How Is the ‘Marking-to-Market’ Process Performed for Futures Contracts?
Marking-to-market (MTM) is the daily process of adjusting the value of a futures contract to its current market price. At the end of each trading day, the profit or loss is calculated based on the difference between the contract's previous day's settlement price and the current day's settlement price.
This profit or loss is then credited or debited to the trader's margin account as variation margin.