End-of-day settlement
What happens to open options at the 4:00 PM ET close.
When a trading day reaches the 4:00 PM ET close, every open option position settles automatically. In a live account the day's closing balance then carries into the account. On a live day settlement completes a few minutes after the bell, once official closing prices are final — the Replay view counts down until the settled day is ready to review. This page explains what happens to your positions and how the cash is computed.
What settlement does
At 16:00 ET the platform walks your open positions and resolves each one:
| Condition | Outcome | Transaction type |
|---|---|---|
| Out-of-the-money option | Expires worthless | Expiration |
In-the-money call (underlying > strike) |
Exercised (if long) / assigned (if short) | Exercise / Assignment |
In-the-money put (underlying < strike) |
Exercised (if long) / assigned (if short) | Exercise / Assignment |
Out-of-the-money options simply expire — no cash changes hands. In-the-money options produce a settlement cash flow.
Cash settlement
SPX (and the related index products NDX, VIX, and XSP) are cash-settled — there are no shares to deliver. An in-the-money option settles for:
settlement_value = (underlying_price − strike) × 100
per contract. A long ITM option receives this value; a short ITM option pays it. An exercise also incurs the $5.00-per-strike settlement fee.
Spreads are netted
Before settling a short leg, the platform checks whether you hold a covering long leg in the same spread. Covered shorts are handled as part of the spread rather than as a naked exercise, so a defined-risk structure settles to its true net value — you never see a phantom exercise on a leg that was fully hedged.
In practice
Settlement is computed up front and becomes visible the moment your clock reaches the close. Advance time to 4:00 PM ET (or later) and the settlement entries appear in your transactions, your realized P&L updates, and the day is marked settled. Rewind before the close and the entries disappear again and the day re-opens for editing — like everything else in Practice, settlement is just a view of a precomputed result.
On a live account
In live trading, settlement runs automatically once the official closing tick for the day arrives — usually moments after 4:00 PM ET. Until that tick lands, the day is "closed but not yet settled" and your positions hold their last value. Once settlement completes, the day's closing balance carries into the account and it moves into your history alongside your other days.
Tips
- Pin risk is real, even simulated. A short strike sitting a few points from the SPX price in the final minutes can flip from worthless to fully in the money on the closing print. If you don't want your P&L decided by the last tick, close the position — buying back a near-worthless short costs a couple of dollars in premium and fees and removes the coin flip.
- Expiration beats exercise on fees. An OTM leg expires free; an ITM leg pays $5.00 per strike to settle. For a spread that's barely in the money, closing it before 4:00 PM ET is often cheaper than letting both legs settle.
- Settlement is why the balance carries. On a live account it's the settlement step — not you — that turns the day's result into the account's new cash balance. A day that traded can't be discarded precisely so this step can never be skipped.