Anatomy of a Quote
Take a quote like ZCZ5 452.25. ZC is the corn contract, Z is the month code for December, and 5 is the year digit — December 2025 corn. The price 452.25 means 452.25 cents per bushel, or $4.5225. Every market has its own symbol and quoting convention, so learn the one you trade before placing an order.
Month codes are single letters — F for January, G for February, on through Z for December — and they are universal across markets. Our month codes reference is worth bookmarking until they are second nature.
The change column deserves a word of caution: it measures against the prior settlement price, not the prior close on your chart's last trade. Settlement is the clearinghouse's official daily price, and it is what your account is marked to. When a quote shows you up $300 on the day, that figure is against settlement — your true P&L is against your own entry.
Ticks: Where Price Becomes Money
- Tick size is the smallest allowed price move: 0.25 cents for corn, 0.10 for gold, 0.0001 for some financials.
- Tick value converts that move to dollars: corn at 5,000 bushels makes each 0.25-cent tick worth $12.50.
- Point value is the full-unit multiplier: one full cent in corn equals $50 per contract.
Before entering any trade, know exactly what one tick and one full point cost or pay. That number — not the chart — is what your account feels. The contract specification table for your market lists all of it: size, tick, months, hours, and delivery terms.
Volume and Open Interest
Volume counts contracts traded that day. Open interest counts contracts still open at day's end. High open interest in your contract month means tight spreads and easy exits; low open interest means you may pay to get in and pay again to get out. Most traders work the front month or the highest-open-interest month, then roll before liquidity thins.
Watch how open interest migrates between months as expiration approaches — when the next month overtakes the front month, the market has voted on where the liquidity is moving, and your position should follow it. That migration is also your reminder that delivery deadlines are approaching for the expiring contract.