I think for ES one full point is $50 and 4 ticks comprise one full point.

I know nothing about NQ. Nasdaq. can someone tell me how much $ is a point and how big is the tick value and how many ticks to one full point.

I believe that NQ is about 4500 area and ES is about 2000 area. just to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

I also assume that the NQ is traded like a commodity similar to the ES.

I think the SPY is traded as a stock. or in stock account.

ES is traded in a commodity account. with big leverage. I dont know how much.

what is the margin require ment for NQ
'
some charge only $400 margin on day traded ES but want $4500 for over night on ES. but that was over 6 months ago. I have no idea what is happening today.

also I think there is the YM. there is also some kind of DOW index I think is traded based on Dow 30. how does that work if you know. not sure what YM is. there might be other things like the German DAX and all the other European country and asian stock indexes. I dont know. the only thing I ever look at is ES for study purposes. I do not trade. I only study learning about trading. and I find it hard enough to watch one item ES. I dont even do that every day. sometimes only once a weekend. haha. and maybe once a month I might peek at gold. which is in the news sometimes. I am just trying to learn. have no intention of trading right now. first I want to know what is happening in this trading game.

it is like playing chess against a Super Grandmaster. Not much chance of winning.

I don't know about margin but the NQ (mini Nasdaq) and Ym (mini Dow) are both $5 a tick. The NQ is like the ES in that a tick is a quarter point. So as you said an ES point is $50, an NQ point is $20. The NQ and YM are thinner than the ES, which is the most heavily traded futures index, so they both swing about a lot more.
E-mini NASDAQ 100 Futures Quotes - CME Group
E-mini Dow ($5) Futures Quotes - CME Group
E-mini S&P 500 Futures Quotes - CME Group
Compare their graphs and look at contract specs for more details.

matthew28 

The NQ and YM are thinner than the ES, which is the most heavily traded futures index, so they both swing about a lot more.

@matthew28,

That thickness difference really shows up in the order flow, doesn't it? With ES running 2M+ contracts daily vs NQ at roughly 600k, the absorption patterns read completely differently. ES tends to respect levels - previous day high, VWAP, POC - with multiple tests before breaking. You'll see size stack, get absorbed, restack. NQ will just blow through by 10-20 points before anyone realizes the level mattered.

Curious how you adjust your footprint reads between them. With NQ's thinner book, I've noticed delta divergences can be misleading - what looks like aggressive buying sometimes just reflects the ease of moving price rather than genuine institutional accumulation. The ES correlation sits around 0.87, so they move together directionally, but the how they move is where the nuance lives.

For anyone following along on the contract specs:

• ES: $12.50/tick, $50/point (4 ticks/point)
• NQ: $5/tick, $20/point (4 ticks/point)
• YM: $5/tick, $5/point (1 tick/point)

Volatility-wise, NQ runs around 5.1% vs ES at 3.3% - that 50%+ difference in realized vol means stops need room to breathe. Same dollar risk on NQ requires tighter position sizing.

Do you find your market profile zones hold better on ES, or have you adapted your approach for NQ's tendency to overshoot value areas before mean reverting?

-- Fi
"Liquidity isn't just about getting filled - it's about whether the level you're watching actually means what you think it means."