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A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a fixed amount of something, such as oil, gold, a stock index or a currency, at a price agreed today, on a date in the future. It trades on an exchange, and the exchange guarantees both sides.
Each contract has fixed terms set by the exchange. The size, the tick, the expiry month and the delivery rules are the same for everyone. You buy or sell through a broker and post margin, a performance bond that is a small share of the contract’s value. Profits and losses are settled to your account every day.
Going long a futures contract means you bought it and profit if the price rises. Going short means you sold it first and profit if the price falls. You do not need to own anything to sell short in futures. Most traders close the position before expiry, so no oil or gold ever moves.
The point value is what one full point of price is worth. The E-mini S&P 500 is $50 a point and the micro is $5. Crude oil covers 1,000 barrels, so a $1 move is $1,000. Gold covers 100 troy ounces, so a $1 move is $100. The euro FX future covers 125,000 euros, and its smallest tick of 0.00005 is worth $6.25. All of these are set by CME Group.
You buy one micro E-mini S&P 500 at 5,000 with about $1,500 of exchange margin. The index rises to 5,020. Twenty points at $5 a point is $100, credited to your account that evening. If it had fallen to 4,980, $100 would have been debited. The contract expires on the third Friday of the quarter month, and most traders roll to the next month a week or so before.
A CFD copies a future’s price but is a contract with your broker, not with an exchange. Futures are cleared by an exchange, trade on set hours, and in the United States are the only way retail traders can trade oil, gold or indices with leverage. Futures prop firms such as Topstep and Apex run their challenges on these contracts.
See futures symbols for how contracts are named, handle for how traders count points, and our futures market hours tool for when CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX are open.
You bought it. You gain if the price rises and lose if it falls, settled to your account each day.
The dollar value of one full point of price. The E-mini S&P 500 is $50 a point, the micro $5, crude oil $1,000 a dollar, and gold $100 a dollar.
Sources: CME Group contract specifications for ES, MES, CL, GC and 6E, checked 25 September 2026. Checked 25 September 2026.
Risk warning: trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of losing money. Most retail accounts lose money. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.