Who this page is for — Anyone who holds a futures contract beyond intraday trading, manages a roll or approaches expiry. It turns the generic word “expiry” into a calendar of verifiable decisions and obligations.
The expiry of a futures contract is not an identical procedure across all markets. It is the set of dates and rules under which trading and the contract come to an end: last trading day or time, any notice and position days, delivery period, determination of the final price and discharge of the obligations.
An open position can be extinguished through an offset, moved to a deferred expiry through a roll, or taken to settlement. Settlement can be monetary or physical. Only the official rulebook, contract specifications and agreement with the intermediary establish which dates and procedures apply to the specific contract.
In plain terms — Near expiry, knowing only “March” or “December” is not enough. You need to know until when the contract can be traded, which data fixes its final value and whether a remaining position creates a cash payment, delivery or a broker-imposed closeout.
The dates are not synonyms
| Term | Possible function | Limit of the definition |
|---|---|---|
| Last trading day | final time at which orders may be executed in that expiry | day and time depend on the contract and the venue's time zone |
| Expiration date | date on which the contract expires under the rulebook | may not coincide with the last tradable session |
| First notice day | first day on which a delivery notice may be issued or received | applies to relevant delivery contracts and procedures, not as a rule for cash-settled futures |
| First position day | date used in some processes to identify positions exposed to delivery | name and function vary by product and clearing system |
| Delivery period | window in which physical or documentary obligations are performed | may start before or end after the expiration date |
| Final settlement | price or value that terminates the remaining obligations | method, data source, window and rounding are contract-specific |
Saying that a future expires “on the third Friday” is therefore dangerous as a general rule. Some contract families follow that calendar; many others do not. Holidays, listed months, special hours and rulebook changes require direct verification for each expiry.
Daily and final settlement
Daily settlement supports mark-to-market for open positions. The venue publishes a daily price under a stated methodology; that price drives account credits, debits, P&L and margin calculations. It must not automatically be confused with the last trade or the closing price displayed by a data vendor.
For a linear future already open at the previous settlement, the daily variation of a long can be written as:
daily variation = N × (Settleₜ − Settleₜ₋₁) × MOn the opening day, the previous reference is instead the position's execution or clearing price:
first-day variation = N × (Settleₜ − Pexec) × MN is the number of contracts and M the monetary value of one point. For a
short, the sign is reversed. The official formula prevails when the quotation
is fractional, converted, inverse or subject to other factors.
Final settlement, by contrast, terminates the remaining obligations. It can be derived from a trading window, an index, an auction, cash prices, price reporting agency assessments or another specified procedure. The method is not a minor detail: it determines the economic reference towards which the cash-settled contract converges.
Cash settlement: settling a monetary difference
In a cash-settled contract, there is no physical delivery of the reference. Remaining positions are valued at the final settlement price and the obligations are closed through monetary transfers. For the final variation of a linear future:
final variation for a long = N × (Final settle − Previous settle) × MVerifiable example. Three contracts are worth EUR 10 per point. The
previous settlement is 4,310 and the final settlement is 4,325. The long's
last variation is 3 × (4,325 − 4,310) × 10 = +EUR 450; the short records
−EUR 450. This is not total P&L since entry: the other movements have
already passed through earlier mark-to-market transfers.
Cash settlement avoids delivery of the asset, but it does not eliminate benchmark, discontinuity, margin or basis risk. The spot series displayed on a platform may also differ from the one used in the final formula. Check the data administrator, time, currency, average or auction, rounding and rules for exceptional market events.
Physical delivery: grade, location and documents matter
In a physically delivered future, positions that remain in the delivery process can require the short to make delivery and the long to take delivery, under the clearing and contract rules. “Physical” does not necessarily mean a truck arrives at the trader's address: performance may use warehouse receipts, certificates, securities, registers or other recognized procedures.
The contract specifies at least:
- deliverable quantity, quality or grade;
- approved location, facility or delivery point;
- price differentials for non-par grades and locations;
- notice, assignment, invoicing and payment procedures;
- delivery period and entities eligible to participate.
Insufficient availability of the par grade or location, congestion and poorly calibrated differentials can obstruct normal convergence between cash and futures. Delivery rules therefore have an economic function even when most positions are closed beforehand.
A retail broker may impose its own cutoff, raise margin or close positions before the venue's dates. A trader must not assume that the broker will always do so, will notify at a standard time or will provide a costless exit.
Operational error — Confusing first notice day, last trading day and expiry, or relying on the broker to close automatically. The correct procedure is the one governing that specific position under the contract and intermediary agreement.
Offset and roll before expiry
An offset uses an equal and opposite transaction in the same expiry: a long sells the same number of contracts; a short buys them. The position is extinguished in the clearing system. An order in another expiry does not close the existing position: it creates a second one.
A roll combines offsetting the held expiry with opening a deferred expiry, not necessarily the immediately following month. It can be traded as a calendar spread or through two separate legs. A roll does not erase accrued P&L and does not preserve the same exposure by definition: price, remaining term, liquidity and the relationship with spot all change.
The difference between the prices of the two expiries must not automatically be booked as an immediate cost. Execution costs are spreads, commissions, slippage and possible leg risk; roll yield instead concerns the evolution of the exposure along the curve and depends on the methodology being measured.
Expiry checklist
- Read the sheet for the exact expiry, not a generic description of the family.
- Record the last trading day and time in both venue and operating time zones.
- Check whether notice days, position days and a delivery period exist.
- Identify daily settlement, final settlement and the corresponding data source.
- Confirm whether the contract is cash settled or physically delivered.
- Read the intermediary's cutoff, margin and liquidation rights.
- If rolling, choose the expiry for the objective and liquidity, not by habit.
- Calculate leg costs, changes in notional and basis risk.
- Retain the rulebook or notice applicable to the expiry being traded.
Sources
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Basics of Futures Trading — closeout before delivery, obligations and cash settlement.
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Futures Glossary — cash settlement, physical delivery, first notice day, offset and roll-over.
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, The Economic Purpose of Futures Contracts — offset through clearing, standardized terms and the function of delivery.
- CME Group, Mark-to-Market — daily settlement price and variation flows.
- CME Group, Understanding Futures Expiration & Contract Roll — operational choices among offset, roll and settlement.
- CME Group, Cash Settlement vs. Physical Delivery — daily and final settlement, delivery and final price formation.
- CME Group, What is Equity Index Basis? — the relationship among futures price, spot, carry and convergence.
- U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Policy Statement on Price Differentials — delivery locations, grades, differentials and normal convergence.