Last Trading Day is the final date—and, where the rules specify one, the final cutoff time—on which a particular futures contract month can be traded on its exchange. It is a contract-specific rule, not a generic synonym for month-end, final settlement, or the start of delivery. Once trading has terminated, an open position can no longer be closed or rolled through ordinary trading in that expiring contract; any position that remains open is handled under the applicable settlement or delivery rules.
The distinction from First Notice Day is especially important in physically delivered futures. First Notice Day concerns when the delivery-notice or assignment process can begin, whereas Last Trading Day concerns when trading stops. First Notice Day can arrive before Last Trading Day, so a trader seeking to avoid delivery exposure may need to act before the final trading session. The two dates answer different questions: when can the delivery process begin, and until when can this contract still be traded?
Why the deadline is contract-specific
Exchanges define the last trading day in the individual contract specification or rulebook. The rule may refer to a numbered business day, a particular weekday, a date relative to another calendar or contract event, or a specified settlement-period cutoff. Holidays and the exchange’s definition of a business or trading day can shift the effective date, and trading may terminate at a specified local time. Exchange and data-system terminology can also differ: an “expiration” label should not be assumed to identify the last trading day unless the applicable specification defines it that way. The operative fact is when trading in that contract month actually ceases.
Trading termination and final settlement are separate rules
Last Trading Day does not, by itself, determine when a contract’s final settlement value becomes known. For some cash-settled futures, trading terminates before one or more inputs used in the final settlement calculation are available, so the final value is determined afterward; other contracts use different timing conventions. Physically delivered futures follow a different post-trading path, with positions remaining open after trading ceases governed by the applicable delivery and settlement rules. The general principle is therefore that Last Trading Day defines the end of tradability, while the timing and method of final settlement must be established separately from the individual contract specification.
For research and execution, Last Trading Day is a hard calendar constraint. Roll schedules, continuous-futures construction, expiry studies and backtests should not treat observations after trading has terminated as executable trading in the expired contract. An incorrect last-trade calendar can create impossible fills, artificial post-termination liquidity or misstated exposure near the point when the contract’s settlement or delivery rules take over. Historical research must also respect the contract rules that applied at the time rather than automatically projecting today’s termination convention backward.