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Futures & Market Mechanics
Tick values and notional, margin vs risk, leverage and liquidation, ES/MES sizing with illustrative specs, order types, sessions and event volatility, and provider-specific funded-account rules. Leveraged losses can exceed your deposit.
- 01
Contract specs, ticks and notional value
Every futures P/L calculation starts from the multiplier and tick size. Know them before placing an order.
10 min
- 02
Margin is not risk
Initial and maintenance margin are performance bonds set by exchanges and brokers. Your risk is defined by position size and your stop.
10 min
- 03
Leverage and liquidation
Leverage scales both gains and losses. Brokers can close your positions automatically when equity falls below requirements.
10 min
- 04
Position sizing with ES and MES
Contracts = risk budget ÷ (stop distance in points × dollars per point). If the answer is below 1, the trade is too big.
11 min
- 05
Order types and execution
Market, limit, stop-market, stop-limit and bracket orders each trade certainty of fill against certainty of price.
9 min
- 06
Sessions and economic-event volatility
Liquidity and volatility vary across the trading day and spike around scheduled economic releases.
10 min
- 07
Funded-account (prop firm) rules: examples, not standards
Evaluation programmes impose provider-specific rules like trailing drawdowns and daily limits. Rules differ and change; read the current terms.
11 min