Each futures contract is tied to a delivery month—the calendar month during which delivery of the underlying asset would occur if the contract remains open through expiration. The delivery month is part of the contract's specification and helps distinguish one contract from another.
Market participants reference the delivery month to identify which contract to hold or roll, and to construct calendar spreads—taking a long position in one delivery month and a short position in another to express expectations about price differences over time. Liquidity and pricing often vary by month; near-term (front) contracts tend to be most active as expiration approaches, while farther months may offer different liquidity profiles. Some contracts are cash-settled, but the delivery month still marks the settlement window and the reference period for price discovery.
Delivery months are common in commodity futures such as energy, metals, and agricultural products, and they are used to manage carry costs, storage considerations, and seasonality effects that can influence futures pricing. The timing around the delivery month also interacts with the shape of the futures curve (contango or backwardation) and with strategies that involve rolling or avoiding physical delivery. While the concept is central to deliverable derivatives, not all contracts involve physical delivery even if a delivery month is specified.
A trader tracks the front-month crude oil futures delivery month to gauge near-term price signals and to plan a roll to the next delivery month before expiration.
Futures contract · Cash settlement · Contango · Backwardation · Expiration · Roll yield