Quote from FullyArticulate:
Quote from triggertrader:
i know from trading futures that the first notice date means the last day you are allowed to be long and the last trading date means the last day you can be short
This is a very discount-broker view of the world. You are certainly "allowed" to be long or short past FND or even past LTD. Any commodity trader can tell you great war stories of the time they took delivery and made a killing.
take delivery and make a killing??
how would taking delivery of a commodity make a killing? if i bought 5000 bushels of corn they woud come to my house and dump 5000 busghels of corn on my friend lawn and sharge me spot price or sue me. how can i make money by taking delivery. i got to hear this one.
IB (and others) limit their risk by forcing their customers out of the market on set days. They're largely assuming their customers weren't aware they would have to take delivery (and the broker has some obligations in a delivery situation as well).
however in options this last trading date you gave me is the actual expiration date of the option?
You've got to do at least a tiny bit of research yourself. The NYBOT coffee option page says:
Expiration
5:00 PM New York Time on last trading day. Automatic exercise at one tick or more in-the-money at expiration on last trading day.
the first trading date doesnt apply in that chart?
Since the first trading day of April '08 options is happening in December, I would say the first trading day of April '07 options was probably back in 2006.
do futures options always expire a month earlier than the contract delivery month?
Expiration dates are widely variable for all contracts. Some futures expire in the last few days of their delivery month, some expire more than a month in advance.
Keep in mind that there is no April Coffee futures contract. The option you're asking about is a SERIAL option on the May contract.
so what you're saying is that serial options always follow the front most liquid month?
If you were trading May options and futures, it looks like the May coffee options LTD is a week before the futures FND. This is a good thing--you'd hate to be assigned on a short option without an opportunity to offset the futures contract.