Futures contacts are marked to market every day. What does that mean? At the end of every trading day, the change in the value of the futures contract is added to or subtracthd from the margin account. At the end of every trading day, the price of the contract is quoted. At the end of every trading day, all contracts that have lost money are closed to avoid possible defaults. At the end of every trading day, all contracts are closed and positions are fully settled in cash