How to Read a Contract Specification

The table that defines the instrument

Every instrument a broker offers has a contract specification: a table stating contract size, minimum and maximum volume, tick size and value, margin requirement, trading hours, swap rates and any expiry. It is usually reachable by right-clicking a symbol in the platform or from a specifications page on the broker's site. Two firms can list the same symbol with different values in this table, which is why comparing them by name alone tells you very little.

Contract size and volume steps

Contract size states what one lot represents. Minimum volume and the volume step decide what you can actually enter — a platform with a 0.01 step will not accept 0.015 — and on a small account these steps, not your intent, set the smallest position you can hold. Maximum volume per order and maximum total exposure per symbol appear here too, and both can be lower than the account's overall leverage would imply.

Tick size and tick value

Tick size is the smallest price increment; tick value is what that increment is worth per lot in the account currency. Together they convert price movement into money, which is the arithmetic every position sizing calculation depends on. On instruments not quoted in your account currency, tick value moves with the exchange rate, so the same stop distance is worth slightly different amounts on different days.

Margin requirement

The specification states the margin required per lot, either as a percentage or as a leverage ratio, and this is instrument-specific rather than account-wide. Many firms also apply stepped margin, where larger positions require a higher percentage, and raise requirements around known events or into the weekend. A position that was comfortably funded can become tight because the requirement changed rather than because the price did.

Trading hours, breaks and expiry

Hours are quoted in server time, which is rarely your time zone and often shifts with daylight saving. The table also shows daily breaks, the last hours before a weekend close, and for futures-based instruments an expiry and rollover date. An instrument that stops quoting while you hold a position does not stop your exposure — it removes your ability to act on it until it reopens.

Read it before, not after

Nothing in this table is exotic, and all of it is published in advance. Most surprises about cost, minimum size or a position that could not be closed trace back to a value that was sitting in the specification the whole time. Note also that firms may revise these values, so the specification describes the instrument as it is configured today rather than as it will always be.