what do t 1 t 2 and t 3 mean 
t 1 t 2 t 3 are abbreviations commonly used to denote settlement dates for certain financial transactions the t indicates the transaction date while the numbers refer to how many days it takes after the transaction to settle so a t 1 transaction settles one business day after the transaction date while a t 2 and t 3 settle two and three business days later respectively if a transaction takes place on a wednesday the t 1 settlement date occurs on thursday a t 2 transaction initiated on a friday settles on tuesday since saturday and sunday aren t business days the bottom linemost trades end with taking delivery of the financial instrument being traded but there are cases where the trader wants to avoid taking possession of the asset this is common in the currency or forex market currency traders commonly use the tomorrow next strategy to avoid taking delivery and extend their position in a currency doing so allows them to complete an fx swap this means they can simultaneously buy and sell a currency those who don t use this tactic may be forced to settle their transactions by accepting the currency 