Insights
Topic

Costs & margin

6

Margin, leverage, fees, trading hours

Futures Trading Hours Explained — Gold, Nasdaq, Crude Oil & Hang Seng

How CME products (gold, Nasdaq, crude oil) trade nearly 24 hours with a short daily settlement break, plus the Hang Seng's separate session structure — all anchored to exchange local time and UTC.

6 min read

Futures Margin Explained: Initial, Maintenance, and How P&L Is Calculated

What margin is, how initial and maintenance margin differ, why margin calls and forced liquidation happen, and how to calculate profit and loss using tick values — with worked examples.

7 min read

Ticks and Tick Value — How to Calculate What One Tick Is Worth

Understand ticks (the minimum price increment) and tick value, see per-contract examples for the Nasdaq, gold, and crude oil, and learn to turn ticks into dollars of profit, loss, and stop distance.

6 min read

Futures Expiry and Rollover: What Beginners Miss

Unlike stocks, futures contracts expire. Learn what contract months mean, why and when you need to roll over, and how CFD-style products handle rollover automatically.

5 min read

Futures Trading Costs — What You Should Actually Compare

A clear breakdown of what futures trading really costs — commissions, spreads, and rollover charges — and the line items that actually matter when comparing brokers.

6 min read

Leverage and Risk: How to Survive in Futures

How leverage magnifies both gains and losses, why your distance to liquidation matters, and the basics of managing risk with loss limits, stops, and position sizing.

7 min read