A futures position settles in cash at least once a day against a settlement price the exchange publishes, not against the price of your own fill. Buy one contract representing 100 shares at $120 and see it settle at $125, and $500 is credited to the buyer's account and debited from the seller's that same day; settle at $117 instead and the buyer is debited $300, the worked figures printed in the Risk Disclosure Statement for Security Futures Contracts. The one condition that changes the size of that cash flow is the contract multiplier, which converts a price move into dollars.

The settlement price comes from the exchange, not your fill

Every regulated U.S. exchange that trades these contracts has a relationship with a clearing organization that serves as the guarantor of each contract, matches trades, effects settlement and payments, and facilitates deliveries, according to the same disclosure statement. Each day's gain or loss is calculated from a daily settlement price disseminated by the exchange or its clearing organization. If that price rises, the buyer has a gain and the seller a loss. If it falls, the signs reverse.

Your entry price matters once. After that, the arithmetic runs settlement price to settlement price, and the running total is carried on the account statement as open trade equity.

One day of arithmetic

The one-day result is the difference between today's settlement price and the previous day's, multiplied by the contract multiplier and the number of contracts. On the first day the entry price stands in for the previous settlement.

Exchange contracts publish that multiplier. Cboe's XBTF futures specifications set the multiplier for that contract at $1.00 with a notional size of 0.10 bitcoin, and end trading in an expiring contract at 3:00 p.m. Chicago time on its final settlement date. A stock-based contract uses shares instead: the disclosure statement works its examples on a contract representing 100 shares, so a $1.00 move is $100 per contract.

Example: three contracts at 71.50

This example is published in the Risk Disclosure Statement for Security Futures Contracts, and every figure below is taken from it.

A customer buys 3 July EJG security futures at 71.50. Each contract represents 100 shares, so the nominal value is 71.50 x 3 x 100 = $21,450. At an initial margin rate of 20 percent of nominal value, the initial margin requirement is $4,290, and the account equity starts there.

The next day the settlement price falls to 69.25. The mark-to-market loss is (71.50 - 69.25) x 3 x 100 = $675, so equity drops to $4,290 - $675 = $3,615. The nominal value is now 69.25 x 3 x 100 = $20,775, and a maintenance margin rate of 20 percent puts the requirement at $4,155. Equity of $3,615 against a $4,155 requirement leaves the account $540 short.

That $540 is not a paper figure. It is the amount the account has to produce.

Below maintenance, the firm does not have to call first

Brokerage firms generally reserve the right to liquidate positions or sell assets to meet a margin call at any time without contacting the customer, and the disclosure statement says plainly that a firm is not required to notify the customer for the call to be valid. Firms can also raise house requirements above the exchange minimum without advance notice. The basic requirement set by law for these contracts is 20 percent of current value; U.S. day-trading margin rules for securities accounts are separately in transition during 2026, tracked in the intraday margin transition.

What follows a liquidation still belongs to the customer: the account holder remains responsible for any shortfall after positions are closed, and the choice of which positions get closed is generally not theirs. The full sequence is set out in a margin call can end in liquidation.

A winning day settles in cash too

The mechanism runs in both directions. In the same disclosure statement's example, the buyer whose contract settles at $125 instead of $120 receives a $500 credit, and the seller takes the $500 debit. Rising settlement prices credit the long and debit the short every session, without either side placing an order.

That is the structural difference from a share position, where an unrealized gain sits in the portfolio column until the position is sold. FINRA's page on stocks describes equities as an ownership stake whose returns arrive as price changes and dividend payments, not as a nightly cash adjustment. The rest of that contrast is in a futures position is not share ownership.

Source references

Primary sources used for this guide. Follow the links for the original scope, definitions and conditions.