"Hi David, You mentioned that 16.6% of your total long Gold position was rolled forward today and consequently you sold expiring April gold at $1092.6 today [last week] and simultaneously bought another June position at $1094.3. I'm not sure what you achieved by doing this. Could you explain to this novice spread bettor your logic? Keep up the good work."

David Fuller's view One forgets that people are not born knowing these things. I often trade futures, as you know. They are date-sensitive and therefore expire on maturity. In the case of a long position, just before expiry I have either to close the position, roll it further forward, or pay the full amount of the contract value and take delivery. In practice, one only trades with spread-bet positions so if I wish to retain a position approaching its expiry date, I must leave instructions for it to be rolled forward. Otherwise it will be closed. The price difference includes, in the case above, the contango between April and June contracts, plus spread-bet dealing costs as the position was rolled forward.