CME
Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) Tick Value & Contract Specs
Tick value $1.25 per tick — $5 × the S&P 500 index.
Launched in 2019, the Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) scaled the world's most popular index future down to one-tenth of its size — $5 per index point instead of ES's $50. Every tick of 0.25 points is worth $1.25, so a full 10-point move on one MES contract is $50 rather than $500. Same index, same price ladder, same trading hours; only the dollars change.
That smaller unit is not just for beginners. Micros let any account size risk precisely rather than approximately: a trader who wants to risk $180 on a 12-point stop simply cannot do that with full-size ES (one contract would risk $600), but three MES contracts get within a few dollars of the target. Many traders also use MES to scale out of positions in pieces or to keep trading through a drawdown at reduced size. The calculator below converts ticks, points and contracts into exact dollar amounts for MES.
- Exchange
- CME
- Contract size
- $5 × the S&P 500 index
- Tick size
- 0.25
- Tick value
- $1.25
- Point value (multiplier)
- $5
- Trading hours
- Sun–Fri 6:00pm–5:00pm ET, with a daily trading halt 4:15pm–4:30pm ET
- Margin
- Margin is roughly one-tenth of full-size ES and varies by broker — day-trade margins for micros are often only a few hundred dollars.
How MES 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 MES, that is 0.25 × $5 = $1.25 per tick, per contract.
One contract represents $5 × the S&P 500 index. P&L for a move from entry to exit is (exit − entry) ÷ tick size × tick value × contracts.
MES contract months and ticker symbols
A futures ticker is three parts: the root, a one-letter delivery month, and the year. MESZ2026 is the December 2026 MES contract. The month letters skip I and L, which would read as 1 and 7 on a ticker.
| Code | Month | Listed for MES? |
|---|---|---|
| F | January | No |
| G | February | No |
| H | March | Yes — MESH |
| J | April | No |
| K | May | No |
| M | June | Yes — MESM |
| N | July | No |
| Q | August | No |
| U | September | Yes — MESU |
| V | October | No |
| X | November | No |
| Z | December | Yes — MESZ |
Which MES 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 |
|---|---|---|
| MES1! | TradingView | Continuous front-month contract. "2!" is the next one out, and a dated contract is written in full, e.g. MESZ2026. |
| MES00 | Barchart | Continuous front-month series. "MESZ26" style codes name a specific month and year instead. |
| MESc1 | Refinitiv / Reuters | Continuous front month; c2 is the second month out. |
| /MES | thinkorswim, tastytrade | The leading slash marks it as a future rather than a stock. A specific month is /MESZ26. |
| MES=F | Yahoo Finance | The "=F" suffix denotes the front-month futures series. |
| $MES | 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 MESZ26 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 MES?
- $1.25 per tick — a 0.25 tick size × a $5 multiplier (point value).
- What is one MES contract worth?
- One contract represents $5 × the S&P 500 index. Notional value = price × $5; use the tick value calculator with the current price for an exact figure.
- Which exchange lists MES?
- Micro E-mini S&P 500 (MES) trades on the CME.
- What are the trading hours for MES?
- Sun–Fri 6:00pm–5:00pm ET, with a daily trading halt 4:15pm–4:30pm ET.
- How much margin do I need to trade MES?
- Margin is roughly one-tenth of full-size ES and varies by broker — day-trade margins for micros are often only a few hundred dollars.
- What are the MES contract months?
- MES lists March, June, September and December.
- What does MESZ2026 mean?
- It is one specific MES contract: the root MES, the delivery-month code Z, and the year. Z is December, so MESZ2026 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 MES00, MES1! or /MES?
- All three name the same thing: the continuous front-month MES contract, written differently by different platforms. Barchart uses MES00, TradingView MES1!, thinkorswim and tastytrade /MES, Yahoo Finance MES=F, and MES on social media is usually written $MES. None of them is a separate instrument — each stitches together whichever dated contract is currently the front month.
- How is P&L calculated for MES?
- P&L = (exit price − entry price) ÷ 0.25 tick size × $1.25 tick value × number of contracts. Use the tick value calculator to compute this directly.
More futures contract specs
- ES — E-mini S&P 500Tick value $12.50 · CME
- NQ — E-mini Nasdaq-100Tick value $5.00 · CME
- MNQ — Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100Tick value $0.50 · CME
- YM — E-mini DowTick value $5.00 · CBOT
See all futures contract specs or use the futures contract & tick value calculator with any symbol or custom specs.
Specs last reviewed 2026-09-06. Exchanges can amend contract specs — always confirm against the exchange or your broker before trading.