Corn specifications
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), agriculture
- Tick
- $12.500.25 per tick
- One point
- $50per contract
- Initial margin
- $1,210exchange, as of 27 Oct 2026
- Front contract
- ZCZ26roll by 25 Nov 2026
Specs checked as of How we source this
Contract terms
| Symbol | ZC |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) |
| Contract unit | 5,000 bushels |
| Price quotation | US cents per bushel |
| Tick size | 0.25 |
| Tick value | $12.50 per contract |
| Value of one point | $50 per contract |
| Currency | USD |
| Contract months | Mar (H), May (K), Jul (N), Sep (U), Dec (Z) |
| Settlement | Physical delivery |
| Trading hours | CBOT grains on Globex: evening/overnight session 19:00–07:45 CT and day session 08:30–13:20 CT, Sunday–Friday. Closed 13:20–19:00 CT. Hours in your time zone |
| Expiry | Last trade: business day before the 15th calendar day of the contract month. First notice: last business day of the month before. Next expiries |
| Exchange specification | https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/agriculture/grains/corn.contractSpecs.html |
What these terms mean
The Corn futures contract (ZC) is listed on Chicago Board of Trade. One contract represents 5,000 bushels, and prices are quoted in US cents per bushel. The minimum price movement, or tick, is 0.25, worth $12.50 per contract. A move of one full point is therefore worth $50 per contract, and every profit, loss and margin figure for ZC scales from those two numbers.
ZC is listed for these contract months: Mar (H), May (K), Jul (N), Sep (U), Dec (Z). ZC is physically delivered: holding a position into the delivery period can create an obligation to make or take delivery, which is why speculative traders normally close or roll before the first notice day or last trading day. The rollover page lists the next expiries and the dates that matter for each.
The values on this page come from the exchange's own contract specification and were last checked on 27 Oct 2026. Exchanges amend contract terms from time to time, most often trading hours and tick sizes. Where a value here disagrees with the exchange, the exchange is right; the methodology page explains how each field is checked, and any field we have not confirmed against the exchange is marked on this page.
Related contracts
- Chicago SRW Wheat (ZW): tick value $12.50
- Soybeans (ZS): tick value $12.50
Sources
- https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/agriculture/grains/corn.contractSpecs.html: primary reference for all contract terms; linked, not machine-read (cmegroup.com blocks automated access) 2026-10-27
- https://www.ampfutures.com/trading-info/contract-specifications: cross-check of tick size, tick value, contract unit and months; secondary source (broker page) 2026-10-27
Questions
- What is the tick size of ZC?
- The minimum price movement of Corn futures is 0.25, worth $12.50 per contract.
- How much is one point of ZC worth?
- One full point is worth $50 per contract.
- Is ZC cash-settled or physically delivered?
- ZC is physically delivered.