E-mini S&P 500 specifications
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), equity index
- Tick
- $12.500.25 per tick
- One point
- $50per contract
- Initial margin
- $28,780.40exchange, as of 27 Oct 2026
- Front contract
- ESZ26roll by 10 Dec 2026
Specs checked as of How we source this
Contract terms
| Symbol | ES |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) |
| Contract unit | $50 × S&P 500 Index |
| Price quotation | index points |
| Tick size | 0.25 |
| Tick value | $12.50 per contract |
| Value of one point | $50 per contract |
| Currency | USD |
| Contract months | Mar (H), Jun (M), Sep (U), 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: 3rd Friday of the contract month (09:30 ET, special opening quotation). Cash settled, no notice day. Next expiries |
| Exchange specification | https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/equities/sp/e-mini-sandp500.contractSpecs.html |
What these terms mean
The E-mini S&P 500 futures contract (ES) is listed on Chicago Mercantile Exchange. One contract represents $50 × S&P 500 Index, and prices are quoted in index points. The minimum price movement, or tick, is 0.25, worth $12.50 per contract. A move of one full point is therefore worth $50 per contract, and every profit, loss and margin figure for ES scales from those two numbers.
ES is listed for these contract months: Mar (H), Jun (M), Sep (U), Dec (Z). ES 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 E-mini S&P 500 (MES): tick value $1.25
Sources
- https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/equities/sp/e-mini-sandp500.contractSpecs.html: primary reference for all contract terms; linked, not machine-read (cmegroup.com blocks automated access) 2026-10-27
- https://www.ampfutures.com/trading-info/contract-specifications: cross-check of tick size, tick value, contract unit and months; secondary source (broker page) 2026-10-27
Questions
- What is the tick size of ES?
- The minimum price movement of E-mini S&P 500 futures is 0.25, worth $12.50 per contract.
- How much is one point of ES worth?
- One full point is worth $50 per contract.
- Is ES cash-settled or physically delivered?
- ES is cash-settled.