Bitcoin specifications
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), cryptocurrency
- Tick
- $255 per tick
- One point
- $5per contract
- Initial margin
- $97,066.20exchange, as of 27 Oct 2026
- Front contract
- BTCX26roll by 19 Nov 2026
Specs checked as of How we source this
Contract terms
| Symbol | BTC |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) |
| Contract unit | 5 bitcoin |
| Price quotation | USD per bitcoin |
| Tick size * | 5 |
| Tick value | $25 per contract |
| Value of one point | $5 per contract |
| Currency | USD |
| Contract months | Jan (F), Feb (G), Mar (H), Apr (J), May (K), Jun (M), Jul (N), Aug (Q), Sep (U), Oct (V), Nov (X), Dec (Z) |
| Settlement | Cash-settled |
| Trading hours | CME Globex. Sunday open 17:00 CT, Friday close 16:00 CT, 60-minute daily maintenance break. Hours in your time zone |
| Expiry | Last trade: last Friday of the contract month (16:00 London); previous business day if that Friday is a holiday. Cash settled. Next expiries |
| Exchange specification | https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin/bitcoin.contractSpecs.html |
* Not confirmed against the exchange. See below.
Not verified
tick_size: Not on the secondary source used for cross-checking; from prior knowledge of the CME spec.
What these terms mean
The Bitcoin futures contract (BTC) is listed on Chicago Mercantile Exchange. One contract represents 5 bitcoin, and prices are quoted in USD per bitcoin. The minimum price movement, or tick, is 5, worth $25 per contract. A move of one full point is therefore worth $5 per contract, and every profit, loss and margin figure for BTC scales from those two numbers.
BTC is listed for these contract months: Jan (F), Feb (G), Mar (H), Apr (J), May (K), Jun (M), Jul (N), Aug (Q), Sep (U), Oct (V), Nov (X), Dec (Z). BTC is cash-settled: positions still open at expiry are closed against a final settlement price, with no delivery of anything. The rollover page lists the next expiries and the dates that matter for each.
The values on this page come from the exchange's own contract specification and were last checked on 27 Oct 2026. Exchanges amend contract terms from time to time, most often trading hours and tick sizes. Where a value here disagrees with the exchange, the exchange is right; the methodology page explains how each field is checked, and any field we have not confirmed against the exchange is marked on this page.
Related contracts
- Micro Bitcoin (MBT): tick value $0.50
Compare
- BTC vs MBT: Bitcoin and Micro Bitcoin
Sources
- https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin/bitcoin.contractSpecs.html: primary reference for all contract terms; linked, not machine-read (cmegroup.com blocks automated access) 2026-10-27
Questions
- What is the tick size of BTC?
- The minimum price movement of Bitcoin futures is 5, worth $25 per contract.
- How much is one point of BTC worth?
- One full point is worth $5 per contract.
- Is BTC cash-settled or physically delivered?
- BTC is cash-settled.