Futures expire. No later than Sept 21, 2007, you are OBLIGATED to settle (deliver or accept delivery), flatten, or roll forward, which technically is 2 trades. Your broker may have specific safeguards to minimize liability and/or specific transaction procedures. Ultimately, it is the traders responsibility to settle the position, one way or another, not the brokerage.
What is fair value for the spread between sept es and dez es? That is the question. The answers were quite clear and specific regarding how wide was fair. You get jazzed because you have a tendency to act like you know it all so some get fun at poking you with a stick when you ask such a basic question. A little humility would temper that. Just a thought.
Thanks for the explanation. But as I stated above, I would think there shouldn't be any problem with rolling over the futures from the front month to the next expiry without first having to close out and then reopen the same position. What's the need when index futures settle in cash anyway? Since I never held a open position longer than 2 days, I'm little confused on this issue. Any further help to enlighten this dimwit would be greatly appreciated.
You need to roll it your self otherwise when the sep expires it will ecpire to cash but you will have NO dec position.I have seen a lot of costly errors due to people forgetting to roll. Your broker should alert you to the fact you have a futures position nearing expiry but after that they have no responsibilty it is up to you.
When you say I "need to roll it your self", do you mean that I need to manually close out the September contract and open the December contract? That sounds intuitive enough, but then again if that's the case why won't the brokers automatically roll it for you, provided that you pay for the rollover charges and whatnot? Thanks.
You broker is not a mind reader, they don't know what you wanna do! Futures are not FX! If you want to roll then you have to manually close out the Sep and open the Dec.
Before you roll the sept to dec....roll a fatty and than give it a shot...makes the transaction that much more excited to execute with out fucking it up.
On which day, what time and most importantly what price? These are all decisions that only you can make and the broker does not have such authority from you.
The fair value of the Dec contract is about 13 points above Sep. The "size of the spread" doesn't have any value or meaning to traders in this regard.
1. While the underlying "cash" is perpetual, the futures contract has a specific life and includes considerations for interest and dividends. 2. Not 100% on this, but I believe the financial futures were initially designed to be similar to commodity futures.... many of which are "seasonal". Maybe the exchange could have done it differently, but it serves a function and works the way it is.