Correlated positions (ES, NQ and micros)
Correlated positions are open trades whose results tend to move together because their instruments respond to the same driver, such as ES and NQ, or a mini and its micro. Held in the same direction, they behave as one larger position; held in opposite directions, they hedge less reliably than they appear to.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Exposure adds up
Compare the dollar value of a 1% move. With ES at 5,000, 1% is 50 points, or 2,500 dollars per contract at 50 dollars a point. With NQ at 20,000, 1% is 200 points, or 4,000 dollars per contract at 20 dollars a point. A trader long one of each who sees both indices fall 1% loses about 6,500 dollars, far more than either position's stop suggested in isolation if the two stops sit at similar percentage distances.
The relationship is not fixed. The two indices can diverge for hours when sectors rotate, and they can move almost identically during macro releases. Planning with the tight-coupling case is the conservative choice.
Minis, micros and false hedges
- One NQ contract equals ten MNQ contracts in exposure; one ES equals ten MES. Holding both a mini and micros of the same index is one position split into two lines.
- A long ES and a short NQ is not flat: it is a bet on the spread between the two, with its own volatility, and the dollar sizes of the legs rarely match.
- Two strategies on the same instrument taking the same side at the same time double the exposure without any correlation estimate needed.
- Correlation measured over months can fall apart intraday during stress, which is when it matters.
How account rules count them
Prop firm contract caps generally apply to the total open position across instruments, with micros converted at a fraction of a mini, and a daily loss limit counts the combined loss. The desktop's prop rule engine and its simulated demo account both weight micros at one tenth of a mini when comparing a position with a contract cap. The autopilot enforces its own maximum contracts on the strategy it runs. None of these compute a correlation: they cap size, which is the lever that remains once positions are known to move together.
In Senzoukria
Several charts can be opened side by side in linked or detached windows, so ES and NQ order flow can be watched together, and the trading desk lists all positions of the selected account. The Correlation Price-Volume and Correlation Price-Delta indicators measure relationships inside one contract's bars, not between two instruments; the desktop has no cross-instrument correlation study, so combined exposure has to be assessed from contract values as above.
Related
In the same section
- Corwin-Schultz estimator
- Convergence
- Cost of carry
- Contract specs
- Cost per payout
- Contract roll
- Covered call
- Continuous contract
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Frequently asked questions
- Is trading ES and NQ at the same time diversification?
- Rarely in the short term. Both are US equity index futures driven largely by the same flows and news. Same-direction positions add up to a bigger index bet; opposite positions are a relative-value trade with its own risks.
- How do micros count toward a prop firm contract limit?
- Commonly as a fraction of a mini, often one tenth, since a micro is one tenth the size. Firms publish their own conversion, and some list separate caps for micros; the account agreement is the reference.