Expiry is the one setting that most changes the character of a trade, and it is worth understanding properly rather than accepting whatever is preselected.
What expiry means
Expiry is when your trade settles. You choose it when you open the position. At that moment, the market price is compared with your entry price, and the result follows from whether the price moved the way you predicted.
Nothing needs to be closed manually. The expiry you chose does that job.
How duration changes the trade
| Expiry length | What it reacts to | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Short | Immediate price movement | Fast decisions, close attention |
| Medium | A move with room to develop | Most approaches |
| Longer | The broader direction of the session | Trading around other commitments |
Neither end of the range is better. They are different activities, and the right one depends on how much attention you want to give the screen.
If you are learning, give yourself enough time to think. Very short expiries leave no room to reconsider, which makes them a hard place to build good habits.
Choosing an expiry in practice
- Decide your view first — what you think the market will do, and over roughly what period.
- Pick the expiry that matches that view, rather than fitting the view to a default.
- Keep it consistent while you are learning. Changing duration every trade makes results impossible to read.
- Note what worked. Over enough trades, a pattern in which durations suit you will emerge.
Practise it free
Expiry is the easiest thing to experiment with on a demo account, because you can try the same market across several durations and see how differently each behaves without any of it costing you.