Delivery month

The delivery month is the calendar month specified in a futures contract during which the physical commodity must be delivered if the contract is not closed out beforehand.

Every futures contract is tied to a specific delivery month, the period during which a seller who has not closed out their position must deliver the physical commodity and a buyer must accept and pay for it. Exchanges list a series of delivery months stretching from the near term out to a year or more ahead, though liquidity is usually concentrated in the nearest few.

Delivery months are not arbitrary; they are often set around a commodity’s natural production and shipping cycle, with more contracts listed around harvest time for a crop, for instance. The contract nearest to the present, the front month, typically draws the most trading interest, while a trader wanting to avoid the delivery process must close or roll their position before that month’s expiry.