What are contract terms

1. Futures

A futures contract contains the following key information:

(1) Underlying Asset: refers to the underlying asset of the futures contract

(2) Contract Multiplier: refers to the value of each point of price movement

(3) Contract Months: refer to the months in which settlement will be made for the contract 

(4) Last Trading Day: refers to the last day the contract trades in the expiry month

(5) First Notice Day (US style): refers to the day on which physical delivery can be taken for a physical delivery contract (and before which positions opened with Futu must be closed)

(6) The terms of each futures contract can be found on the official website of:

● Hong Kong Stock Exchange 

● CME Group

2. US Futures Options

(1) Name: The contract names list the most important information [CODE YYMMDD STRIKE PUTCALL].

● Example

An S&P 500 put option with a strike price of $11,100.00 expires on January 20th, 2023 is named [EW1 230120 11100.00P].

(2) Code: Each contract will have a full trading code that includes the following information: Code, year, month, call/put, strike price with "x" indicating the decimal point. Note that the year and month represent the settlement date of the underlying futures contract, not the options expiration date.

● Example

An S&P 500 put option with a strike price of $11,100.00 and an underlying futures contract settlement date of January, 2023 will have the code [EW12301P11100x0].

(3) Options Type: Each contract can be classified based on the following criteria:

● Style: European or American

● Settlement: Cash settlement or physical settlement

● Expiration Date: Monthly or weekly

(4) Last Trading Day: The trading day before the expiration date where a futures options contract can be traded. On the expiration date, the contract may be exercised, assigned or expire worthless. 

(5) Deeply Out-of-the-Money: Options contracts where the price to purchase the contract approaches zero. Exchanges set a minimum price and bid sizes for these contracts.

(6) For more details on specific futures options contracts, please visit:

● CME Group