A Gtld domain’s life cycle contains 4 periods:
1. Active period. A Gtld domain’s registeration period can be 1-10 years. During this time, this domain is considering as active. The owner can modify the domain owner’s information, domain dns and also renew the domain name.
2. Expired period. A Gtld domain’s expired period starts one day after its expiration date. Usually, this period is from 0-45 days. During this time, the owner can renew this domain without additional cost. Most of the registrars would put domains in this period to expired domain auctions. Anyone could bid in the auction. If it is not renewed, the winner of a expired domain auction would get the domain after the expired period.
3. Redemption/Grace period. This period is fixed and last for 30 days. If a domain is not purchased during the expired auction, the owner might renew this domain name during this period. An additional cost will be charged, the exact amount is different between registrars, but usually above 60 USD.
4. Delete Period. If no one wants the domains, a domain will enter this period after the redemption period. This period is 5 days. After this period, a domain can be registered again.
To get more information about gTLDs, please visit: History of gTLDs