Dow Settlement Price - Special Opening Quotation Explanation

CBOT® Dow™ Jones Industrial Average (DJIA™) and CBOT® mini-sized DowSM futures settle in cash, not through the delivery of the actual basket of 30 stocks comprising the DJIA. The final settlement price for the futures contract is determined on the day following the last day of trading – usually the third Friday of the contract month (see the yearly CBOT notice calendar).

The final settlement price for CBOT DJIA futures contracts and CBOT mini-sized Dow futures contracts is a Special Opening Quotation (SOQ) of the DJIA calculated from the sequence of the 30 component stocks’ opening prices. In contrast, the DJIA is always calculated from the sequence of last transaction prices. If a stock has not yet opened, the DJIA incorporates that stock’s previous closing price. The SOQ is therefore usually different from the value of the DJIA, including the opening value of the index. Further, it is possible for the SOQ to fall outside the day’s trading range, as it will for example, if all component stocks open at their high for the day.

The SOQ is displayed on the CBOT Web site as soon as it becomes available.