I must clarify to you that there's not such a term as "leftover" in futures markets to named contracts. I've just used the term "leftover" to make my quote more understandable. All the contracts have expiration dates that you could know through your broker or in the Exchange Web site and if you don't want delivery just close the contract before the expiration. Futures is a very liquid market. no problems at all with orders filling.
Hawker, Therefore if I am short and before contract expiration go long, "in a sense" am offsetting my own short ? No oats on my front yard. More thanks ! dowfish
That's the way it works !! You always gonna find somebody in the other side. For buy or sell . Good luck and take care of your pockets.
Dowfish, There is a lot to learn about futures contracts. First, in commodities where physical delivery takes place like oats(your example)you can stay short up to a few days before contract expiration before you offset your position with a buy because no one can force you to make delivery. However, if you are long you need to offset your position before First Notice day. This is the first possible day someone can notify you of their intention to make delivery against your long oat position. Unless you can pay for and use the oats, your broker will not be happy with you, if you don't liquidate your position prior to this date. Good Luck Backwardation
I agree with Backwardation. There's a lot to learn about futures. You must take your time to learn all the ropes for every issue you're going to trade. A good place to start is the exchange itself. You can find contract information in detail for every trading instrument in the exchange. Contract specs, trading limits ( if any) , expiration dates, contract months, etc.