate daily gains and losses. See also: Mark-to-market
- ShortBasics
- Having sold a contract you don't own. You profit if the price falls. In futures, shorting is as simple as buying — no borrowing needed.
- SlippageOrders & Execution
- The difference between the price you expected and the price you got. Common around news releases and with stop orders in fast markets.
- SpeculatorBasics
- A trader using futures to profit from price changes, with no underlying business risk to protect. Speculators supply much of the market's liquidity.
- Spot priceBasics
- The price for immediate delivery or, for an index, the current cash index value.
- Spread (bid-ask)Basics
- The gap between bid and ask. In /NQ during regular hours it's usually one tick — one of the most liquid markets in the world.
- Stop orderOrders & Execution
- An order that becomes a market order once price reaches your stop price. The standard way to place a stop-loss.
- Stop-limit orderOrders & Execution
- Becomes a limit order (not a market order) when the stop price is hit. Controls price, but in a fast move it may not fill — risky for a protective stop.
- Stop-lossRisk Management
- The price where you exit a losing trade. It belongs where the trade idea is proven wrong — beyond a key level — not at a random dollar amount.
- SupportCharts & Levels
- A price area where buying has stopped declines before. Below it, sellers have the upper hand.
- Swing high / swing lowCharts & Levels
- A turning point: a high with lower highs on both sides, or a low with higher lows on both sides.
- Swing tradingTrading Styles
- Holding trades for days to a couple of weeks to capture a larger move between key levels. Our weekly scenarios are swing-style plans.
T
- Target (take-profit)Risk Management
- The price where you plan to take profit, usually at the next key level.
- TickBasics
- The smallest price move a contract can make. /NQ and /ES move in 0.25-point ticks; gold moves in 0.10 ticks. See also: Tick value
- Tick valueBasics
- What one tick is worth per contract: /NQ $5, /MNQ $0.50, /ES $12.50, /MES $1.25, /GC $10, /MGC $1.
- TimeframeCharts & Levels
- How much time each bar covers: 5-minute, 1-hour, 4-hour, daily. Our weekly levels are drawn on the 4-hour /NQ chart.
- Trading journalRisk Management
- A record of every trade — setup, entry, exit, result in R, and whether you followed your plan. The fastest way to find what's really working.
- Trading planRisk Management
- Your written rules for what you trade, when you enter, where stops and targets go, and how much you risk.
- Trailing stopOrders & Execution
- A stop that follows price by a set distance as the trade moves in your favor, and never moves against you.
- TrendCharts & Levels
- The overall direction: an uptrend makes higher highs and higher lows; a downtrend makes lower highs and lower lows.
- Triple witchingContracts & Expiration
- The third Friday of March, June, September and December, when stock index futures, index options and stock options all expire. Volume and swings can be unusual.
U
- UnderlyingBasics
- The thing a futures contract tracks. For /NQ it's the Nasdaq-100 index; for /GC it's gold.
V
- VIXEvents & Economy
- Cboe's volatility index, based on S&P 500 option prices — often called the fear gauge. A rising VIX usually comes with falling stocks.
- VolatilityEvents & Economy
- How much and how fast price moves. Higher volatility means wider stops — and therefore fewer contracts for the same risk.
- VolumeBasics
- The number of contracts traded in a period. Rising volume on a breakout suggests real participation.
- VWAPCharts & Levels
- Volume-weighted average price for the session — the average price weighted by how much traded at each level. Widely watched by intraday traders and institutions.
W
- Wick (shadow)Charts & Levels
- The thin line above or below a candle's body marking the high or low. Long wicks show prices that were rejected.
- Win rateRisk Management
- The share of trades that are winners. On its own it says nothing about profitability — it has to be read with reward:risk.
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