RBOB Gasoline Futures Expiration and Delivery Explained

Expiration and delivery belong to one named RB contract month and year, but trading stops before that month begins: the last trading day is the final business day of the preceding month. A generic gasoline chart, a product root, or a nearby-contract shortcut cannot reveal that offset. Preserve the exact month-year before joining a rulebook statement to a calendar or an account instruction.

What RBOB Gasoline futures are explains the 42,000-gallon unit and Harbor-deliverable design. How to read RBOB Gasoline futures quotes helps distinguish a named contract from a continuous series or an unlabelled price.

No RB trades in the expiring month may occur after the last business day of the month preceding the delivery month. This pre-month cutoff is earlier than most sessile-month conventions in other futures families. Contracts still open past that point face Harbor delivery, EFRP, or broker action, never another ordinary trading session.

What happens when a futures contract expires sketches the general futures lifecycle, but it cannot replace the current RB calendar for a named contract.

Delivery is 42,000 gallons of contaminant-free RBOB blendstock meeting Colonial Fungible F specifications, within a 2 percent loading tolerance of 980 to 1,020 barrels, without freight allowance. An appointed inspector quantifies each delivery; when assays lag the payment clock, a pro-forma 42,000-gallon payment keeps the process moving. Chapter 191 points to Chapter 7 for the broader framework.

Cash-settled versus physically delivered futures contrasts the two settlement designs, and RB is a canonical deliverable-energy example. Futures first notice and last trading day keeps generic deadline vocabulary apart from the product-specific RB cutoff.

The expiring RB month settles from Globex outright VWAP between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m. Eastern, with the second month anchoring the final two minutes. Absent trades, the procedure falls back to live bids and asks, then spread-implied levels, considering only quotes active through 2:30. Retain the settlement tier, window, and source behind every expiration print.

A roll changes exposure from one named RB month to another. It does not extend the nearby contract's pre-month cutoff or alter its Harbor delivery terms. A broker may set a client-facing action date earlier than an exchange process, so keep broker instructions in a separate field.

Futures contract roll mechanics covers the two dated gallon contracts inside an RB roll. Futures contract month codes helps resolve the compact RB symbol before any date is used.

This guide describes standard RBOB Gasoline futures expiration and delivery mechanics. It does not state a live deadline, decide whether to roll or close, provide a delivery notice, or determine a broker's handling of a position. Current NYMEX rules, clearing procedures, calendar notices, and account documents govern a particular contract.