What is an E-Micro Gold Futures Contract?
The E-Micro Gold futures contract offers traders the ability to control 10 ounces of gold as a futures position. This is one-tenth the size of the standard gold contract. If the price of gold is 1880.0, this would mean that you would be controlling $18,800 worth of gold. Each point in the E-Micro Gold contract is either a credit or debit of $10 (i.e. from 1880.0 to 1881.0). The initial margin required to initiate a position is $945.00. This is much less than the $9,450.00 required to initiate a position on the standard gold contract. Thus, the E-Micro Gold contract offers traders a less capital-intensive way to participate in the gold market. Other than its size, the E-Micro Gold futures contract and the standard gold contract are very similar: they have the same tick size and last trading days.
Why Should You Use the E-Micro Gold Futures Contract?
The E-Micro Gold futures contract offers a way to get involved in the gold market without having to tie up a lot of capital in your account. The initial margin requirement is low ($945) and the per point value is only $10. If you have an opinion on the gold market but you don’t want to put up the initial margin required by the standard contract, or have the risk associated with the standard contract, then the E-Micro Gold Futures contract is right for you.
Many traders have also chosen to use the E-Micro Gold futures contract as a hedge for their stock portfolio. If they have a stock portfolio that is valued at $20,000, they might chose to purchase an E-Micro Gold futures contract to protect their stock portfolio since gold and stock indices have been known to move adverse to each other.
Any trades are educational examples only. They do not include commissions and fees.
Example
John the trader has a futures account with $5,000 in it. He has watched the run in gold and doesn’t think that it is over. Because he does not have enough capital in his account to cover the margin to control the standard contract, John speaks with his broker about a way other than purchasing a standard contract to get involved in the market. John’s broker is savvy enough to point him in the direction of the E-Micro Gold contract. John agrees that this is an appropriate way to use the capital in his account. He decides to purchase two E-Micro Gold futures contracts at a price of 1860.0.
Three days later, the gold market has climbed to a price of 1916.0. John decides that he wants to exit the position because he believes the market might pull back some. He has his broker exit the trade for him at a price of 1916.0.
After exiting the trade, John has made a profit of 56 points, or $560 per contract for a total gain of $1,120. The E-Micro Gold futures contract gave John a way to get involved in the market when he was looking for a way to do so without purchasing the standard contract.
Summary
The E-Micro Gold futures contract offers a great way to get involved in the gold market by requiring a small amount of capital to initiate a position. It’s low per point value offers the ability to withstand some swings that a trader may normally not be able to withstand had they gotten involved with the standard contract size.