Special Labeling and Expiration Date Descriptions for Futures Contracts

Please be aware of an TWS-specific labeling issue with respect to the NYMEX/GLOBEX mini oil and gas products (QG and QM, respectively). It is industry standard to refer to the expiration month of such commodities as the month FOLLOWING the actual Last Trade Date for that product. For example, a mini Natural Gas issue whose expiration date is Aug. 27, would be commonly referred to in the industry as the September Natural Gas issue. In order to conform to the industry standard label, TWS references the expiration date of the contract as the first business date of the following month. Such a reference results in the TWS-labeling of the affected contracts with a Last Trade Date of Aug. 27 as a September contract (thus reflecting the industry-norm). The end result is that the contract now has the correct label, but an incorrect Last Trade Date.

At expiration, in order to properly manage the expiration process, TWS restates the expiration date to reflect the actual Last Trade Date (Aug. 27 in the above example). The end result, on expiration day, the contract will have the correct date information (Aug. 27), but a non-standard label. Using the above example, the contract would, for that day, be labeled as an August issue as opposed to a September issue.

The above process has no monetary effect. It is simply a process that enables TWS to label the respective contracts to conform to the industry standard.