NQ Futures Position Size Calculator

Work out exactly how many contracts to take on NQ, MNQ, ES, and the other prop-firm futures. Risk a fixed percentage of your account, let the math size the trade.

Instrument

NQ moves ~100 points on a normal day. One NQ point = $20 per contract.

Account size ($)

Prop firm starting balances: $25k, $50k, $100k, $150k.

Risk per trade (%)

1% is standard. 0.5% for tight prop firm drawdowns.

Stop style

Points is faster for NQ scalpers; price is faster for swing setups.

Entry price

E.g. NQ contract trading at 17,500.

Stop distance (points)

20 NQ points = $400 risk per contract.

$ per point, per contract

Auto-filled from the instrument. Override if your broker multiplier differs.

How the math works

Position size for futures comes down to three numbers: the dollars you're willing to lose, the stop distance in points, and the dollar value of one point on that contract. The formula is contracts = (account × risk%) ÷ (stop points × $ per point). For NQ at $20/point with a 20-point stop, one contract risks $400. On a $50,000 account at 1% risk ($500), that gives you one contract with room to spare — not two.

If you trade micros, the math changes by a factor of 10: MNQ is $2/point, so a 20-point stop risks $40 per contract. The same $500 budget buys 12 MNQ contracts. Micros exist so prop firm traders with $2,500 trailing drawdowns can actually hold positions without one tick killing the account.

Why 1% per trade on futures

Futures leverage is already extreme — a single NQ contract controls roughly $350,000 of notional exposure. The point of sizing is to tame that leverage back into something survivable. At 1% risk per trade on a prop firm eval, a 5-trade losing streak costs you 5%, which is close to the drawdown threshold on most firms. At 2% risk, that same streak is 10% — account-ending on every prop firm evaluation running today.

Prop firm examples

Topstep $50k Combine. $50,000 balance, $2,000 max loss. At 0.5% risk ($250), a 10-point NQ stop is exactly one contract. That's the most size that lets you take 8 losing trades in a row and still pass.
Apex $50k evaluation. $50,000 balance, $2,500 trailing drawdown. At 1% risk ($500), a 10-point NQ stop allows 2 contracts — one full R of risk on a single setup.
Tradeify $25k. Smaller drawdown ($1,500) means you're almost always in MNQ territory. A 10-point MNQ stop at 0.5% risk is 6 contracts.

Common mistakes on futures

Confusing ticks and points. NQ ticks are 0.25 points ($5). A "20-tick stop" is 5 points, not 20 points. Tick vs point mis-entry is the #1 sizing error.
Sizing by contracts instead of by risk. "I always trade 2 NQ" is not a plan. Two contracts at a 30-point stop is $1,200 — that's 2.4% on a $50k account, well over any sensible limit.
Tightening the stop to size bigger. Stops belong at structural invalidation points, not wherever makes your contract count look good. If a 10-point stop doesn't give you room to work, you're probably trading the wrong setup.
Using E-minis when you need micros. If the calculator returns zero NQ contracts, switch to MNQ. That's what micros are for.

FAQ

Why is NQ the default instrument?

NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100) is the most-traded instrument on every major US prop firm — Topstep, Apex, Tradeify, TakeProfit. The point value ($20/point) makes it a useful baseline: tight enough for small accounts to manage risk, big enough to reward good setups.

What's the difference between NQ and MNQ?

Same underlying index, 1/10th the size. NQ is $20 per point; MNQ is $2 per point. If your risk budget doesn't support one NQ contract, you can often trade 10 MNQ instead — same directional exposure, scaled down.

Does this work for Topstep, Apex, Tradeify, TakeProfit?

Yes. Enter your eval or funded account size (e.g. $50k) and use 0.5–1% risk. Every futures prop firm uses the same $/point math; the only differences are the drawdown rules. Use the drawdown calculator for those.

What if my stop is in ticks, not points?

Divide by 4. NQ, ES, and the indexes have 4 ticks per point (tick size = 0.25). So a 40-tick stop = 10 points. CL has 100 ticks per point (tick size = 0.01). GC has 10 ticks per point (tick size = 0.10).

Are commissions included?

No. Subtract your round-trip commission from the per-trade risk for a tighter number. Topstep, Apex, and Tradeify commissions run $2–$4 round-trip per micro and $4–$8 per E-mini. Usually a minor adjustment unless you're scalping.

Why does the calculator show zero contracts sometimes?

Your risk per trade is smaller than one contract's risk. Either use the micro version (MNQ instead of NQ, MES instead of ES) or widen your stop. Micros exist specifically for this problem — they let $25k prop firm accounts take real setups without blowing up.