Expiry ran automatically today: what changed for your open positions
Automated expiry ran today. What it did to your open positions, and the four checks to run before the close.
Expiry ran automatically today. In-the-money metal options exercised without a manual instruction, and the resulting futures sit in your open position now. Your job before the close is one thing: match the broker confirmation to your hedge book, line by line, and re-read coverage.
What ran today?
Today the LME's manual options expiry gave way to the automated process. The exchange's options roadmap places the single-day cut-over on 21 September 2026, and the move was overwhelmingly supported in consultation because it removes operational risk and complexity from expiry day.
The mechanics matter for what you check. Exercise now runs against the M1 Closing Price later in the day, with the expiry run around 17:50 and residual positions released around 18:50. Nothing on the day waits for your instruction.
What changed for your open positions?
Your open position now holds what expiry gave you. In-the-money longs became futures automatically. Shorts that finished in the money on the other side were assigned into futures. No phone call, no form, no second chance to instruct.
That is the whole change: exercise stopped being an action and became an outcome. A copper lot that was an option yesterday is outright price exposure today. Hedge coverage moved even though you placed no new trade, and the futures that appeared carry their quotation period and prompt logic with them.
What should you check before the close?
Read the broker confirmation first, then your own book. Four checks, in order.
- Did every in-the-money long exercise? Match exercised strikes to the confirmation. Anything missing is an exception to chase now, not a query for tomorrow.
- Were you assigned on any short? Assigned shorts are new futures in the position. Mark them before you re-read hedge coverage.
- Does hedge coverage still match the physical? Re-run coverage with the post-expiry futures included. LME and MCX live on screen, COMEX and SHFE computed into the arbitrage view — price the position on that basis and check what is actually covered.
- Do the quotation periods still line up? An exercised position can leave the hedge in one period and the physical in another. Basis moves in that gap.