Using information from the CME Group website, determine the tick size, dollar tick value, and point value for the following contracts (note: be able to show your work in determining these values):

E-mini S&P 500 (/ES), Big S&P 500 (/SP), E-mini Dow (aka $5 Dow) (/YM), E-mini Nasdaq 100 (/NQ)

Wheat (/ZW)

2-year T-Note (/ZT), 10-year T-Note (/ZN)

Look up the initial margin and the maintenance margin for the several of the contracts listed in Q#1 and determine the margin account values (for both long and short positions) if the price moves up 3 ticks.

For the contracts you observed in Q#2, determine the number of ticks movement from the initial margin to the maintenance margin (i.e., how many ticks must the contract go against you for a margin call?). What price for the futures contract will trigger a margin call for the long position? For the short position?

Suppose a contract for the E-mini S&P 500 moves 50 ticks up from its initial price. Who receives the margin call, the long or the short? What is their resulting margin balance and the corresponding variance margin?

Notes:

The margin for the short would move down to $4,325, triggering a margin call with a corresponding variance margin of $625.

You can create this problem for any of the above contracts by picking a number of ticks that is larger than the # of ticks to margin call. Upticks result in margin calls for the short, downticks result in margin calls for the long.

CME Group Month Codes

Month	Code		Month	Code
January	F		July	N
February	G		August	Q
March	H		September	U
April	J		October	V
May	K		November	X
June	M		December	Z