Okay, I'm continueing my quest to someday be able to trade the YM. I feel that if I educate myself I will be able to understand better how I lose my money lol. Anyway, in the pic on the Buy line I have chosen 1 contract Buy @Limit @ 12562.00. If I were to buy, I am purchasing 1 contract (100) at what cost??? Thanks GT
$5 is the multiplier(5 bucks a tick). I would learn all about a product before I start trading it. www.cbot.com is a good place to start
Right click, select "contract info". It will show you a multiplier of $5. But, the other posters are right--read everything you can about the contract you wish to trade on CBOT (or CME or NYMEX or NYBOT or...) before you trade anything.
i agree that you need to do a LOT more research before trading futures. with that in mind... futures are not the same as stocks. stocks are a thing, a piece of a company. futures contracts are agreements when you buy a stock, you pay the value (current price) of the stock. you can use margin with up to 3/4 of the value (and pay interest to your broker in doing so), but you pay the full value that is not the case with futures. you put down a good faith deposit when you buy or sell the contract, which depending on the broker is around $500 to $2000 (intraday). however, the VALUE of the contract is (in the case of the dow), the price of the futures contract * 5 = so, if you are putting down 1500 you are controlling a 60,000 contract. futures also, are always marked to market at the end of day. study up on this stuff