First notice day
Definition · Level 7 · Futures & commodities
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The first day a short may tell the exchange it will deliver the real goods. Longs who do not want them must close or roll before it.
Example
You are long gold futures and do not want 100 ounces of gold: close or roll before first notice day.
Rules and market figures change: check the current ones before relying on this.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 7 · Futures & commodities, in the lesson “How a contract ends: settlement & open interest”: Cash against physical delivery, the delivery dates, why oil once went below zero, and what open interest counts.
Related terms
- Cash-settled futureA futures contract that ends with one cash payment of the gap between your price and a final reference price, with no delivery of the underlying.
- Futures open interestThe number of futures contracts still open (not closed or delivered), each with one long and one short.
- Physical deliverySettlement by handing over the actual underlying (barrels of oil at Cushing for CL, gold bars for GC, Treasury notes for ZN) to longs still holding…
- BackwardationCurve shape where later-dated futures trade below nearer ones.
- BasisThe gap between the spot (cash) price and a futures price, usually spot − futures.
- Cash-and-carryA near risk-free trade (arbitrage) when a future trades above fair value: buy the asset, finance (and store) it, sell the future, and hold both to…