ES expiration questions

Discussion in 'Index Futures' started by nravo, Feb 27, 2008.

  1. nravo

    nravo

    Let's say, I have, essentially a covered future: Long ES and an Short ATM ES option, both March expiration. Come March 19th, I am ITM on the option. I assume the short option simply calls away the ES futures at the option strike price (and I keep the premium I collected), just like a stock covered call. But is there something odd about this sequence of events when the futures are expiring, as well. Could I get, for instance, my futures expire before it gets called away with my option? What happens then? And what happens anyway with an, in this case long, ES that expires, presumably accidentally? What winds up in or out of my brokerage account? (I use IB, incidentally.)