Information Regarding Physical Delivery Rules
IBKR does not have the facilities necessary to accommodate physical delivery for most products. For futures contracts that are settled by actual physical delivery of the underlying commodity (physical delivery futures), account holders may not make or receive delivery of the underlying commodity.
It is the responsibility of the account holder to make themselves aware of the close-out deadline of each product. If an account holder has not closed out a position in a physical delivery futures contract by the close-out deadline, IBKR may, without additional prior notification, liquidate the account holder’s position in the expiring contract. Please note that liquidations will not otherwise impact working orders; account holders must ensure that open orders to close positions are adjusted for the actual real-time position.
To avoid deliveries in expiring futures contracts, account holders must roll forward or close out positions prior to the Close-Out Deadline.
Below provides an overview of the relevant close-out deadlines of futures and futures options contracts. The relevant First Notice Date, First Position Date and Last Trading Date information may be obtained through the IBKR website by navigating to the IBKR Support page and selecting Contract Search. Any date information provided is on a best-efforts basis and should be verified by reviewing the contract specifications available on the exchange's website.
Summary of Physical Delivery Futures Policies
|
Contract |
Delivery Permitted |
Close-Out Deadline |
|
ZB, ZN, ZF (CBOT) |
No |
2 hours before the end of open outcry trading on the business day prior to First Notice Day (longs) or Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
ZT (CBOT) futures, Japanese Govt Bond Futures (JGB) |
No |
End of second business day prior to the First Position Day (longs) or end of second business day prior to Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
EUREXUS futures |
No |
End of business day prior to the First Position Day (longs) or Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
EUREXUS 2 yr Jumbo bond (FTN2) and 3 yr bond (FTN3) futures |
No |
End of the second business day prior to the First Position Day (longs) or Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
IPE contracts (GAS, NGS) |
No |
End of the second business day prior to the First Position Day (longs) or day prior to Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
CME LIVE CATTLE (LE) |
No |
End of the second business day prior to the First Intent Day (longs) or Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
CME NOK, SEK, PLZ, CZK, ILS, KRW and HUF, and correspondent Euro rates |
No |
End of the fifth business day prior to the Last Trading Day for both longs and shorts |
|
GBL, GBM, GBS, GBX (Eurex), CONF (Eurex) |
No |
2 hours before the end of trading on the last trading day |
|
CME currency futures (EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, CAD, JPY, HKD) |
Yes* |
Not applicable* |
|
CME Ethanol futures (ET) |
No |
End of the fifth business day prior to the First Position Day (longs) or Last Trading Day (shorts) |
| NG futures (NYMEX) | No | End of the business day prior to the First Position Day or last trading day (whichever comes first) (longs) or end of business day prior to Last Trading Day (shorts) |
|
All other contracts |
No |
End of the second business day prior to the sooner of First Position Day or Last Trading Day (longs) or end of the second business day prior to the Last Trading Day (shorts) |
*As Cash and IRA accounts are restricted from holding foreign currencies, the liquidation schedule outlined above for All other contracts will also apply to Cash and IRA accounts for these foreign currency products.
Summary of Physical Delivery Future Options Policies
| Contract | Delivery Permitted | Close-Out Deadline |
| All contracts | Yes | Options will be allowed to expire into futures (or, if out-of-the-money, expire worthless), if the options expiration date is prior to the underlying futures’ First Position Day. If there is a resulting futures position, it will then be subject to the respective Close-Out Deadlines, as detailed above. |