COMEX
Copper (HG) Tick Value & Contract Specs
Tick value $12.50 per tick — 25,000 pounds of grade-1 copper.
Copper futures (HG) put 25,000 pounds of grade-1 cathode copper into a single contract, quoted in US dollars per pound. The minimum tick is $0.0005 — five hundredths of a cent — worth $12.50 per contract, and a full one-cent move is $250. That last figure is the one worth memorising, because copper routinely travels five to fifteen cents in a session, which puts a normal day's range between $1,250 and $3,750 per contract.
Copper is the metal the macro desk watches, not the metals desk. Its nickname, Dr. Copper, comes from a long record of turning before global industrial activity does: it is wired into construction, the grid, and increasingly into EV and data-centre buildout, so Chinese credit data and mine strikes in Chile move it more than anything happening in gold. That macro sensitivity makes it far more volatile than its tick size suggests. Size positions off the cent, not off the tick, and use the calculator below with HG's specs pre-filled to turn a planned stop into dollars before you take the trade.
- Exchange
- COMEX
- Contract size
- 25,000 pounds of grade-1 copper
- Tick size
- 0.0005
- Tick value
- $12.50
- Point value (multiplier)
- $25000
- Trading hours
- Sun–Fri 6:00pm–5:00pm ET, with a daily trading halt 5:00pm–6:00pm ET
- Margin
- Margin varies by broker and tends to rise with Chinese demand shocks and supply disruptions at major mines.
How HG 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 HG, that is 0.0005 × $25000 = $12.50 per tick, per contract.
One contract represents 25,000 pounds of grade-1 copper. P&L for a move from entry to exit is (exit − entry) ÷ tick size × tick value × contracts.
HG contract months and ticker symbols
A futures ticker is three parts: the root, a one-letter delivery month, and the year. HGZ2026 is the December 2026 HG contract. The month letters skip I and L, which would read as 1 and 7 on a ticker.
| Code | Month | Listed for HG? |
|---|---|---|
| F | January | Yes — HGF |
| G | February | Yes — HGG |
| H | March | Yes — HGH |
| J | April | Yes — HGJ |
| K | May | Yes — HGK |
| M | June | Yes — HGM |
| N | July | Yes — HGN |
| Q | August | Yes — HGQ |
| U | September | Yes — HGU |
| V | October | Yes — HGV |
| X | November | Yes — HGX |
| Z | December | Yes — HGZ |
All twelve months are listed; volume concentrates in March, May, July, September and December.
Which HG 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 |
|---|---|---|
| HG1! | TradingView | Continuous front-month contract. "2!" is the next one out, and a dated contract is written in full, e.g. HGZ2026. |
| HG00 | Barchart | Continuous front-month series. "HGZ26" style codes name a specific month and year instead. |
| HGc1 | Refinitiv / Reuters | Continuous front month; c2 is the second month out. |
| /HG | thinkorswim, tastytrade | The leading slash marks it as a future rather than a stock. A specific month is /HGZ26. |
| HG=F | Yahoo Finance | The "=F" suffix denotes the front-month futures series. |
| $HG | 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 HGZ26 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 HG?
- $12.50 per tick — a 0.0005 tick size × a $25000 multiplier (point value).
- What is one HG contract worth?
- One contract represents 25,000 pounds of grade-1 copper. Notional value = price × $25000; use the tick value calculator with the current price for an exact figure.
- Which exchange lists HG?
- Copper (HG) trades on the COMEX.
- What are the trading hours for HG?
- Sun–Fri 6:00pm–5:00pm ET, with a daily trading halt 5:00pm–6:00pm ET.
- How much margin do I need to trade HG?
- Margin varies by broker and tends to rise with Chinese demand shocks and supply disruptions at major mines.
- What are the HG contract months?
- HG lists January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. All twelve months are listed; volume concentrates in March, May, July, September and December.
- What does HGZ2026 mean?
- It is one specific HG contract: the root HG, the delivery-month code Z, and the year. Z is December, so HGZ2026 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 HG00, HG1! or /HG?
- All three name the same thing: the continuous front-month HG contract, written differently by different platforms. Barchart uses HG00, TradingView HG1!, thinkorswim and tastytrade /HG, Yahoo Finance HG=F, and HG on social media is usually written $HG. None of them is a separate instrument — each stitches together whichever dated contract is currently the front month.
- How is P&L calculated for HG?
- P&L = (exit price − entry price) ÷ 0.0005 tick size × $12.50 tick value × number of contracts. Use the tick value calculator to compute this directly.
More futures contract specs
- PL — PlatinumTick value $5.00 · NYMEX
- SIL — Micro SilverTick value $5.00 · COMEX
- GC — GoldTick value $10.00 · COMEX
- MGC — Micro GoldTick value $1.00 · COMEX
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.