Tick value
Tick value is the amount of money one contract gains or loses when price moves by one tick. It equals the tick size multiplied by the contract's point value, and it is the conversion factor between a distance on the chart and a profit, a loss or a cost in currency.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
From tick size to money
A contract specification states two things that together give the tick value: the minimum price fluctuation and the multiplier, which is the currency amount per full point of the underlying. Multiply them and you have what one tick is worth per contract. The E-mini and Micro E-mini on the same index share the tick size but carry different multipliers, so the same one-tick move has a different tick value on each, and a result counted in ticks is not comparable in money across the two without this factor.
- Tick value is per contract. A position of several contracts scales it linearly.
- It is fixed by the specification, not by the market; it does not change with price or volatility.
- It is the number you need to express fees, slippage and expectancy in the same unit.
Where it enters a strategy evaluation
- Fees are usually quoted in currency per contract per side or per round trip; slippage is naturally counted in ticks. To net them against a gross result, one of the two has to be converted with the tick value.
- The site's backtesting guide gives an illustrative example in ticks, gross expectancy minus entry and exit slippage minus fees converted to a tick equivalent, and shows how one extra tick of slippage can turn the net negative. The numbers there are hypothetical inputs, not measured performance.
- Per-contract and per-order fees behave differently as size changes; keep them separate before converting.
In Senzoukria
The historical backtest screen has a Transaction costs block with three inputs: Point value ($), Round-trip fee per contract ($) and Slippage (ticks). The engine converts slippage from ticks to currency through the instrument's tick size and the point value you enter, and applies fees to every trade. The hint under the block states that setting them to zero turns a losing strategy into a winning one as soon as it trades often. The Point value field is entered by the user, not read from the exchange, so it should be copied from the contract specification of the exact contract being tested.
Common mistakes
- Using the E-mini's point value when testing on a Micro, or the reverse.
- Quoting a strategy's edge in ticks without the fee converted to ticks, which hides a cost that can exceed the edge.
- Double counting the spread by adding it to slippage when the fill model already crosses it.
Related
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- How do I find the tick value of a contract?
- Read the contract specification published by the exchange for the exact product and take the minimum price fluctuation and the contract multiplier. Their product is the tick value per contract. Do not infer it from a related contract; the Micro and E-mini versions of one index differ.
- Why does my backtest need the point value if it already knows the tick size?
- Because tick size only describes the price grid. Turning a distance in ticks into currency requires the multiplier, and that is what the point value input supplies. Without it, fees quoted in dollars and slippage counted in ticks cannot be added together.
- Does tick value change when I switch bar type or aggregation?
- No. It is a property of the contract. Aggregating several ticks per footprint row changes the display, not the worth of a tick. What changes with aggregation is how many rows a given move spans, not what that move costs.