Binance changes the way commodity options are settled. On November 12, the platform announced that the final contract price will be calculated as the average over the last half hour before expiration. Previously, the closing price of the underlying market at a single second was used.
An option is a contract for the right to buy or sell an asset at a pre-selected price. Binance commodity options are contracts on gold, where settlement is in crypto. The settlement price is the one used at expiration to calculate how much the option pays the holder.
This affects everyone who holds such positions. The new rule applies to contracts expiring on November 23 at 17:00 New York time and to all subsequent ones. In Moscow, that is 01:00 MSK on the night of November 24.
How is the price calculated now?
- Before - the closing price of the underlying market at 17:00 ET on the expiration day, a single value at a single second.
- Now - the arithmetic average of the Binance Futures index price over the last half hour before expiration.
- 1800 observations - the sum of the measurements is divided by 1800, i.e. one measurement per second.
Example from the announcement. Contract XAU-261130-4000-C expiring on November 30 at 17:00:00 ET will be settled at the average gold index price for the period from 16:30:00 to 17:00:00 ET.
Which rule applies to which contract?
- Expiration time decides. Only it determines which scheme is used to settle the contract.
- Old scheme. Everything settled before 01:00 MSK on the night of November 24 is calculated at the closing price, even if the settlement itself is processed later.
- Holding through won't help. You can't hold a position across this boundary and expect the old logic.
What does this mean for the trader?
Only the price source changes. Binance does not touch expiration times, trading sessions or contract specifications.
Key point: half-hour averaging makes the result less sensitive to a single spike in the final seconds. Strikes near the price will now more often settle differently from what the chart showed at the moment of expiration.
What next?
- Check your positions - use expiration time as the reference, not the date the settlement is processed.
- Compare tools - the prop firm catalog shows who has gold and derivatives on their list.
- Find the right conditions - the challenge calculator helps you choose an evaluation to match the market and your trading style.
Holding a position through expiration?
The night of November 24 is that case where you know the chart, but the platform's rules decide the result. It's the same with prop firms that offer derivatives and gold: some have options and metal contracts on their instrument list, others only spot and majors. Holding a position through the settlement date is a separate violation. These lines of the rules take five minutes to read before paying for an evaluation. The instrument filter will immediately show where your set of contracts is allowed.