E-mini Nasdaq-100 Options Contract Specs

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ) offer liquid benchmark contracts to manage exposure to the 100 leading non-financial U.S. large-cap companies that make up the Nasdaq-100. The E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract is $20 x the Nasdaq-100 index and has a minimum tick of 0.25 index points. Delayed data for E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures displayed in the table below includes for the open, high and low prices and volume for the active contracts.

Contract Unit	One E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract
Minimum Price Fluctuation	Regular Tick: 0.25 index points ($5.00) for premium > 5.00 index points ($100.00) Reduced Tick: 0.05 index points ($1.00) for premium at or below 5.00 index points ($100.00) CAB: 0.05 index points ($1.00)
Trading Hours	CME Globex: Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) with trading halt 4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Clearport: Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
Product Code	CME Globex: NQ Clearing: NQ
Listed Contracts	Four months in the March Quarterly Cycle (e.g. Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec)
Termination Of Trading	9:30 a.m. ET on the 3rd Friday of the contract month
Position Limits	CME Position Limits
Exchange Rulebook	CME 359A
Price Limit Or Circuit	Price Limits
Vendor Codes	Quote Vendor Symbols Listing
Strike Price Listing Procedures	100 index point integer multiples upon listing: +30% to -50% of the prior day’s settlement price on the underlying future contract 10 index point integer multiples for the nearest expiration: +10% to -20% of the prior day’s settlement price on the underlying future contract.
Exercise Procedure	American Style. An option can be exercised until 7:00 p.m. on any business day the option is traded
Settlement At Expiration	Option exercise results in a position in the underlying cash-settled futures contract. In-the-money options, in the absence of contrarian instructions delivered to the Clearing House by 8:00 p.m. ET on the day of expiration, are automatically exercised into expiring cash-settled futures, which settle to the SOQ calculated the morning of the 3rd Friday of the contract month.
Settlement Method	Deliverable
Underlying	E-mini Nasdaq 100 Futures

Contract Unit	One E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract
Minimum Price Fluctuation	Regular Tick: 0.25 index points = $5.00) for premium > 5.00 index points Reduced Tick: 0.05 index points = $1.00 for premium at or below 5.00 index points CAB: 0.05 index points = $1.00
Trading Hours	CME Globex:	Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET with trading halt 4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
	CME ClearPort:	Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. CT) with a 60-minute break each day beginning at 5:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. CT)
Product Code	CME Globex: QNE CME ClearPort: QNE Clearing: QNE
Listed Contracts	Monthly contracts listed for 4 consecutive months
Termination Of Trading	Trading terminates at 4:00 p.m. ET on last business day of the contract month.
Position Limits	CME Position Limits
Exchange Rulebook	CME 359 A
Block Minimum	Block Minimum Thresholds
Price Limit Or Circuit	Price Limits
Vendor Codes	Quote Vendor Symbols Listing
Strike Price Listing Procedures	100 index point integer multiples upon listing: +30% to -50% of the prior day’s settlement price on the underlying future contract 10 index point integer multiples for the nearest three expirations: +10% to -20% of the prior day’s settlement price on the underlying future contract
Exercise Procedure	European Style. Exercisable only on expiration day.
Settlement At Expiration	Option exercise results in a position in the underlying cash-settled futures contract. Options which are in-the-money on the last day of trading are automatically exercised. A 4:00 p.m. ET price fixing based on the weighted average traded price fixing (symbol NQF) of the E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures in the last 30 seconds of trading on expiration day (3:59:30 p.m.-4:00:00 p.m. ET) will be used to determine which options are in-the-money. Contrarian instructions are prohibited.
Settlement Method	Deliverable
Underlying	E-mini Nasdaq 100 Futures

Contract Unit	One E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract
Minimum Price Fluctuation	Regular Tick: 0.25 index points ($5.00) for premium > 5.00 index points ($100.00) Reduced Tick: 0.05 index points ($1.00) for premium at or below 5.00 index points ($100.00) CAB: 0.05 index points ($1.00)
Trading Hours	CME Globex: Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) with trading halt 4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Clearport: Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET.
Product Code	CME Globex: QN1,QN2,QN3,QN4 CME ClearPort: QN1,QN2,QN3,QN4 Clearing: QN1,QN2,QN3,QN4
Listed Contracts	4 concurrent weekly contracts will be listed at any given time (i.e., Week 1, Week 2, Week 4, and Week 1) along with Week 3 (QN3) contracts for each of the two nearest Serial months.
Termination Of Trading	Default:	4:00 p.m. ET on Friday of the named week.
	Week 1	Week 1: 1st Friday of contract month Week 2: 2nd Friday of contract month Week 4: 4rd Friday of contract month
Position Limits	CME Position Limits
Exchange Rulebook	CME359A
Price Limit Or Circuit	Price Limits
Vendor Codes	Quote Vendor Symbols Listing
Strike Price Listing Procedures	10 index point integer multiples upon listing: +10% to -20% of the prior day’s settlement price on the underlying future contract
Exercise Procedure	European Style. Exercisable only on expiration day.
Settlement At Expiration	Option exercise results in a position in the underlying cash-settled futures contract. Options which are in-the-money on the last day of trading are automatically exercised. A 4:00 p.m. ET price fixing based on the weighted average traded price fixing (symbol NQF) of the E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures in the last 30 seconds of trading on expiration day (3:59:30 p.m.-4:00:00 p.m. ET) will be used to determine which options are in-the-money. Contrarian instructions are prohibited.
Settlement Method	Deliverable
Underlying	E-mini Nasdaq 100 Futures

- Read more

Nasdaq-100 Futures vs ETFs

Learn about the costs of replicating Nasdaq-100 Index exposure via futures and ETFs across four common investment scenarios.

Read Report

More in E-mini Nasdaq-100 Futures

Access CME DataMine for historical data via a cloud-based self-service platform.

Nasdaq-100 Futures Updates

Stay up-to-date with what's happening with Nasdaq-100 futures, including product developments and market-moving events.

Subscribe Today

CME Group is the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. The company is comprised of four Designated Contract Markets (DCMs).
Further information on each exchange's rules and product listings can be found by clicking on the links to CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX.

All Products Home

Market Data Home

Clearing Home

Technology Home

Education Home

E-mini Nasdaq-100 Options Contract Specs

Nasdaq-100 Futures vs ETFs

More in E-mini Nasdaq-100 Futures

Equity Index Landing Page

U.S. Equity Index

Nasdaq-100 Futures Updates