In futures trading, a trade that has not yet been settled, either by an offsetting trade (a resale or a buyback) or by final settlement, is called an unsettled trade, and the quantity of such trades is the open position (tategyoku in Japanese)1. For options, the term refers to the quantity of trades whose settlement by exercise has not yet taken place2.

Consider a hypothetical example in which a trader buys 3 Nikkei 225 Futures contracts (a contract is the unit of quantity for futures). The long open position is 3 contracts. If the trader resells 1 contract, the long open position becomes 2 contracts. Unless they are resold by the last trading day, the remaining 2 contracts go to final settlement at expiry at the special quotation (SQ value)1.

In commodity futures trading on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), an open position is also called "torikumidaka". Japan Exchange Group's glossary treats "torikumidaka" as a term for this scope only3. How an open position differs from a position is explained in the entry for position.

In English, the statistics page of Japan Exchange Group uses the term "open interest" and notes that the figure is as of 19:00 on the last business day of each month4. For the quantity held by a single trader, this site's English uses "open position" (tategyoku), and the English heading of this entry is therefore "Open position".

Notes

  1. Osaka Exchange, "契約（取引成立）から満期まで（先物）" (From contract (execution) to expiration (futures)), in "北浜投資塾" (Kitahama Investment School) (in Japanese). ↩ ↩2

  2. Japan Exchange Group, "建玉" (Open position (tategyoku)), in its glossary (in Japanese). ↩

  3. Japan Exchange Group, "建玉" (Open position (tategyoku)) and "取組高" (Torikumidaka), both in its glossary (in Japanese). The "取組高" entry limits the term to commodity futures trading on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange. ↩

  4. Japan Exchange Group, "Summary of Statistics" (derivatives statistics page, in English). It notes that "Open Interest is as of 19:00 on the last business day of each month". ↩