CBOT
Soybeans (ZS) Tick Value & Contract Specs
Tick value $12.50 per tick — 5,000 bushels of No. 2 yellow soybeans.
Soybean futures (ZS) share corn's structure exactly — 5,000 bushels, quoted in cents per bushel, a quarter-cent tick worth $12.50 — but trade at roughly triple the price, so the same contract carries far more notional. With beans near 1,050 cents, one contract is about $52,500 against corn's $22,000, and a ten-cent day is $500 either way.
Soybeans are the most internationally driven of the US grains. China imports well over half the world's traded soybeans, which makes Chinese purchase announcements and trade policy the single largest source of overnight gaps in the contract. The second driver is the South American harvest: Brazil now out-produces the United States, so by January the market is trading Mato Grosso rainfall rather than anything happening in Illinois, and the US crop's influence is seasonal rather than dominant. Beans also sit at the head of the crush complex, traded against soybean meal and soybean oil in the board crush spread, so moves in ZM and ZL feed back into ZS directly. Mind the cents quoting when sizing — the calculator below is labelled accordingly.
- Exchange
- CBOT
- Contract size
- 5,000 bushels of No. 2 yellow soybeans
- Tick size
- 0.25
- Tick value
- $12.50
- Point value (multiplier)
- $50
- Trading hours
- Sun–Fri 7:00pm–7:45am CT, then Mon–Fri 8:30am–1:20pm CT
- Margin
- Margin varies by broker and tends to rise during South American growing season and around Chinese buying programmes.
How ZS 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 ZS, that is 0.25 × $50 = $12.50 per tick, per contract.
One contract represents 5,000 bushels of No. 2 yellow soybeans. P&L for a move from entry to exit is (exit − entry) ÷ tick size × tick value × contracts.
ZS contract months and ticker symbols
A futures ticker is three parts: the root, a one-letter delivery month, and the year. ZSZ2026 is the December 2026 ZS contract. The month letters skip I and L, which would read as 1 and 7 on a ticker.
| Code | Month | Listed for ZS? |
|---|---|---|
| F | January | Yes — ZSF |
| G | February | No |
| H | March | Yes — ZSH |
| J | April | No |
| K | May | Yes — ZSK |
| M | June | No |
| N | July | Yes — ZSN |
| Q | August | Yes — ZSQ |
| U | September | Yes — ZSU |
| V | October | No |
| X | November | Yes — ZSX |
| Z | December | No |
Which ZS 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 |
|---|---|---|
| ZS1! | TradingView | Continuous front-month contract. "2!" is the next one out, and a dated contract is written in full, e.g. ZSZ2026. |
| ZS00 | Barchart | Continuous front-month series. "ZSZ26" style codes name a specific month and year instead. |
| ZSc1 | Refinitiv / Reuters | Continuous front month; c2 is the second month out. |
| /ZS | thinkorswim, tastytrade | The leading slash marks it as a future rather than a stock. A specific month is /ZSZ26. |
| ZS=F | Yahoo Finance | The "=F" suffix denotes the front-month futures series. |
| $ZS | 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 ZSZ26 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 ZS?
- $12.50 per tick — a 0.25 tick size × a $50 multiplier (point value).
- What is one ZS contract worth?
- One contract represents 5,000 bushels of No. 2 yellow soybeans. Notional value = price (in cents) × $50; use the tick value calculator with the current price for an exact figure.
- Which exchange lists ZS?
- Soybeans (ZS) trades on the CBOT.
- What are the trading hours for ZS?
- Sun–Fri 7:00pm–7:45am CT, then Mon–Fri 8:30am–1:20pm CT.
- How much margin do I need to trade ZS?
- Margin varies by broker and tends to rise during South American growing season and around Chinese buying programmes.
- What are the ZS contract months?
- ZS lists January, March, May, July, August, September and November.
- What does ZSZ2026 mean?
- It is one specific ZS contract: the root ZS, the delivery-month code Z, and the year. Z is December, so ZSZ2026 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 ZS00, ZS1! or /ZS?
- All three name the same thing: the continuous front-month ZS contract, written differently by different platforms. Barchart uses ZS00, TradingView ZS1!, thinkorswim and tastytrade /ZS, Yahoo Finance ZS=F, and ZS on social media is usually written $ZS. None of them is a separate instrument — each stitches together whichever dated contract is currently the front month.
- How is P&L calculated for ZS?
- P&L = (exit price − entry price) ÷ 0.25 tick size × $12.50 tick value × number of contracts. Use the tick value calculator to compute this directly.
More futures contract specs
- ZW — Chicago SRW WheatTick value $12.50 · CBOT
- ZL — Soybean OilTick value $6.00 · CBOT
- ZM — Soybean MealTick value $10.00 · CBOT
- LE — Live CattleTick value $10.00 · CME
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.