Futures contract rollover: choose the active month and check expiry

Check the product, month and year

A futures symbol identifies both a product and an expiry. December 2026 ES and March 2027 ES are separate E-mini S&P 500 contracts. Check all three fields in the order ticket; recognizing the product name alone is insufficient.

CME month letters include H for March, M for June, U for September and Z for December. Year formatting and the way a platform displays the symbol can differ. Match the instrument's full description to the intended expiry rather than copying a symbol from another platform.

Sources: CME Group: Understanding Contract Trading Codes · CME Group: Contract Month Codes

Use volume to choose the active month, then check the calendar

Compare trading volume in the expiring contract and the next listed month. CME describes volume migration as a way to decide when to switch. A published roll date is a convention for the lead contract; it is not necessarily your last permitted trading day.

For CME's U.S. quarterly equity index futures, the customary roll date is the Monday before the third Friday of the expiration month. Its current calendar lists the following December 2026 dates. These are U.S. index dates, not a rule for every futures product.

Sources: CME Group: Understanding Futures Expiration & Contract Roll · CME Group: Equity Index Roll Dates

A two-contract example: closing December and opening March

Suppose you hold two long December ES contracts and want two long March contracts instead. Sell two December contracts to close the old position and buy two March contracts to establish the new one.

Selling two March contracts while keeping the December longs leaves positions in both expiries. Verify fills and remaining quantities separately.

The closed December trade realizes its own profit or loss. The March position begins at its execution price.

Sources: CME Group: Understanding Futures Expiration & Contract Roll

Check last trade, delivery dates and your broker's cutoff

CME's product calendars distinguish the last trade date from the first notice date, when a delivery assignment can first be notified. Check the exact contract's calendar and settlement method. Positions left through expiration can enter cash settlement or physical delivery, depending on the product.

Your broker may require an earlier exit. For example, Interactive Brokers publishes product-specific close-out periods for certain physically delivered futures and may liquidate positions during those periods. That is IBKR's policy, not a universal deadline. Check the instructions for your own account before relying on the exchange's expiration date.

Sources: CME Group: Product Calendar Date Definitions · CME Group: Understanding Futures Expiration & Contract Roll · Interactive Brokers: Futures Close-Out Policy

Changing the chart is separate from moving the position

NinjaTrader Desktop's batch rollover changes contract expiries in instrument lists and windows across open workspaces. In Control Center, open Tools > Database Management, inspect the eligible instruments and their New Expiry values, select the instruments to update, and click Rollover. Save the workspaces to retain those changes.

NinjaTrader says NinjaScript strategies are not rolled forward automatically and must be handled manually. A workspace symbol change is not evidence that a position was closed or reopened. After changing instruments, check the account's positions, working orders and strategy instruments by expiry before placing another order.

Sources: NinjaTrader Desktop: Rolling Over Futures Contracts