> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.derive.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Settlement

All options are settled to a time-weighted-average-price (TWAP) of the spot (index) price over `SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD = 30` minutes. In the lead up to settlement, the option is marked to a linear combination of the TWAP and forward.

Specifically:

* If `Time To Expiry > SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD`, then the option is marked using the forward price.
* If `0 < Time To Expiry < SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD` then the options are marked to a weighted sum of the forward price and average spot price. Spot data is read in once per minute and is used to compute:
  ```python Formula theme={null}
  S_avg(n) = (S_1 + ... S_n)/n
  ```
  where `S_i` is the spot price recorded at the `i`th minute. If there are `n` minutes until expiry and `SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD - n ≥ 0`, then the price used to mark all options of this expiry is given by:
  ```python Formula theme={null}
  S_mark = (SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD - n) / SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD * Forward Price
  		+ n / SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD * S_avg(n)
  ```
* At expiration, the option is settled to `S_avg(30)`.

Options settle into **the cash asset of the universe that hosts them**. At launch every universe uses USDC.

# Example

Consider an option expiring on December 1 2026 at 20:00.

* Up until, the price used to mark all options expiring at this time will be the forward price `F`.
* At 19:40 (20 minutes to expiration), then we compute
  ```text theme={null}
  S_avg(10) = (S_1 + S_2 + ... + S_10)/10
  ```
* Here, `S_1` is the spot price recorded at 19:31, `S_2` is the spot price recorded at 19:32 and so forth.
* The option is marked to
  ```text theme={null}
  S_mark = (20/30) * F + (10/30) * S_avg(10)
  ```
* Anytime after 20:00, the option will be settled and marked to `S_avg(30)`

# How the TWAP is Published

The forward feed publishes the settlement TWAP as a pair of **cumulative** aggregates — price x seconds at the start of the window and at the feed's own timestamp — rather than as a running average. The settlement price is their difference divided by the seconds actually aggregated:

```python Formula theme={null}
window_start = expiry - SETTLEMENT_TWAP_PERIOD
elapsed      = min(feed_timestamp, expiry) - window_start
settlement   = (spot_aggregate_latest - spot_aggregate_start) / elapsed
```

The divisor is the elapsed time, not the full 30 minutes. A feed published part way through the window — or one that is running a few minutes behind the current time — has only aggregated part of the window, and dividing by the full window would understate the price by exactly the missing fraction. Aggregation stops at the expiry, so once the expiry has settled the value is fixed.

# Delta Decay

A consequence of options settling to a TWAP of spot is so called "delta decay". In the 30 minutes leading up to settlement, the underlying price used to mark options will be a linear combination of the average spot price and current forward. This essentially fixes some component of the underlying price. As a consequence, the option's rate of change with respect to underlying movements (its delta) will decrease. We call this **delta decay**.

A good example of this will be a very in-the-money put option. Suppose you have a 10,000 strike ETH put when IV = 50% and the ETH forward and spot are both trading at 1650. The delta of this option is practically 1.

Come 15 minutes to expiration, the option will be marked to an equally weighted combination of the average spot price over the last 15 minutes (say, 1646) and the current forward (1652), i.e. the option will be marked to an underlying of (1/2) x 1646 + (1/2) x 1652 = 1649. At this stage, half of the settlement price has already been printed, meaning each 1 change in spot only has half the effect it normally would have. In other words, the delta of this put has decayed from 1.0 to 0.5.

This is an important phenomena for users of portfolio margin to understand, since net delta exposure is used to compute their margin requirements.

For standard margin subaccounts delta decay also has an effect on the margin requirement for shorts (since the mark-to-market value of the short becomes more "fixed" as settlement approaches).

**Note**:  Because options settle to a TWAP of the spot price, it is possible for a trader selling a covered call (with a near zero strike price) using portfolio margin to be liquidated. This is because as the delta of the option approaches 0 (as time to expiry approaches 0), a position that was previously delta neutral will no longer be so. For the vast majority of users, this is an incredibly unlikely outcome. Again, we re-iterate that it is only really possible for covered calls whose strike is near 0.

# Perpetual Settlement

Perpetuals are settled continuously rather than at an expiry: whenever a user adjusts their position, their unrealized funding and PNL are settled to the current perpetual price. See [Supported Products](doc:supported-products).

A perpetual that is being retired is given a `frozen_price`. It is then force-closed at that price the next time the holding account is touched, rather than being settled by a TWAP.


## Related topics

- [private/get_option_settlement_history](/api-reference/history/privateget_option_settlement_history.md)
- [public/get_option_settlement_prices](/api-reference/market-data/publicget_option_settlement_prices.md)
- [Oracles](/oracles.md)