NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100)

NQ is the ticker of the E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract on CME Globex, a cash-settled quarterly contract on the Nasdaq-100 index. It is quoted at a much higher index level than ES, which changes how far a tick travels, how many rows a footprint needs and why settings tuned on ES do not carry over.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

Definition and specification

NQ is the E-mini contract on the Nasdaq-100, listed by CME with quarterly expiries and a minimum price fluctuation stated in index points on its contract specification. Its multiplier converts a one-point move into dollars. Because the Nasdaq-100 trades at a high index level, a single day on NQ typically spans a large number of ticks, which is the practical reason footprint charts on NQ are almost always drawn with price aggregation rather than one row per exchange tick.

Reading NQ on a footprint

  • Row grouping is a readability choice, not a data change: grouping four exchange ticks per row gives one index point per level on NQ (tick of 0.25 point per the CME specification), and the diagonals used for imbalance are recomputed across the grouped rows.
  • Imbalance flags compare diagonally opposed cells (the ATAS convention), so their ratio depends on how much size rests at a single level; NQ carries a different size per level than ES.
  • Delta per level is ask volume minus bid volume; on a fast contract the per-bar delta swings widely, and a bar type with a constant amount of activity (tick or volume bars) can be easier to compare than time bars.

NQ versus MNQ

MNQ is the micro version of the same index. The two share a price but not a book: executions on the micro are not part of NQ's tape, and their multipliers differ. A trader executing on MNQ while reading NQ order flow is watching a related but distinct market.

In Senzoukria

NQ is one of the contracts named in the Rithmic Direct tour step ("Rithmic — CME futures"), and it is selected through the "Symbol" field of the chart workspace. On the footprint, rows are grouped automatically with the vertical zoom, in powers of two exchange ticks (one, two, four, eight ticks per row), while the original per-tick levels remain the source for indicators; profile drawings carry their own "Ticks per row" setting. Indicators such as "Session Open" anchor to the CME session open at 17:00 CT. For gamma levels, the GEX view maps NDX or QQQ levels onto NQ only when an options source is configured; the mapping applies the basis and rounds to the NQ tick, and QQQ-derived levels arrive at coarser resolution because one ETF cent maps to many index points.

Common mistakes

  • Reusing an ES imbalance ratio on NQ and flagging either almost every level or none.
  • Zooming in until one exchange tick forms a row and reading a footprint too tall to interpret.
  • Comparing volume totals across different session definitions or contract months and concluding the chart is wrong.

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Frequently asked questions

Why are NQ footprint rows grouped across several ticks?
Because the contract trades at a high index level, the number of exchange ticks covered by a bar is large. Drawing each tick as a row spreads the volume thin and hides the shape. Grouping several ticks per row keeps the underlying executions unchanged and only alters how many rows and diagonals the chart computes; in Senzoukria that grouping follows the vertical zoom.
Can I transfer my ES footprint settings to NQ?
Not without re-checking them on NQ. The imbalance ratio and the minimum-size filter depend on typical size per level, and the two books carry different size at different index levels. Re-derive them on the contract, session and aggregation you actually use.

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