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CME Event Contracts

Limit Your Risk
With a New Way to
Trade Futures

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Event Contracts are $20-increment, daily expiring products that allow market participants to trade their views on daily up or down price moves in some of the world’s most trusted benchmark futures markets with risk limited to the amount of the trade.

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Available Event Contract Products

micro equity index futures

 Equity Index 

E-mini S&P 500 (ES)
- E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ)
- E-mini Dow (YM)

- E-mini Russell 2000 (RTY)

micro crypto futures

 Crypto & FX

- Bitcoin (BTC)

- EUR/USD (6E)

micro commodity futures

 Commodities 

- Crude Oil (CL)

- Natural Gas (NG)

- Gold (GC)

- Silver (SI)

- Copper (HG)

Start your trading journey on the right path

Trade your prediction

Trade your prediction on whether a market will close above a certain price. Each product has a variety of prices from which you can choose, depending on how bullish or bearish you are on that market.

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Choose ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Choosing a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ position on a predicted closing price will cost $0.25 - $19.75 to trade. This value will vary throughout the trading day as the likelihood of the product closing above the predicted price changes with market movements. 

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Know what you will earn or lose

You will be credited $20 if your prediction is correct, and $0 if your prediction is incorrect. 

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*Less applicable fees and commissions

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Step-By-Step Example of Trading Event Contract

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Pick the product

In the DATrader App, navigate to 'Markets' and click on 'Event Contracts' to bring out the section.

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In the 'Event Contracts' section, you can slide the blue section to view active products, or click the 'Event Contracts >' on the top to bring out the full list

Event Contract
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Set the strike prices level

You believe at the end of day market close, gold will close around $2050.00.

Choose the $2050.00 from the 'Strike' list and see the current cost and potential max return.

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Understand the cost

For 'Will Gold close above $2050.00 today?':

 YES  is trading at $3.75; 

NO  is trading at $16.75. 

 

This indicates the market is assigning more probability on gold not close above $2050 since it is more expensive to buy  NO ; and less likely to close above $2050 since it is cheaper to buy  YES .

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Make the trade

You believe gold will close ABOVE $2050 at market close and decide to trade 2 lots  YES .

Set 'Quantity' to 2 and click  YES  to send the order.

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Trade confirmation will show once the the order has been successfully executed. 

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Ways to close the positions

You can wait for the market close to have the positions expire autometically, or choose to close the positions early before the market close to .

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#1. To have the positions expire after market close, just wait after the trade is executed.

#2. To manually close the positions early before market close, open the 'EC Positions' and click 'Close Positions' button under each position. The position will be closed at the current market price.

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Know your profit and loss

#1. After the positions expire after market close, you will be credited $20 per lot if your prediction is correct, and $0 if your prediction is incorrect.

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So, if the  YES  position that did close above $2050 in your favor, your net profit would be $16.25 per lot ($20 credit - $3.75 initial cost); if it closed below $2050, the  YES  position net profit would be -$3.75 per lot ($0 credit - $3.75 initial cost).*

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#2. If you manually close the position before market close, the position will be closed at the current market price of the event contract.

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For example, if the  YES  position is now trading at $10, then after closing the position, your net profit would be $6.25 per lot ($10 close price - $3.75 initial cost); or if  the  YES  position is now trading at only $1.25, then after closing the position, your net profit would be -$2.50 per lot ($1.25 close price - $3.75 initial cost).*

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EC FAQ
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Learn more about features of event contracts

What are event contracts?

Event contracts are $20-increment, daily expiring products that allow market participants to trade their views on daily up or down price moves in some of the world’s most trusted benchmark Equity Index, Energy, Metals, and Foreign Currency futures markets with risk limited to the amount of the trade.

What products are available to trade?

Event contracts provide a way to express your view on where the price of CME Group futures will close. Featured products include: Equity Index - E-mini S&P 500 (ES) - E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) - E-mini Dow (YM) - E-mini Russell 2000 (RTY) Crypto & FX - Bitcoin (BTC) - EUR/USD (6E) Commodities - Crude Oil (CL) - Natural Gas (NG) - Gold (GC) - Silver (SI) - Copper (HG)

How does trading work?

You can trade your view on whether the price of key futures markets will move up or down by the end of each day's trading session. You will need to open an account with a participating brokerage firm supporting event contracts.

Do I have to hold my contract(s) until they expire?

Event contracts are just like any other CME Group contract.  You may trade to exit your position(s) before daily expiration. EQUITIES S&P 500: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET / Settlement time - 4:00 PM ET Nasdaq-100: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET / Settlement time - 4:00 PM ET Dow: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET / Settlement time - 4:00 PM ET Russell 2000: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET / Settlement time - 4:00 PM ET ENERGY WTI Crude Oil: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET / Settlement time - 2:30 PM ET Natural Gas: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET/ Settlement time - 2:30 PM ET METALS Gold: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET/ Settlement time - 1:30 PM ET Silver: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET/ Settlement time - 1:30 PM ET Copper: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET/ Settlement time - 1:00 PM ET FX Euro FX: Contract open - 6:00 PM ET/ Settlement time - 3:00 PM ET

What is an event contract worth?

Each event contract is worth $20 if correct; the amount required to purchase a contract varies based on the likelihood of success. At the end of the daily trading session, event contracts that result in a successful outcome will payout $20 and those that are unsuccessful are settled to $0.

What determines a successful event contract trade ?

If the price prediction for the event contract you trade is correct (using the daily settlement price of the corresponding futures at the determining value), you will receive the $20 payout on that trade. If not, your cost will be the amount you paid to purchase the position.

What is the settlement method for event contracts?

Event contracts are cash-settled daily.  Traders will not receive a futures contract upon settlement.  Event contracts will be settled automatically using the daily settlement price of the corresponding futures product. If the event contract’s price prediction is correct in relation to the daily settlement price, then trade is successful; if the price prediction is incorrect, it will expire, and no further action is required.

What if the price settles exactly at the predicted level?

For a Call Contract, if that day's settlement price of the Underlying Futures is equal to, or below the strike price, the Event Contract shall be deemed to have expired out of-the money, with a Selllement Value of $0.00. For a Put Contract, if that day's seltlement price of the Underlying Futures is equal to, or below the strike price, the Event Contract shall be deemed to have expired in-the-money, with a Settlement Value of $20.00

Event Contract Commission:

$0.20

per contract or less

Why pay more for less with others?

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At Direct Access, we offer competitive commission and powerful platform to help you to trade futures for a fraction of the cost with the popular micro e-mini contracts.

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Like to trade with even lower commission? Contact us

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Instant. Easy.
Direct Access.

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