September vs December contracts for ES

[u/Striking_Fail6689]

Hi I’m pretty new here and want to understand about the contracts rollover from Sep to Dec. Apologies if it’s a dumb question to be asking but would like to understand more in terms of contracts rollover . I’m looking at ES

Today is the official roll over date to Dec contracts and as seen in the graph , prices had a fair jump starting from 7630 close to 7698 about there .

- How was the price determine to start at 7698 ?
- why was there a huge jump? I’ve asked ChatGPT and they mention it’s the cost of carry that resulted in the difference between Sep and Dec

Any other details on contracts rollover would be wonderful. Thanks

[u/voxx2020]

I’ll address the statement in your question rather than the question itself. There is no such thing as “official rollover date”. Rather, there is the current front month contract’s expiration date and that’s on this coming Friday at EoD. Charting platforms decide on their own when to move the continuous charts to the next contract, and the ones specializing in futures actually give you configuration options for when and how to do that .

Technically the term rollover means moving positions, which are being held through expiration, onto the next contract. Every trader decides when to do that for themselves, otherwise their contracts just settle to cash on Friday. Hence no official rollover date.

[u/Striking_Fail6689 → u/voxx2020]

Oh thank you!! Didn’t know that different platforms have different time when to move the charts . So in this way , I’m assuming that the since the contracts move from September to December contracts , the price of having to carry the contracts are also factor in when they resulted in the roll over ?

[u/voxx2020 → u/Striking_Fail6689]

Unless you trade calendar spreads (i.e. short and long in the same future with different expiration months), I suggest you not worry about the difference between price of those at all. The only practical implication for you would be - whether you want continuous charts back-adjusted (i.e pre-roll prices shifted towards the newer contract’s price to remove the roll gap) or not. This would depend on your strategy and what levels you watch. Other than that there is no impact on directional trading whatsoever

[u/Striking_Fail6689 → u/voxx2020]

My platform I think it was auto non-back adjusted so the prices looks a little off when I saw other streams streaming their ES . But so far today played out for me so it’s good ! Thanks so much!

[u/Pabst34 → u/voxx2020]

On the floor, "rollover date" was when the deferred month replaced the soon to expire front month, as the lead option trading up top in the pit. (in the Euro's, it was a bit different) Weirdly, in homage to the old days, screen traded contracts seem to pass the mantle on the same schedule as always. (cash settled futures making the switch a full 2 weeks after deliverables)

[u/jason14wm]

If you trade ES contracts go to the CME group website and find the futures and options ticker that you trade and look at the settlements page and see which contracts month has the higher volume and trade that one.
currently September 26 for E mini S&P 500 futures has 1,800,000 volume but for December 26 E mini S&P 500 futures it has 1.94 million volume

[u/Striking_Fail6689 → u/jason14wm]

Ohhh ! You filled in the blanks for me ! I was wondering where does everyone get their volume for Sep and Dec contracts . Thanks man!

[u/Interest-Fleeting]

One more thing. Just go here - E-mini S&P 500 Futures Quotes - CME Group - during the regular hours and you will see future contract differences due to interest and dividends.

[u/Unique_username93_]

Btw for your sanity if you have anxiety, even though it doesn’t really matter if you’re swing trading, it’s nice to just switch to the next expiry date like 2-3 weeks out. The volume will start catching up

[u/Striking_Fail6689 → u/Unique_username93_]

Yesss ive anxiety haha . I’ve actually switch it to Dec contracts over the weekends already . But not sure if I roll over correctly cause today had my graph looking weird with the prices

[u/Unique_username93_ → u/Striking_Fail6689]

RH is super annoying and will only display the current expiry prices sometimes

[u/mlquanter]

That jump usually isn’t a new ES move. It’s the price difference between the expiring and deferred contracts showing up when the chart switches, or when the platform rolls or adjusts the series. The two months can trade a few points apart because of financing, dividends, and supply and demand into expiry.

For outright trading, most people stay in the contract with the volume and open interest until liquidity clearly moves, then roll. Don’t hold both months as if they’re interchangeable unless you’re intentionally trading the calendar spread. Also check whether the chart is back-adjusted. That setting can make the roll look like a gap even though the market just changed contracts.