I think I know the answer to my question , but want to confirm it with other Traders who are more knowledgeable in Financial Futures

Is a move in ZB from 151.00 to 152.00 = $3,125 ?

And if so, then are the following calculations correct :

a move in ZN from 151.00 to 152.00 = $1,562

a move in ZF from 151.00 to 152.00 = $781

a move in ZT from 151.00 to 152.00 = $3.125


I'm not sure if these are correct calculations ?

Thanks so much

1-handle move in the ZB is $1,000
$1000/$31.25 a tick = 32 ticks to get there in distance

1-handle move in the ZN is $1,000
$1000/$15.625 a tick = 64 ticks to get there in distance

1-handle move in the ZF is $1,000
$1,000/$7.625 = 128 ticks to get there in distance. You may be asking, why is it so much?. The answer is because in 2008, the exchange decided to change the 5-year note pricing to half-tick increments (from $15.625 down to $7.625). This effectively made the distance from 64 ticks to 128 ticks. It probably did this because of the large amount of algorithms coming in and saturating the prices on every bid/offer preventing human traders from clicking in.

Every single U.S. bond/note is $1,000 in the handle because back in the 1800's they didn't have calculators and they needed to quickly do buying and selling prices which were easily divisible so they standardized the pricing and kept the tick values constant.

s0mmi ,

Thanks so much for your help and time


It makes sense now


I did still have a question please, regarding what a 1 point move ...... from 151.00 to 152.00 would be .......... $2,000 correct ?

Thank you again for your time and help

1 handle is trader talk for a point. Bonds are quoted like this 151'00 not 151.00 this represents a bond worth $151,000. so if your bond is now worth $152'00 or $152,000 then you would make $1,000. the number after the ' is the number of ticks for the bond. So ZB it is quoted in 32nds of $1,000. Like this 151'02 which is $151,062.50 per bond.