The Third Day Before the Fourth Week of Which Month?

As we are in the middle of futures expiration week, it is a good time to discuss the standard and non standard dates that the various futures market expire. If you have no idea what I am talking about, a full description of futures expirations is available in the futures contracts article.

The standard futures expiration date is the third Friday of every third month (March, June, September, and December). Many futures contracts expire on this date, but there are several futures markets that expire on different dates. For example, the currency futures markets (some of the most popular day trading markets) expire on the second business day before the third Wednesday of every third month. Knowing when your futures markets expire is very important, because holding a position past its contract's expiration may mean that you will need to take delivery of a lot of cows (the live cattle futures expire on the last business day of every second month).

In addition to the different expiration dates, some futures markets start trading a new month before the current contract has expired. For example, the most actively traded month for the gold futures market is currently August, even though the June contract has not yet expired. If you trade the gold (or silver) futures markets, watch for the volume to move to a new contract early.

The expiration date for all futures markets is listed in the contract specifications, which are available from the web sites of the exchanges that offer the markets (such as the CME and CBOT in the US, and Eurex and Euronext in Europe).