Notional value per contract:
Value of a 1.00 move in the quoted price:
Estimates only. Contract sizes are set by the exchanges and can change; verify current specifications before trading.
Notional value vs. margin
New traders constantly confuse these two numbers. Notional value is what the contract controls - the full dollar worth of the underlying commodity or index. Margin is the small performance bond you post to hold the position. A corn contract might control $22,500 of grain on roughly a tenth of that in margin. The gap between the two is your leverage.
Neither number tells you the risk by itself. Risk is how far the price can move against you times the value per point. A $240,000 gold contract is not automatically riskier than a $22,500 corn contract - it depends on how much each market moves and how many contracts you carry.
Reading contract size and price units
Every contract pairs a fixed size with a quote convention, and you have to match them correctly. Grains quote in cents per bushel, so 450 means $4.50. Meats quote in dollars per hundredweight. Gold quotes in dollars per ounce. Stock indexes quote in points with a fixed dollar multiplier. The calculator handles the pairing for the contracts listed.
If you trade a contract not listed here, the formula never changes: find the contract size in the specification, confirm what one unit of the quoted price means, and multiply. When in doubt, check the exchange specification or ask your broker before you place the order.
Why notional value matters
Notional value tells you how much exposure you actually carry. Five corn contracts is $112,500 of corn exposure at the prices in the example above. Hedgers compare notional value to their physical production or usage to size a hedge; a farmer with 50,000 bushels to sell needs about ten 5,000-bushel contracts for full coverage. Speculators compare notional value to account size to keep leverage sane.
Keep in mind that leverage cuts both ways: a 5% move in the underlying is a much larger percentage of your margin deposit. Futures trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.