Futures contract months and rollover

What it is

Each futures contract expires. Equity index futures run on a quarterly cycle: March (H), June (M), September (U) and December (Z), so ESZ6 is the December 2026 E-mini S&P. The full month code list is F, G, H, J, K, M, N, Q, U, V, X, Z for January to December. Index contracts expire on the third Friday of the month.

Most volume moves to the next contract about a week before expiry, and traders 'roll' their positions forward. Continuous charts stitch contracts together: back-adjusted charts shift old prices to remove the jump at each roll (so old prices aren't real), and unadjusted charts keep real prices but show a jump.

How to spot it

• The contract symbol's last letter and digit are the month and year.
• A sudden jump on a continuous chart at a quarterly date is usually a roll, not a move.

How to use it

• Trade the contract with the most volume, and switch when your platform or prop firm does.
• When backtesting, know whether the data is back-adjusted, and don't treat roll jumps as gaps.

Common mistakes

• Holding an expiring contract into expiry by accident.
• Reading levels from a back-adjusted chart as if they were real prices.

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