Conditions such as the contract month (the month in which a contract can be traded), the contract unit, and the tick size fix the deadline and the profit or loss of a futures trade. These conditions differ by product.

A contract month is the deadline month for trading

A contract month is the month that marks the deadline for trading a futures or options contract. Futures and options are split into separate contracts by expiry, and the one expiring in March is called the "March contract" (sangatsu-giri in Japanese)1. For Nikkei 225 Futures (exchange-traded derivatives), which are based on the Nikkei Stock Average, the December 2026 contract and the March 2027 contract are traded as separate contracts. How futures themselves work is covered in Forwards and Futures.

The contract months of Nikkei 225 Futures are quarterly: March, June, September, and December. The nearest 16 June and December contracts and the nearest 3 March and September contracts can be traded2. Together, 19 contract months are listed at once. When a contract month reaches its last trading day, trading in a new contract month starts in the day trading hours (the day session) of the next business day3.

How contract months are listed differs by product. The contract months as of September 2026 are as follows.

Product Contract months Contract months traded at once
Nikkei 225 Futures March, June, September, December The nearest 16 June and December contracts and the nearest 3 March and September contracts (up to eight years)
Nikkei 225 mini March, June, September, December, and the other months Up to five years for the quarterly months and up to five months for the other months
10-year JGB Futures March, June, September, December 3 contract months

Nikkei 225 mini has a smaller contract unit than Nikkei 225 Futures, and it also has contract months in the months other than the quarterly ones. For the quarterly months, the nearest 10 June and December contracts and the nearest 3 March and September contracts can be traded. For the other months, the nearest 3 contracts can be traded4. 10-year JGB Futures are futures on the standardized 6%, 10-year JGB, and three contract months can be traded at once5.

Last trading day and final settlement

Each contract month has a last trading day. Trades not closed by then are finally settled in a way set for each product. For the December 2026 contract of Nikkei 225 Futures, the last trading day is Thursday, December 10, 20266. The next day, Friday the 11th, is the expiration date of this contract month (the SQ day)3.

The last trading day of Nikkei 225 Futures is, as a rule, the business day before the second Friday (the SQ day) of each contract month. If the second Friday is a holiday, it is moved to the preceding business day7. A rule that moves a date falling on a holiday to a business day before or after it is called a business day convention. The second Friday of December 2026 is the 11th, so the last trading day is the day before, the 10th. Trading in a contract month that reaches its last trading day ends when the day trading hours of that day end8.

Until the last trading day, a trader who bought futures can close the trade by selling (a resale), and a trader who sold can close it by buying (a buyback). Because the trader makes the opposite trade to the first one, this is called an offsetting trade9.

The quantity not yet closed is called the open position (tategyoku in Japanese). An open position in Nikkei 225 Futures that remains after the last trading day is finally settled at the special quotation (SQ value). The SQ value is calculated from the opening prices of the stocks in the Nikkei Stock Average on the SQ day. In the final settlement, only the difference between the traded price and the SQ value changes hands, and this method is called cash settlement10. If the SQ value is higher than the traded price, the buyer receives the difference and the seller pays it. If it is lower, the reverse applies11.

10-year JGB Futures set the last trading day and settle in a different way. The delivery date is the 20th of the contract month (moved to the next business day if it is a holiday), and the last trading day is five business days before it (not counting holidays)12. An open position that remains is settled on the delivery date by exchanging bonds for cash (delivery settlement). The seller chooses which issue of JGBs to deliver and delivers it, and the buyer pays the cash (the delivery payment)13. The two contract months in 2026 are as follows14.

Contract month Day of the week of the 20th Delivery date Last trading day
September 2026 Sunday Thursday, September 24 Monday, September 14
December 2026 Sunday Monday, December 21 Monday, December 14
September 14(Mon)Last trading day. Five businessdays before the delivery date15th to18thFour business days in a row (fivebusiness days together with the14th)19th to23rdThe 19th is a Saturday and the 20th aSunday. The 21st to the 23rd arealso holidays24th(Thu)Delivery date. Moved from the 20th
Figure 1Last trading day and delivery date of the September 2026 contract of 10-year JGB Futures
Figure description

A timeline, in date order, of the days between the last trading day and the delivery date for the September 2026 contract of 10-year JGB Futures. After the last trading day, Monday the 14th, four business days follow, and the 19th to the 23rd are holidays. Because the 20th of the contract month is a holiday, the delivery date moves to Thursday the 24th. The spacing in the figure does not represent the number of days between dates.

In September 2026, the 20th is a Sunday, and JPX is closed from the 21st (Respect for the Aged Day) to the 23rd (Autumnal Equinox Day)15. The delivery date therefore moves to Thursday the 24th, and counting back five days from there, not counting holidays, gives Monday the 14th as the last trading day. For the December contract, the 20th is a Sunday, so the delivery date moves to Monday the 21st, and the last trading day is again Monday the 14th.

The contract unit is the size of one unit of trading

The contract unit sets the size of one unit of trading. It is an amount multiplied by the index for Nikkei 225 Futures, and a face value for 10-year JGB Futures. The contract unit of Nikkei 225 Futures is the Nikkei Stock Average × 1,000 yen16. Consider a hypothetical example in which the price is 40,000 yen. The trading value of one unit is 40,000 × 1,000 = 40 million yen.

For Nikkei 225 Futures, one unit is counted as one contract (ichi-mai in Japanese)3. The contract unit of Nikkei 225 mini is the Nikkei Stock Average × 100 yen4, so at the same 40,000 yen the trading value of one unit is 4 million yen. Nikkei 225 mini is one of the equity index futures, and it lets you trade at one-tenth the size of Nikkei 225 Futures.

The contract unit of 10-year JGB Futures is a face value of 100 million yen17, and the price is shown as an amount per 100 yen of face value18. Consider a hypothetical example in which the price is 140.00 yen. The trading value of one unit is 100 million yen × 140.00 ÷ 100 = 140 million yen. For mini 20-year JGB Futures, the contract unit is a face value of 10 million yen17.

The tick size is the price increment

The tick size is the increment of the price shown in an order. The tick size of Nikkei 225 Futures is 10 yen16, so the next price above 40,000 yen is 40,010 yen and the next price below is 39,990 yen.

A quote is how a trading participant states an order on the exchange market: whether it is a buy or a sell, the price, and other details19. The tick size sets how finely the price in a quote can be shown. The tick size of Nikkei 225 mini is 5 yen4. Osaka Exchange sets the tick size of each product in the outline of each product's trading rules20.

The tick size of 10-year JGB Futures is 1 sen (0.01 yen) per 100 yen of face value17. At a price of 140.00 yen, the next price above is 140.01 yen and the next price below is 139.99 yen.

Profit or loss from a one-tick move

The profit or loss per unit when the price moves by one tick is the tick size multiplied by the contract unit. For Nikkei 225 Futures it is 10 yen × 1,000 = 10,000 yen3. The main products are as follows.

Product Tick size Contract unit Profit or loss per tick (per unit, yen)
Nikkei 225 Futures 10 yen Nikkei Stock Average × 1,000 yen 10,000
Nikkei 225 mini 5 yen Nikkei Stock Average × 100 yen 500
10-year JGB Futures 1 sen per 100 yen of face value Face value of 100 million yen 10,000
Mini 20-year JGB Futures 1 sen per 100 yen of face value Face value of 10 million yen 1,000

For 10-year JGB Futures, a face value of 100 million yen is 1 million times 100 yen of face value, so the profit or loss per tick is 0.01 yen × 1 million = 10,000 yen. Mini 20-year JGB Futures have one-tenth the face value, so it is 1,000 yen.

The profit or loss from an offsetting trade is calculated as follows. For the buyer, it is (resale price − purchase price) × contract unit × quantity. For the seller, it is (sale price − buyback price) × contract unit × quantity9. Consider a hypothetical example in which a trader buys 2 contracts (one unit is one contract) of Nikkei 225 Futures at 40,000 yen.

Resale price (yen) Price move (number of ticks) Profit or loss (yen)
40,150 15 300,000
39,850 −15 −300,000

Reselling at 40,150 yen, the 150 yen move is 15 ticks, so the profit is 15 × 10,000 yen × 2 contracts = 300,000 yen. Reselling at 39,850 yen gives a loss of 300,000 yen by the same calculation. For the same moves, a trader who sold 2 contracts at 40,000 yen loses 300,000 yen if the price rises and gains 300,000 yen if it falls21.

The same approach applies to 10-year JGB Futures. Consider a hypothetical example in which a trader sells 1 unit of 10-year JGB Futures at 140.00 yen and buys it back at 139.80 yen. This is a move of 20 sen, or 20 ticks, so the profit is 20 × 10,000 yen = 200,000 yen. Buying back at 140.20 yen gives a loss of 200,000 yen21. How profits and losses are paid and received as prices move, and margin, are covered in Futures Margin and Daily Settlement.

Notes

  1. Japan Exchange Group, "限月" (Contract month), glossary (in Japanese). ↩

  2. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), Nikkei 225 Futures (in Japanese; updated November 4, 2024; English version: "Contract Specifications", https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/derivatives/products/domestic/225futures/01.html), the "限月取引" (Contract months) row. ↩

  3. Japan Exchange Group, "商品概要" (Product overview), Nikkei 225 Futures (in Japanese; updated November 6, 2023): the "商品概要" (Product overview) section and the "１単位あたりの例" (Example per unit) under "証拠金" (Margin). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), Nikkei 225 mini (in Japanese; updated November 4, 2024; English version: "Contract Specifications", https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/derivatives/products/domestic/225mini/01.html), the "限月取引" (Contract months), "取引単位" (Contract unit), and "呼値の単位" (Tick size) rows. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), JGB Futures (in Japanese; English version: "Contract Specifications", https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/derivatives/products/jgb/jgb-futures/01.html), the "取引対象" (Underlying) row (standardized 10-year JGB (6%, 10 years)) and the "限月取引" (Contract months) row. ↩

  6. Japan Exchange Group, "取引最終日・開始日・受渡日等一覧表" (List of last trading days, start dates, delivery dates, etc.), the 2026 table of last trading days for index futures and options (Excel, in Japanese), the row for the December 2026 contract of Nikkei 225 Futures. ↩ ↩2

  7. The "取引最終日" (Last trading day) row of Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), Nikkei 225 Futures (in Japanese). Osaka Exchange, "指数先物取引制度要綱" (Outline of the index futures trading rules, in Japanese; as of April 13, 2026), page 3, "３ 限月取引及びその数" (Contract months and their number), is to the same effect. ↩

  8. Japan Exchange Group, "取引最終日・受渡決済期日" (Last trading days and delivery dates, in Japanese; updated August 7, 2026), the "備考" (Notes). ↩ ↩2

  9. Osaka Exchange, "決済方法（先物）" (Settlement methods (futures)), Kitahama Investment School (in Japanese), "反対売買による決済" (Settlement by offsetting trades): resales and buybacks, and how to calculate profit or loss. ↩ ↩2

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

  11. Osaka Exchange, "決済方法（先物）" (Settlement methods (futures)), Kitahama Investment School (in Japanese), "損益について" (About profit and loss). ↩

  12. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), JGB Futures (in Japanese), the "取引最終日" (Last trading day) row. ↩

  13. Osaka Exchange, "国債証券先物取引制度要綱" (Outline of the JGB futures trading rules, in Japanese; as of April 13, 2026), page 4, "７ 受渡決済等" (Delivery settlement, etc.), "① 受渡決済" (Delivery settlement). Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), JGB Futures (in Japanese), the "決済物件の受渡し" (Delivery of the settlement assets) row. ↩

  14. Japan Exchange Group, "取引最終日・開始日・受渡日等一覧表" (List of last trading days, start dates, delivery dates, etc.), the 2026 table of last trading days for JGB futures and options (Excel, in Japanese), the rows for the September and December 2026 contracts of 10-year JGB Futures. ↩ ↩2

  15. Japan Exchange Group, "営業時間・休業日一覧" (Business hours and holidays, in Japanese; updated February 6, 2026), the 2026 table in "休業日一覧" (List of holidays). ↩

  16. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), Nikkei 225 Futures (in Japanese), the "取引単位" (Contract unit) and "呼値の単位" (Tick size) rows. ↩ ↩2

  17. Japan Exchange Group, "制度概要" (Contract specifications), JGB Futures (in Japanese), the "取引単位" (Contract unit) and "呼値の単位" (Tick size) rows. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. Osaka Exchange, "国債証券先物取引制度要綱" (Outline of the JGB futures trading rules, in Japanese), page 1, "１ 取引対象" (Underlying: the standardized 10-year JGB has a face value of 100 yen), and page 4, "③ 受渡決済代金" (Delivery payment: the delivery settlement price and other factors are multiplied by 1/100 of the total face value). ↩

  19. Japan Exchange Group, "呼値" (Quote), glossary (in Japanese). ↩

  20. Osaka Exchange, "指数先物取引制度要綱" (Outline of the index futures trading rules), page 7, and "国債証券先物取引制度要綱" (Outline of the JGB futures trading rules), page 3, each in "(3) 呼値の単位" (Tick size) (both in Japanese). ↩

  21. The profits and losses do not include fees. ↩ ↩2