Coming from CME? What a perp is, how it differs from NQ and MNQ, where to trade the Nasdaq-100 on a perps prop firm, and how leverage really works.
A perpetual future: a futures contract with no expiry date. Instead of converging to the index at expiry like NQ, a perp is pulled toward an index price by funding, a payment between longs and shorts. Crypto perps trade 24/7, and some venues now list perps on stock indices too, Nasdaq-100 included.
No expiry, so no rollover. Funding instead of convergence. Sizing in units or dollars instead of fixed contracts. Fees as a percent of notional instead of per contract. And on crypto, the market never closes.
| Feature | CME futures (NQ, MNQ) | Perps |
|---|---|---|
| Expiry | Quarterly: March, June, September, December. You roll to the next contract | None. No rollover |
| Staying in line with the index | Converges to the index at expiry, cash-settled | Funding paid between longs and shorts |
| Hours | Sunday 6pm to Friday 5pm ET, daily break 5pm to 6pm ET | Crypto 24/7. Index perps depend on the venue |
| Size | Fixed contracts: NQ is $20 x the index, MNQ is $2 x the index | Units of the asset or dollar notional, down to small fractions |
| Tick | 0.25 points: $5 on NQ, $0.50 on MNQ | Set per market |
| Margin | Initial and maintenance margin per contract | You pick the leverage. Liquidated when equity drops below maintenance margin |
| Fees | Exchange fee per contract plus broker commission | Percent of notional, maker or taker |
When the perp trades above the index, funding is positive and longs pay shorts. When it trades below, shorts pay longs. It's paid trader to trader, not to the exchange. Hyperliquid and dYdX settle it every hour, Binance every 8 hours by default. On a prop firm account, whether funding hits your P&L depends on the firm.
Yes, but it's not the same product everywhere. Vest lists NQ-PERP, an E-mini Nasdaq-100 perp that rolls with the CME contract. My Funded Perps lists NAS100. E8 lists index perps at up to 15x, but we haven't confirmed its Nasdaq-100 symbol yet.
| Firm | Nasdaq-100 market | Max leverage | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vest | NQ-PERP (E-mini Nasdaq-100) | 50x | Closed Friday 8pm to Sunday 6pm ET |
| My Funded Perps | NAS100 | 12x | Not stated |
| E8 Markets | Index perps, symbol not confirmed yet | 15x | Not stated |
Depends on the firm. Vest locks NQ-PERP from Friday 8pm to Sunday 6pm ET: positions stay open, but you can't close, add or adjust until it reopens. My Funded Perps and E8 don't state weekend hours for their index perps.
Position size divided by the margin behind it. $1,000 at 10x controls a $10,000 position, so a 1% move is $100, or 10% of your margin. A 10% move against you wipes it out, and you get liquidated before that, once equity drops below maintenance margin.
| Leverage | Position | 1% move | Move that wipes the margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2x | $2,000 | $20 | 50% |
| 10x | $10,000 | $100 | 10% |
| 50x | $50,000 | $500 | 2% |
One NQ contract is $20 times the index, so at 30,000 it's $600,000 of exposure. MNQ is a tenth of that. On a perp you size in dollars, so a $50K account at 10x can carry up to $500,000, a bit less than one NQ at that level.
| Position | Exposure | 1-point move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 NQ | $600,000 | $20 |
| 1 MNQ | $60,000 | $2 |
| $50K account at 10x | Up to $500,000 | Depends on size |
A percent of notional per trade instead of a per-contract commission. On Hyperliquid's base tier that's 0.045% taker and 0.015% maker, so a $100,000 market order costs $45. Prop firms set their own commissions, so check each firm's rules.