E-mini Nasdaq-100 Futures Expiration and Final Settlement

NQ's standard delivery months are March, June, September, and December. Final settlement concerns the particular expiring month, not a generic chart carrying the NQ root. Under Chapter 359, the final settlement price is scheduled for the third Friday of that delivery month. If the Index is not scheduled to publish that Friday, the rulebook specifies the first preceding eligible business day.

What E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are explains why a month-year is part of the contract identity. How to read E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures quotes helps distinguish a named agreement from a continuous series or another price field before a deadline is discussed.

Trading in expiring NQ terminates at the regularly scheduled start of trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on the business day scheduled for final settlement. The rule is a product-specific boundary, not an invitation to infer a fixed clock time, a broker deadline, or the cutoff for another equity-index contract. The rulebook also contains contingency procedures for an unscheduled Market Holiday.

What happens when a futures contract expires gives general lifecycle context, but the named NQ contract's current rulebook and calendar determine its exchange-level boundary.

NQ is cash settled. Its final settlement price is a Special Opening Quotation of the Nasdaq-100 Index determined on the third Friday of the delivery month. That SOQ is based on the Nasdaq Official Opening Price of each component stock. It is therefore a defined final-settlement calculation, not an ordinary NQ last trade, a live futures quote, or an opening index value substituted from a screen.

Cash-settled versus physically delivered futures explains why this process does not deliver component shares. Futures settlement price versus last trade helps keep the daily and final labels separate from a transaction price.

A roll closes, offsets, or otherwise changes exposure in one named NQ contract and establishes exposure in a later month. It does not postpone the nearby month's trading boundary or carry that month's NOOP-based SOQ into the later agreement. A continuous chart can conceal the underlying-month change, which is why it should not replace the expiring month in a deadline record.

Futures contract roll mechanics explains why each side of a roll retains its own contract, quote, and final settlement process.

For the expiring NQ month, record the root, month-year, exchange calendar, final-trading boundary, final-settlement field, source, observation time, and current rulebook reference. Futures contract month codes helps resolve a compact symbol to the quarterly contract whose calendar is at issue.

Keep a broker instruction in a separate field. A broker can require action before an exchange-level process, and a public contract rule does not establish an account's handling or deadline.

This guide describes standard NQ expiration and final-settlement mechanics. It does not provide a live SOQ, advise a roll or close, state an account-specific deadline, or determine a broker's treatment of a position. Current CME rules, the applicable calendar, clearing procedures, and account documents govern a named contract.