Futures Rollover, Explained: Contract Months, Expiration Dates and Why Your Chart Jumps
A stock can be held for years. A futures contract can't. Every contract has a last day, and before it arrives, traders who want to stay in the market move to the next contract. That move is called rolling over.
Rollover is one of the first things that confuses new futures traders. Symbols change, charts jump, and two news stories can report two different numbers for the same market on the same day. This guide walks through how it works for the four markets we cover: MES, MNQ, MCL and MGC. Every rule and date below comes from CME Group, the exchange where these contracts trade.
Step 1: Read the symbol
A futures symbol has three parts: the product, a one-letter month code, and the year.
MGCZ26: MGC (Micro Gold) + Z (December) + 26 (2026)
MESH27: MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) + H (March) + 27 (2027)
MCLF27: MCL (Micro WTI Crude Oil) + F (January) + 27 (2027)
The month codes are the same for every CME product:
F January · G February · H March · J April
K May · M June · N July · Q August
U September · V October · X November · Z December
They look random, but they're worth memorizing. You'll see them on every order ticket and on every chart symbol list.
Step 2: Know your contract's calendar
Each market lists contracts on its own schedule and stops trading on its own rule. Here are the four we follow, with the next important dates. Times are converted to Pacific.
MES and MNQ (Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100)
Quarterly contracts: March, June, September and December.
Trading ends at 9:30 a.m. ET (6:30 a.m. PT) on the third Friday of the contract month.
Financially settled: no one delivers or receives anything; the contract is settled in cash.
CME's customary roll date is the Monday before the third Friday. After that, the next quarter is treated as the "lead month."
Next: December 2026 contracts (MESZ26, MNQZ26) roll to March on Monday 12-14-2026 and stop trading Friday 12-18-2026.
MCL (Micro WTI Crude Oil)
Monthly contracts, so crude rolls every month.
Financially settled.
Trading ends one business day before the full-size WTI contract (CL) for the same month. CL stops trading 3 business days before the 25th of the month before the contract month (4 business days if the 25th isn't a business day).
Next: December 2026 MCL (MCLZ26) stops trading Thursday 11-19-2026. January 2027 MCL (MCLF27) stops trading Friday 12-18-2026.
MGC (Micro Gold)
Active contracts: February, April, June, August, October and December.
Deliverable: this one can settle in actual gold, at least 995 fine. That makes the dates before the delivery month matter.
Trading ends on the third-to-last business day of the contract month.
Next: for December 2026 (MGCZ26), CME lists the first position day as 11-27-2026 and the first notice day as Monday 11-30-2026. Delivery can happen on any business day from 12-01 through 12-31-2026, and trading ends Tuesday 12-29-2026.
Brokers and prop firms often set their own cutoffs ahead of these exchange dates, especially for a deliverable contract like gold. Check your firm's rules before the dates arrive, not after.
Step 3: Understand why your chart jumps
Two contracts for the same market almost never trade at the same price. Gold for February and gold for December can be several dollars apart, and crude for December and January can be too. The gap between them reflects things like interest rates, storage costs and supply expectations.
A continuous chart strings contracts together. On TradingView, the symbol ending in 1! (for example MGC1! or CL1!) follows the front month, and TradingView says it rolls to the next contract when the front-month contract expires. At that moment the chart switches from one contract's price to the other's, and any difference shows up as a jump that never actually traded.
TradingView has a fix: back-adjustment. Click the B-ADJ button at the bottom of the chart, or check "Adjust for contracts changes" in the chart settings. The older history is shifted by the difference between the two contracts at the switch, so the jump disappears. It's off by default.
If you mark support and resistance on a continuous chart, decide whether you want back-adjustment on or off, and stick with it. A level drawn on one setting won't line up on the other.
A real example from last week
In our Week in Review for Oct. 19–23, 2026, the December WTI contract rose 4.29% for the week on TradingView, while some news reports put WTI's weekly gain at about 2%. Both can be honest numbers.
The November WTI contract (CLX26) stopped trading on Tuesday 10-20-2026 under the rule above. So "front-month WTI" meant November on Friday 10-16 and December on Friday 10-23. A weekly change measured across that switch compares two different contracts. If you trade MCL, the number that matters is the one for the contract you actually hold.
Step 4: What rolling looks like in practice
Rolling is not a special order type. It's two trades: close the position in the expiring contract and open the same position in the next one. A few habits help:
Put the next 60 days of dates for your markets on your calendar. The dates in this post are a good start.
Watch where the volume is. Trading activity moves to the next contract as the old one gets close to its end. If your chart still shows the old contract, check that you're looking at the one with the volume.
Check the symbol on your order ticket before you click. Many costly roll mistakes come down to one wrong letter.
Know your firm's cutoff, especially for MGC. A deliverable contract held too long can create obligations most retail traders don't want.
Re-check your levels after a roll. Prices on the new contract may sit at a different place than the old one.
The micro contract math, for reference
MES: $5 × the S&P 500 index. One tick is 0.25 point = $1.25.
MNQ: $2 × the Nasdaq-100 index. One tick is 0.25 point = $0.50.
MCL: 100 barrels. One tick is $0.01 per barrel = $1.00.
MGC: 10 troy ounces. One tick is $0.10 per ounce = $1.00.
The short version
Every futures contract ends. Learn the month codes, put your market's dates on the calendar, roll before your firm's cutoff, and turn on back-adjustment if you study continuous charts. Do those four things and rollover becomes a routine, not a surprise.
For each week's calendar for MES, MNQ, MCL and MGC, get The Sunday Prep, free, every Sunday.
Sources: CME Group contract specifications and contract calendars for Micro E-mini S&P 500, Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100, Micro WTI Crude Oil, Light Sweet Crude Oil and Micro Gold futures (checked 10-30-2026); CME Group Equity Index Roll Dates; CME Group Contract Month Codes; TradingView support articles on 1! continuous contracts and back-adjustment. Weekly WTI figure from our Week in Review, Oct. 19–23, 2026 (TradingView). Education, not advice. Futures involve substantial risk of loss.
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