Contract Specification
Futures contract specification includes, but is no limited to:
Contract Size
Each futures contract has a standardized size that does not change.
Contract Value
Contract value is calculated by multiplying the size of the contract by the current price.
Product Code
The first two letters of a CME Globex (CME Group’s electronic trading platform, providing users across the globe with virtually 24-hour access to global markets) ticker symbol represent the underlying futures contract. The next letter in the ticker represents the month that the contract expires. The final number is representative of the the year the contract expires. Example: 6EH7 is a Euro FX (6E), March (X) 2017 (7) contract.
Contract Month
The month in which a futures contract expires. Delivery month is indicated by a letter: F – January; G – February; H – March; J – April; K – May; M – June; N – July; Q – August; U – September; V – October; X – November; Z – December.
Contract month contains the last trading day (settlement date) on which a futures contract may trade or be closed before delivery.
Tick Size
The minimum price change in a futures contract is measured in ticks. A tick is the smallest amount that the price of a particular contract can fluctuate.
Table 3. Contract specifications of most liquid currency, equity, energy, metals futures. Commodities contract months are the most active months for delivery according to volume and open interests. Specifications for all products traded through CME Group can be found at cmegroup.com
Settlement
Cash Settlement
At the end of the contract the holder of the position is simply debited or credited the difference between their entry price and the final settlement. (Example: the purchaser of an E-mini S&P 500 future is unable to take ownership of the index at expiration).
Physical Delivery
At the end of the contract the holder of the position will either have to deliver the physical commodity (if short) or take delivery (if long). The delivery payment is based on the contract's final settlement price.
The holder of the open long (buy) / short (sell) positions must inform their clearing firm that he intends to make delivery. Clearing firm is required to report to CME Clearing (the exchange clearing house) all open positions that will be delivered. CME Clearing then matches long clearing firm (or firms) to the short clearing firm, begins with long positions entered on the oldest vintage date.