DAX Options Settlement Price: ODAX vs ODAP

The DAX options settlement price is a single computed index level, fixed in an auction, and it is not the last price printed on the chart. Monthly and weekly ODAX series settle on the Xetra intraday auction that starts at 13:00 CET on the final settlement day. The daily ODAP series settles on the Xetra closing auction at 17:30 CET. Both are cash settled at EUR 5 per index point, and that one computed level decides the entire payout.

What number decides the payout?

A DAX option pays against a final settlement price published by Eurex on the final settlement day. That number does not come from the options order book, and it does not come from a futures print. Eurex rebuilds the index from the auction prices of the constituent shares on Xetra, the Deutsche Boerse cash market where the DAX members trade.

Determined by the value of the respective index, based on Xetra auction prices of the respective index component shares. The intraday auction starts at 13:00 CET, for ODAP it is based on the closing auction price of the respective index constituents at 17:30 CET.

That wording is from the Eurex contract specifications for DAX Options (ODAX) and DAX End-of-Day Options (ODAP), as published on eurex.com and read on 25 September 2026. Contract specifications are amended by circular, so the dated page is the authority, not a summary written elsewhere.

An auction is a batched crossing: orders collect over a set window, and one price is found at which everyone in the auction trades. The DAX level used for settlement is computed from those per-share auction prices. Nobody can transact the index itself, which is the root of the gap between what a chart shows and what the contract pays. That gap is normal for cash settled index options, where nothing changes hands but euros.

ODAX: trading stops at 13:00 CET, and that is the moment that counts

Monthly ODAX contracts have their final settlement day on the third Friday of the expiration month, or on the exchange day immediately before it when that Friday is not a trading day. Weekly ODAX series expire on the Friday of their expiration week. On the last trading day, trading in the expiring series closes at 13:00 CET, hours before the rest of the Eurex order book shuts.

Those two clocks are one clock. Trading in the expiring series ends at 13:00 CET, and the Xetra intraday auction that fixes the settlement level begins at 13:00 CET. A holder has no window in which to trade out of the position while the settlement inputs are forming. The auction also ends at a randomized instant inside a short window, a design that limits gaming of the final print, and the exact second is unknown in advance. Payment follows the print: cash settlement is payable on the first exchange day following the final settlement day.

ODAP: the daily series settles four and a half hours later

Eurex introduced DAX End-of-Day Options under Circular 085/23, dated 13 October 2023, with a launch on 13 November 2023. The product ID is ODAP, and series expire on each day of the trading week alongside end-of-month contracts. Same index and same EUR 5 per index point, with a different settlement moment.

On an ODAP expiration day, trading runs to 17:30 CET, and the final settlement price is the DAX level built from the closing auction prices of the constituents at 17:30 CET. The series covers the whole European session, including the overlap with the US open, which is the point of the design.

Treating the two products as one procedure is the most common mistake made with these codes. The settlement moments sit four and a half hours apart on the same underlying. Our guide to Eurex option codes ODAX, ODAP and OESX walks the naming, and DAX daily options covers the daily series in full.

Both clocks come off the dated specification pages linked above, set side by side here.

SELECT
    series             AS series_code,
    last_trading_time  AS last_trading_cet,
    settlement_auction AS settlement_auction_cet,
    settlement_hour    AS settlement_hour_cet,
    settlement_hour - 13.0 AS hours_after_odax_print
FROM
(
    SELECT 'ODAX monthly' AS series, '13:00' AS last_trading_time, 'Xetra intraday auction' AS settlement_auction, 13.0 AS settlement_hour, 1 AS sort_order
    UNION ALL
    SELECT 'ODAX weekly',  '13:00', 'Xetra intraday auction', 13.0, 2
    UNION ALL
    SELECT 'ODAP daily',   '17:30', 'Xetra closing auction',  17.5, 3
)
ORDER BY sort_order

In the money at 17:29, out of the money at settlement

Take a hypothetical ODAP 24,000 call. At 17:29 the index reads 24,015 in continuous trading, and the call looks 15 points in the money, worth EUR 75 at EUR 5 per point. The closing auction then collects orders across the constituents and crosses a number of them slightly below their last continuous quotes, and the computed index level comes out at 23,992. The call settles worthless. Nothing malfunctioned. The contract always pointed at the auction, never at 17:29.

The ODAX version of this has a longer tail. An ODAX holder is settled on the 13:00 CET auction, and a large afternoon move between 13:05 and the 17:30 close has no bearing on the expiring series at all. The chart keeps moving after the contract has already been valued.

Near-strike positions cluster around the settlement window for exactly this reason. Dealers hedging short option books rebalance into the auction, and open interest sitting a few points from a strike concentrates attention there. That clustering is pin risk, and in the DAX contracts it lives inside one auction print rather than spread across a long closing session.

How DAX settlement compares with Japan and the United States

A US-trained reader will find the German procedure closer to Tokyo than to New York. Japan computes a Special Quotation from the opening auction prices of the index members on the expiration day, a single number that nobody traded. Our note on SQ day in Japan covers that mechanism. Germany does the same kind of thing, at 13:00 CET for ODAX and at the 17:30 close for ODAP.

In the United States, monthly SPX options are AM settled against SET, computed from the opening prints of the S&P 500 members on expiration Friday, while weekly and daily SPX series are PM settled against the closing index value. The division described in AM versus PM settled options maps onto the ODAX and ODAP split closely. EURO STOXX 50 daily options follow the closing-auction convention as well.

What a holder checks on the final settlement day

• Which series the position is in. The product code answers it, and the code decides whether 13:00 or 17:30 CET is the relevant clock.
• The exercise window. Both products are European style, exercisable only on the final settlement day, and the Eurex specification allows exercise until the end of the post-trading full period at 20:30 CET.
• The broker's own deadline, which usually falls earlier than the exchange one. Broker exercise cutoff times vary widely between firms.
• The payment date. Cash settlement arrives on the first exchange day following the final settlement day.

FAQ

What time do DAX options settle?

Monthly and weekly ODAX series settle on the Xetra intraday auction beginning at 13:00 CET on the final settlement day. Daily ODAP series settle on the Xetra closing auction at 17:30 CET. Eurex publishes a final settlement price for each product after the relevant auction.

Do DAX options settle at the closing price of the DAX?

Only the daily ODAP series does, using the closing auction prices of the index constituents at 17:30 CET. ODAX uses the 13:00 CET intraday auction, hours before the German cash market closes for the day.

What is the last trading day for a monthly DAX option?

The third Friday of the expiration month, or the exchange day immediately before it when that Friday is not a trading day. Trading in the expiring series stops at 13:00 CET on that day, which is also when the settlement auction opens.

Why did a DAX call expire worthless with the index above the strike?

The payout is measured against the auction based final settlement price rather than the level on the chart. An index sitting above the strike at 12:59 CET for ODAX, or at 17:29 CET for ODAP, can still produce a settlement level below it.

Are DAX options ever delivered in shares?

No. ODAX and ODAP are cash settled in euros at EUR 5 per index point, payable on the first exchange day following the final settlement day. No index basket changes hands.

Settlement conventions are amended by circular, so the dated specification pages linked above are worth reading before any expiry that matters to a position. To compare settlement rules across indexes and expiry types side by side, ask the question in plain English on the Strasmore terminal.