Profit, loss and risk for Micro E-mini Nasdaq futures: MNQ specs pre-loaded. Change the contract if you need another.
The Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 (MNQ) is one-tenth the size of the full NQ contract. Each point is worth $2, the minimum tick is 0.25, and a single tick is $0.50. A 40-point MNQ move, entirely routine on the Nasdaq, is $80 per contract.
That $2 point value is the whole reason MNQ exists. The same 40-point move on full-size NQ is $800. Traders who blow accounts on NQ usually aren't wrong about direction; they're wrong about size, and the micro is the honest fix.
The most expensive mistake in micro Nasdaq trading is importing risk parameters from the S&P. Structure that's three points wide on ES is routinely twelve or more on the Nasdaq: the index concentrates a handful of mega-cap tech names and moves with far less negotiation. A stop placed at ES distances on an MNQ trade isn't tight, it's pre-donated.
Run the numbers before you place the trade rather than after. A 30-point MNQ stop is $60 per contract; the same stop on four contracts is $240. Whether that's acceptable depends entirely on your account, which is what the position size calculator is for.
The honest progression runs micro first, and often for longer than traders want to hear. MNQ lets you take real trades, with real emotion, at a size where a bad week is survivable. The tails on full-size NQ, earnings evenings, gap opens, tech-theme days, are what empty accounts, and they arrive without warning.
If you're deciding between the Nasdaq and the S&P at all, the character difference matters more than the tick value: how NQ actually moves is a different question from what it costs.