Micro Futures Day-Trading Margins — Broker Comparison 2026
At a glance: Day-trading (intraday) margins for micro futures vary by broker and change without notice. As of the dates shown: NinjaTrader's lowest micro equity-index intraday margin is $50 for MES (11/13/2025). Plus500's is also $50 for MES (2026-06-03). Optimus Futures advertises margins starting at $50 for MES (2026-06-03) but explicitly notes they are subject to change without notice.
Brokers can and do raise these rates in real time. Never size a position based on today's margin rate without confirming with your broker.
Volatility caveat: Intraday margins are not permanent. During FOMC announcements, CPI releases, payrolls, or sharp market moves, brokers typically raise intraday margin requirements — sometimes within seconds of the event — and may force position reduction or add additional margin calls. Plan your position sizing around capital you can afford to hold, not around the minimum margin rate on a quiet day.
What is intraday (day-trading) margin?
Futures contracts require a performance bond — a good-faith deposit that guarantees you can meet daily mark-to-market settlements. There are two margin levels:
- Initial margin (overnight / exchange margin): set by CME Group. The deposit required to hold a position into the next trading session. This is the higher, regulatory baseline.
- Intraday margin (day-trading margin): a lower, broker-set rate available only if the position is closed before the end of the regular trading session. Brokers reduce this from the CME overnight rate as a commercial accommodation for active day traders.
If you hold a position past the intraday margin deadline without posting full overnight margin, your broker will liquidate it. Each broker sets its own deadline (often 3:55 PM CT for equity-index futures) and its own intraday rates.
Micro futures intraday margin — broker comparison
The following table covers the three brokers for which verified figures were available in this research pass. Tradovate's micro day-trading margins were not included because a widely-cited $50 figure was refuted across three independent verification sources — do not rely on any specific Tradovate margin figure from secondary sources.
NinjaTrader — as of 11/13/2025
Figures from NinjaTrader's published commissions-and-margins PDF, stamped 11/13/2025. NinjaTrader's risk team can raise any of these in real time.
| Contract | Intraday margin | Full-size counterpart | Full-size intraday | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MES | $50 | ES | $500 | 11/13/2025 |
| MNQ | $100 | NQ | $1,000 | 11/13/2025 |
| MYM | $50 | YM | $500 | 11/13/2025 |
| M2K | $50 | RTY | $500 | 11/13/2025 |
| MGC | $200 | — | — | 11/13/2025 |
| MCL | $100 | — | — | 11/13/2025 |
Plus500 US — as of 2026-06-03
Figures from us.plus500.com/en/margins, fetched 2026-06-03. The Plus500 margins page does not display a last-updated date and carries a disclaimer that rates may not reflect real-time accuracy. The front-month contract codes visible on the page (e.g., ESM6) confirm this is a mid-2026 snapshot.
| Contract | Intraday margin | As of |
|---|---|---|
| MES | $50 | 2026-06-03 |
| MNQ | $100 | 2026-06-03 |
| MYM | $50 | 2026-06-03 |
| M2K | $50 | 2026-06-03 |
| MCL | $80 | 2026-06-03 |
| MGC | $125 | 2026-06-03 |
Optimus Futures — as of 2026-06-03 (start-at minimums only)
Figures from optimusfutures.com/Margin-Rates.php, fetched 2026-06-03. Optimus describes these as house-minimum day-trading margins that are "subject to change without notice." They represent minimums, not guaranteed rates. Optimus can raise these at any time and typically does during volatile sessions.
| Contract | Starts at (intraday) | As of | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| MES | $50 | 2026-06-03 | Subject to change without notice |
| MNQ | $100 | 2026-06-03 | Subject to change without notice |
| MYM | $50 | 2026-06-03 | Subject to change without notice |
| M2K | $50 | 2026-06-03 | Subject to change without notice |
What the margin figures mean in practice
A $50 MES intraday margin means you can hold one MES contract intraday with $50 posted at that broker — on a normal session at that broker's published rate. The MES tick value is $1.25, so a 40-point adverse S&P 500 move (160 ticks) would be a $200 loss on one contract, or 4× the margin posted. Intraday margins provide leverage, not protection from losses exceeding the margin.
MGC's $200 intraday margin at NinjaTrader (11/13/2025) reflects gold's per-contract dollar volatility: a $20/oz adverse gold move is a $200 loss on one MGC contract, consuming the entire $200 margin. The higher margin on MGC versus equity-index micros is an acknowledgement by NinjaTrader that gold is more volatile per tick in dollar terms on a day-to-day basis.
Brokers not included in this comparison
Tradovate's micro intraday margins were researched but a specific figure was refuted (the widely-cited "$50" figure did not survive three-vote adversarial verification). Check tradovate.com directly for current margins.
Schwab (thinkorswim) and AMP Futures intraday margin figures were not verified in this research pass. Before trading at any broker, confirm the current intraday margin for each contract from the broker's own published schedule.
Drill margin mechanics and contract specs with flashcards.
Start the micro futures deck →Frequently asked questions
- What is the minimum margin to day-trade MES?
- As of the dates below, NinjaTrader requires $50 intraday margin for MES (as of 11/13/2025) and Plus500 requires $50 (as of 2026-06-03). Optimus Futures advertises margins starting at $50 for MES (as of 2026-06-03) and notes these are subject to change without notice.
- What is the MNQ intraday margin at NinjaTrader?
- NinjaTrader's MNQ intraday margin is $100 per contract as of 11/13/2025. Like all NinjaTrader intraday margins, this rate can be raised in real time during volatile sessions and is subject to change.
- Can brokers raise intraday margins without notice?
- Yes. Brokers can and do raise intraday margin requirements in real time during volatile sessions, including around scheduled economic releases (FOMC announcements, CPI, payrolls), geopolitical events, or sharp moves in the underlying index. NinjaTrader's rate sheet documents note this explicitly. The figures in this comparison are snapshots at the dates shown and do not represent permanent minimums.
- What is the MGC intraday margin at NinjaTrader?
- NinjaTrader's MGC (Micro Gold) intraday margin is $200 per contract as of 11/13/2025 on the Free plan. This is higher than equity-index micros, which start at $50, reflecting gold's different volatility profile.
- What is the difference between intraday and overnight margin?
- Intraday margin (also called day-trading margin) is the reduced deposit required while a position is held only during the trading session and closed before the close. Overnight margin (also called initial or exchange margin) is the higher requirement for positions held into the next session. CME publishes official performance bond rates; brokers set their own intraday margins, which are typically 10-50% of the overnight rate.
- Is Tradovate's micro futures intraday margin $50?
- The widely-cited claim that Tradovate's micro day-trading margin is $50 was not confirmed during the research for this page (it returned a 0-3 refutation across verification sources). Do not rely on that figure. Check Tradovate's current margin schedule directly at tradovate.com before trading.
Methodology & sources
NinjaTrader margin figures are from the published PDF rate sheet, stamped 11/13/2025, verified via direct pdftotext extraction. A prior NinjaTrader sheet from 2025-02-28 had different figures, confirming that margins do drift. Plus500 margin figures are from us.plus500.com/en/margins, fetched 2026-06-03. Optimus Futures figures from optimusfutures.com/Margin-Rates.php, fetched 2026-06-03. Tradovate figures are deliberately excluded due to refuted claims in the research pass.
- NinjaTrader Futures Commissions & Intraday Margins (PDF) — NinjaTrader, stamped 11/13/2025
- Plus500 Margin Requirements — Plus500 US, fetched 2026-06-03
- Optimus Futures Margin Rates — Optimus Futures, fetched 2026-06-03