Pretty Profitable · Cohort VII · Day 2

Ticks vs Points — NQ vs Gold

They do not tick the same. Get this straight once and you'll never mis-size a trade.

Same $1.00 of price travel. Different number of steps.
Both ladders below cover exactly 1.00 of price movement. Look how many ticks it takes to get there.
NQ / MNQ — Nasdaq ticks in 0.25 steps 19,500.00 .25 .50 .75 19,501.00 1 tick = 0.25 1 POINT = 4 ticks 1 tick = $5 (NQ) · $0.50 (MNQ) 1 point = $20 (NQ) · $2 (MNQ) GC / MGC — Gold ticks in 0.10 steps 3,300.00 .50 3,301.00 1 tick = 0.10 $1.00 MOVE = 10 ticks 1 tick = $10 (GC) · $1 (MGC) $1.00 move = $100 (GC) · $10 (MGC)
The trap that gets everybody. The word "point" does not mean the same thing on both. On the Nasdaq, one point is 4 ticks (0.25 steps). In gold, a "point" is a $1.00 move, and that's 10 ticks (0.10 steps). Gold takes smaller steps — so the same 1.00 of price travel is more than twice as many ticks. When someone says "it moved a point," always ask: which market?
The whole thing on one line each
Tick sizeTicks per 1.001 tick = $1.00 move = $
NQ0.254$5$20
MNQ0.254$0.50$2
GC0.1010$10$100
MGC0.1010$1$10
20 questions — all on this page
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