Live Cattle Futures (LE) Contract Specifications
What you're trading
The CME Live Cattle future (LE) gives you exposure to 40,000 pounds of slaughter-ready "finished" cattle — typically 1,200-pound steers or heifers — with physical delivery. Live Cattle pricing reflects the final stage of the cattle production cycle, after feedlot finishing. LE is used by ranchers and feedlot operators to lock in selling prices, by meatpackers to hedge input costs, and by speculators to trade U.S. herd dynamics (reported in the semi-annual USDA Cattle Inventory and monthly Cattle on Feed reports), feed costs (corn prices), and beef demand.
Contract size
40,000 pounds of live cattle.
Tick value
Minimum price fluctuation is $0.00025 per pound (0.025 cents), and each tick is worth $10.00 per contract. A 1-cent move equals $400, and a 10-cent move equals $4,000 per contract.
Trading hours
CME Globex: Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m. – 1:05 p.m. CT. LE trades only during a limited day session — there is no overnight electronic session, unlike grains or equity index futures. That means LE is exposed to gap risk on news that breaks overnight or on weekends.
Settlement type
Physically delivered. Contract months are February, April, June, August, October, and December. Trading terminates on the last business day of the contract month. Because physical delivery involves live animals, speculative traders virtually always close or roll positions before the delivery period.
Margin snapshot
Live Cattle margin reflects both the price-per-pound and the exposure from overnight/weekend gaps due to the limited trading hours.
|
Initial margin (overnight) |
~$2,000–$3,500 per contract (approximate; varies with volatility) |
|
Maintenance margin |
~$1,820–$3,180 per contract |
|
Day-trade margin |
Broker-set; often a fraction of overnight margin |
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Notional value (reference) |
~$74,000 at $1.85/pound |
Margins change with market volatility and vary by broker. The figures above are approximate and for reference only — always confirm current requirements with MetroTrade support or on the CME margin page before trading.