ZF Futures (5-Year T-Note): Tick Value, Notice Days, Order Flow

ZF contract specifications

The trading unit is U.S. Treasury notes with a face value of $100,000. Par is 100 points and one point is $1,000; the minimum fluctuation is one quarter of 1/32 of a point (0.0078125 point), worth $7.8125 per contract. The contract is settled by physical delivery of fixed-principal Treasury notes with an original term of not more than 5 years 3 months and a remaining term of not less than 4 years 2 months. Senzoukria's contract table carries the same tick and point value, on the CBOT venue code.

ZF expiry: first notice day and last trading day

The last trading day is the last business day of the contract month, and delivery follows no later than the third business day after it. Because delivery can take place on any business day of the contract month, notices begin before it: the first notice day is the last business day of the previous month, a full month ahead of the last trading day.

Senzoukria's expiry engine retires ZF contracts at first notice day rather than at the last trading day: past that date, its code notes, open interest has already migrated. The picker lists ZFZ6 until November 30, 2026 and moves the default to the next month on November 26, 2026, 4 calendar days earlier. ZFU6 still trades until September 30, 2026, inside its delivery month, but the picker stopped listing it after its first notice day, August 31, 2026.

May 31, 2027 is Memorial Day, so the exchange calendar puts the ZFM7 first notice day on May 28, 2027. Senzoukria's expiry engine counts Monday to Friday without a holiday table and uses May 31, 2027 instead, so its picker keeps ZFM7 listed until then.

ZF tick value in 32nds

• One tick = 1/128 point = $7.8125; one 32nd = 4 ticks = $31.25.
• One full point = 128 ticks = $1,000 per contract.
• A move of 10 ticks = 10 × $7.8125 = $78.125; on 4 contracts, $312.50.
• A stop of one quarter point (32 ticks) risks $250 per contract.

Reading ZF order flow

With row resolution off, a ZF footprint has one row per 1/128 of a point. The fixed steps give 2 ticks = 1/64 point, 4 ticks = 1/32 point, 8 ticks = 1/16 point, 16 ticks = 1/8 point, 32 ticks = 1/4 point per row. Grouping keeps bar totals exact; the POC and imbalances then refer to rows, not prices.

ZF moves in quarter-32nds, so four ticks make one 32nd and the fixed 4-tick step gives exactly one row per 32nd. Its deliverable basket, notes with at least 4 years 2 months remaining, makes it the intermediate point between ZT and ZN; each of the three has its own order book, so depth thresholds and imbalance settings are chosen per contract.

Using ZF in Senzoukria

• Symbol picker on a Rithmic or Databento CME source: type ZF; on September 25, 2026 the listed contract is ZFZ6 (December 2026), in the Treasuries family.
• Heatmap and DOM show that contract's book with the CBOT venue in the ladder header; prices are decimals of a point, not 32nds.
• Replay lists ZF in the Rates group. In the automatic backtest, set Point value ($) to 1,000 for ZF; the field defaults to 2, the MNQ value.
• Simulated account: stops and targets are entered in points, so a 1/2-point stop is $500 per contract.