E-nano Futures Explained: NES, NNQ, N2K and NDOW

E-nano futures are CME Group's smallest equity index futures: each one has a multiplier one tenth of a Micro E-mini and one hundredth of an E-mini. There are four, NES (S&P 500), NNQ (Nasdaq-100), N2K (Russell 2000) and NDOW (Dow Jones), and CME lists them for trading from 24 August 2026.

They let you trade the same index moves with very small dollar amounts. They also come with two details that catch people out: a larger minimum tick than the Micros, and fees that are large compared with what a tick is worth.

E-nano contract specs

All figures below are from CME Group's E-nano FAQ, checked on 5 October 2026.

Other points from CME's FAQ:

• Hours: Sunday 6:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with a daily maintenance break from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET, the same as the E-minis and Micros.
• Settlement: cash-settled. No index basket ever changes hands.
• Listed months: the nearest two quarterly months (March, June, September, December).
• Not eligible for block trades or BTIC.

E-mini vs Micro vs E-nano, side by side

The clearest way to see the difference is to put the three S&P 500 contracts next to each other.

For Nasdaq: NQ is $20 a point, MNQ $2 and NNQ $0.20. A 50-point Nasdaq move is $1,000, $100 or $10.

The tick-size trap

An NES tick is half a point. An MES tick is a quarter point. So the E-nano multiplier is one tenth of the Micro's, but one E-nano tick is worth one fifth of a Micro tick ($0.25 vs $1.25), not one tenth.

In practice this means two things:

1. Orders must be on the E-nano grid. A limit at 6,512.25 is a valid MES price but not a valid NES price. Topstep Brokerage's help page warns that orders not on a valid E-nano tick can be rejected.
2. Stops and targets shift slightly. If your plan says "stop 5.25 points", on NES you have to choose 5.00 or 5.50.

What fees do to a contract this small

Exchange fees, clearing and commission are charged per contract, not per dollar of exposure. On a tiny contract that cost is large compared with a tick.

A real example: Topstep Brokerage's help center lists E-nano costs of $0.35 exchange fee, $0.25 commission and $0.01 NFA fee, so $0.61 per side, or $1.22 per round trip (checked 5 October 2026). In ticks, that is:

So an NES trade has to move about 2.4 S&P points in your favour before it breaks even at those rates. For comparison, if one MES cost the same $1.22, it would need about 0.24 points ($1.22 ÷ $5). Ten NES carry the same exposure as one MES but pay ten sets of fees.

Fees vary by broker, platform and prop firm, so use your own fee table. The point is the ratio: the smaller the contract, the bigger the fee in ticks.

A sizing example where E-nanos help

E-nanos are useful when your risk budget is small and your stop is wide. Take an S&P stop of 10 points:

• One MES risks 10 × $5 = $50.
• One NES risks 10 × $0.50 = $5.

With a $30 risk budget, MES doesn't fit (one contract already risks $50), but 6 NES do ($30). With $50, you could use 1 MES or 10 NES, and the single MES costs one set of fees instead of ten.

The general formula is the same as for any future: contracts = dollar risk ÷ (stop in points × point value), rounded down. The futures position size calculator does this for the minis and micros, and our futures tick values chart lists every multiplier you need.

Who E-nanos are and aren't for

They can make sense if you:

• want to practise execution with real but very small amounts,
• need finer scaling than whole Micro contracts allow,
• trade with a stop so wide that one Micro breaks your risk budget.

They make less sense if you take many short trades for a few ticks each, because the fee per trade is a large share of the target. This is information, not a recommendation: whether any contract suits you depends on your own plan and costs.

Can you trade E-nanos at your prop firm or on your platform?

A contract being listed at CME doesn't mean every platform, data feed or prop firm offers it yet. Before you plan around E-nanos:

1. Search your platform's instrument list for NES or NNQ and check the multiplier it shows.
2. Check your prop firm's list of permitted products and how it counts E-nanos against contract caps. At some firms micros count as one tenth of a mini; how E-nanos are counted is a firm-by-firm decision.
3. Read the firm's fee table for E-nanos, not just Micros.

If you can't find the answer in your firm's help center, ask support in writing. Our prop firm rules cheat sheet links to each firm's official pages.

Common E-nano mistakes

1. Placing orders on quarter points. NES and NNQ move in half points, N2K in 0.20 and NDOW in 2-point steps. Orders off that grid can be rejected.
2. Copying a Micro trade plan one-for-one. Ten E-nanos equal one Micro in exposure, not in cost. Recalculate your break-even with your own fees.
3. Logging with the wrong multiplier. A journal that treats NES like MES overstates every win and loss by ten times.
4. Assuming your prop firm allows them. Check the permitted products list and how E-nanos count against contract caps first.
5. Judging results in dollars. A $6 win on NES and a $60 win on MES can be the same trade. Compare in R.

Journaling E-nano trades correctly

New contracts are where journals go wrong. If your journal or spreadsheet doesn't know NES, it may apply the MES or ES multiplier and inflate every result by 10 or 100 times. Check three fields on your first E-nano trade: the multiplier ($0.50 for NES, $0.20 for NNQ), the fees, and the net P&L.

Then compare your E-nano trades with your Micro trades in R, not in dollars. A good trading journal template already has a column for fees and one for R. If you'd rather not maintain formulas, TJ records fees with every trade and shows gross and net results side by side. Try it free.

Specs checked against CME Group and Topstep Brokerage pages on 5 October 2026. Fees and availability differ by broker and firm. TJ is journaling software, not financial advice.