CME
Lean Hogs (HE) Tick Value & Contract Specs
Tick value $10.00 per tick — 40,000 pounds of lean hog carcasses.
Lean Hogs futures (HE) share Live Cattle's specifications exactly — 40,000 pounds, quoted in cents per pound, a 0.025-cent tick worth $10.00 and a cent worth $400 — but the contract behaves quite differently, and one distinction matters for anyone taking it to expiry. HE is cash-settled against the CME Lean Hog Index rather than delivered, so there is no physical settlement to manage.
Hogs are the most seasonal protein market in the US. Production peaks in autumn and troughs in summer while grilling demand runs the opposite way, producing a seasonal pattern reliable enough that the summer-versus-winter spread is a standard trade. Hogs are also unusually exposed to single headlines: disease outbreaks such as African swine fever have restructured global supply, and because a large share of US pork is exported, a single country's import ban can move the board limit-down. Like cattle, HE trades only a day session and carries daily price limits, so overnight risk accumulates with no market to manage it in. The feed side connects it to corn and soybean meal, which set the cost of production. Mind the cents quoting — the pre-filled calculator below handles it.
- Exchange
- CME
- Contract size
- 40,000 pounds of lean hog carcasses
- Tick size
- 0.025
- Tick value
- $10.00
- Point value (multiplier)
- $400
- Trading hours
- Mon–Fri 8:30am–1:05pm CT
- Margin
- Margin varies by broker and rises around Hogs and Pigs reports and export-policy headlines.
How HE tick value works
Tick value is the dollar amount one futures contract gains or loses when the price moves one minimum increment (one tick).
tick value = tick size × multiplier. For HE, that is 0.025 × $400 = $10.00 per tick, per contract.
One contract represents 40,000 pounds of lean hog carcasses. P&L for a move from entry to exit is (exit − entry) ÷ tick size × tick value × contracts.
HE contract months and ticker symbols
A futures ticker is three parts: the root, a one-letter delivery month, and the year. HEZ2026 is the December 2026 HE contract. The month letters skip I and L, which would read as 1 and 7 on a ticker.
| Code | Month | Listed for HE? |
|---|---|---|
| F | January | No |
| G | February | Yes — HEG |
| H | March | No |
| J | April | Yes — HEJ |
| K | May | Yes — HEK |
| M | June | Yes — HEM |
| N | July | Yes — HEN |
| Q | August | Yes — HEQ |
| U | September | No |
| V | October | Yes — HEV |
| X | November | No |
| Z | December | Yes — HEZ |
Which HE contract am I looking at?
Most charts default to the continuous front-month series rather than a dated contract — one stitched-together chart that rolls to the next month as the current one nears expiry. Every platform spells it differently, which is why the same contract appears under so many names.
| Written as | Platform | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| HE1! | TradingView | Continuous front-month contract. "2!" is the next one out, and a dated contract is written in full, e.g. HEZ2026. |
| HE00 | Barchart | Continuous front-month series. "HEZ26" style codes name a specific month and year instead. |
| HEc1 | Refinitiv / Reuters | Continuous front month; c2 is the second month out. |
| /HE | thinkorswim, tastytrade | The leading slash marks it as a future rather than a stock. A specific month is /HEZ26. |
| HE=F | Yahoo Finance | The "=F" suffix denotes the front-month futures series. |
| $HE | StockTwits, social | A cashtag, not an exchange symbol. It usually means the front month, but it is informal and ambiguous. |
A dated code such as HEZ26 always means one specific contract; the continuous forms never do. Check which you are quoting before comparing a price to someone else’s — around a roll they differ.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the tick value for HE?
- $10.00 per tick — a 0.025 tick size × a $400 multiplier (point value).
- What is one HE contract worth?
- One contract represents 40,000 pounds of lean hog carcasses. Notional value = price (in cents) × $400; use the tick value calculator with the current price for an exact figure.
- Which exchange lists HE?
- Lean Hogs (HE) trades on the CME.
- What are the trading hours for HE?
- Mon–Fri 8:30am–1:05pm CT.
- How much margin do I need to trade HE?
- Margin varies by broker and rises around Hogs and Pigs reports and export-policy headlines.
- What are the HE contract months?
- HE lists February, April, May, June, July, August, October and December.
- What does HEZ2026 mean?
- It is one specific HE contract: the root HE, the delivery-month code Z, and the year. Z is December, so HEZ2026 is the December 2026 contract. The codes run F G H J K M N Q U V X Z for January through December — I and L are skipped because they read as 1 and 7 on a ticker.
- What is HE00, HE1! or /HE?
- All three name the same thing: the continuous front-month HE contract, written differently by different platforms. Barchart uses HE00, TradingView HE1!, thinkorswim and tastytrade /HE, Yahoo Finance HE=F, and HE on social media is usually written $HE. None of them is a separate instrument — each stitches together whichever dated contract is currently the front month.
- How is P&L calculated for HE?
- P&L = (exit price − entry price) ÷ 0.025 tick size × $10.00 tick value × number of contracts. Use the tick value calculator to compute this directly.
More futures contract specs
- ZC — CornTick value $12.50 · CBOT
- ZS — SoybeansTick value $12.50 · CBOT
- ZW — Chicago SRW WheatTick value $12.50 · CBOT
- ZL — Soybean OilTick value $6.00 · CBOT
See all futures contract specs or use the futures contract & tick value calculator with any symbol or custom specs.
Specs last reviewed 2026-09-15. Exchanges can amend contract specs — always confirm against the exchange or your broker before trading.