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How to Trade on RollOver Day

Rollover day is the day on which most of the traders in the market move from trading the current contract to the next contract. Put another way, it is the day when open interest of the next expiring contract exceeds that of the current expiring contract.

There are general rules specific to each market that describe when the typical rollover points occur, and TradeStation follows those rules when recommending contract rollover days. For example, if the typical open interest of the next expiring S&P 500 contract exceeds the open interest of the current S&P 500 contract on the 8th calendar day prior to expiration, the TradeStation Network interprets the rollover on that day, regardless if the relationship between the open interest of the current contract and the open interest of the next expiring contract would have indicated a rollover point.

The contract months for the futures contracts we trade are Mar, Jun, Sep, and Dec, with symbols H, M, U and Z.

TradeStation now allows traders to trade a continuous contract. This means that the data from the old contract is adjusted to the pricing on the new contract, so that there is sufficient back data for the strategies to generate trades. On rollover day, you will need to change the symbol on the chart you autotrade to the new contract, and add an "@" to the front.

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For example, suppose you were trading the "H" contract, and now need to trade the "M" contract. Suppose you were trading ES, so your autotrading contract would be ESH07. On rollover day, you change the symbol for the autotrading chart to @ESM07. It's as simple as that.

You can continue to trade @ESM07 throughout the life of the contract until the next rollover day, or you can change it to ESM07 after a sufficient number of days after the rollover day so that there is enough data in the new contract for the strategy to generate trades from the new contract only. It is up to you — either way works.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS REQUIRE DISCLOSURE OF THE FACT THAT WHILE THESE METHODS MAY HAVE WORKED IN THE PAST, PAST RESULTS ARE NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. WHILE THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR PROFITS THERE IS ALSO A RISK OF LOSS. A LOSS INCURRED IN CONNECTION WITH TRADING FUTURES CONTRACTS CAN BE SIGNIFICANT. YOU SHOULD THEREFORE CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER SUCH TRADING IS SUITABLE FOR YOU IN LIGHT OF YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION SINCE ALL SPECULATIVE TRADING IS INHERENTLY RISKY AND SHOULD ONLY BE UNDERTAKEN BY INDIVIDUALS WITH ADEQUATE RISK CAPITAL.

Any advisory or signal generated by Auto Pilot Day Trading, LLC  is provided for educational  purposes only. Any trades placed upon reliance on Auto Pilot Day Trading, LLC systems are taken at your own risk for your own account. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. While there is great potential for reward trading commodity futures, there is also substantial risk of loss in all commodity futures trading. You must decide your own suitability to trade. Future trading results can never be guaranteed. This is not an offer to buy or sell futures, options or commodity interests.